Some things are fated Chapter 15: A small mirror?, a steven universe fanfic

Pearl crawled into her small hidden room.

She dropped on the floor, her knees giving out. She was aware she should close the hatch, she forced her foot to move. The sound of the hatch falling closed briefly echoed in her head. Pearl winced. Her head hurt too. Today was the day of the test, Pearl mumbled to herself. Trying to find the strength to change out her black suit. It was a failure.

It took her over a whole cycle to sneak and crawl her way back under the water pipe.

Everything was a failure.

As if to affirm her, surface replayed all instances of failure she had as Renegade. She tried to steal a roaming eye. She got to the eye, but she didn't foresee there being five amesite soldiers.
What were they doing there?

As far as she glimpsed they were playing with a bottle, some warrior game for sure. She didnt care. She was too... Cocky. She tried to fight them. She was nowhere close to the skill to poof them all. She was hit so many times… she found it a wonder she didn't poof. Which would be a catastrophe if she did. There would be no way to explain why she donned the Renegade outfit and why she decided to fight them...

She barely managed to escape them.

That escape was only possible because she was thin and fast enough to slide into the garbage disposal for spaceship fuel residue without them seeing her do that.

Good thing her outfit was black just like the residue, so she wasn't spotted.

Not so good, Pearl took a breath and gaged. The residue had a horrible stench. She was quite happy she didn't need to breathe.

Her gem was troubled.

A few of the hits landed on her gem, it was protected by the visor, a little bit. Luckily the visor didn't break.

It still hurt.

It hurt badly.

She stood up again. Even if she wanted to stay motionless to avoid any further pain, it simply wouldn't do. Her diamond is awaiting her.

Her hands were shaking as she removed the hood. She could do this. She just needed to be presentable and be able to hold her self together and still. Pearl smiled, wasn't all pearls made to do exactly that. Hold themselves together and be standing still.

"Can I get a small mirror?"

The pebbles who were peeking at her made one mirror with easy and she inspected her face and gem. The gem wasn't damaged. No visible damage at least. That was good. It would be hard to hide cracks. Her hair, on the other hand, was a mess, and her face looked scratched up. Her left eye looked darker. She could even recognise the place where the lance bored itself into her neck. Pearl breathed in frustration and gagged once more. She stunk, how could she have that slip her mind.

She couldn't come in front of her Diamond stinky.

Or beaten up.

It wasn't the Amethysts fault she failed to take the roaming eye without anyone noticing. They were just doing their duty of attacking an intruder...And wasting time with some game with a bottle. It wasn't like guard duty was something eventful. Of course, renegade would make it eventful.

She made her arms pull the black outfit off and focused to shapeshift the damage hidden. It was a small enough adjustment that she could keep it up till the extraction… Maybe she could ask Pink to let her in the pool again?

First, to clean herself... shower. Apparently, her stinky self didn't make just her gag. As she found a pebble tugging on her hand. The small pebble was pointing to a new hatch appearing on the ground. A hatch leading to a makeshift shower. The pebbles rerouted a smaller water pipe. One of the pebbles was even dragging Pinks personal soap item. She definitely shouldn't use them… but…

She could not go in front of pink like this…

She used the diamonds cleaning items.

She discovered she really liked the water.

She really really liked the flowing water. It made all so clean. The sound of falling water really relaxing and different. The smell of soap was so nice too.

Pearl left her hidden room, stepping into the hallway just a moment before her Diamond left her room.

"Pearl! You took a long time!"

"My diamond, I completed the preparations. " She made the salute and bit into her lip to the sound of wincing. Diamond salute and hands that hurt were not a good combo. She really shouldn't have tried to block that hammer with her forearms.

But if she didn't it would have hit her gem... She had to figure out to block with her sword better. To...parry. Yes, learn to parry.

"May I ask how your studying went, my diamond?"

"I am sure I will pass this test perfectly! " Pink giggled bouncing ahead to the warp pad. Pearl kept a slower pace. Pretending to be doing a proper speed. And not that she had no energy to rush around anymore.

Only once the two entered the headship, did Pink stopped bouncing. They walked up towards the main portion of the ship. The hallways felt even more massive being completely white.

"Nervous?" Pearl whispered as she noticed her diamond slowing more and more down to the point where pearl was walking ahead of her.

"A bit.. what if I mix something up? I mean ... I made so many mistakes before in everything I did... What if I do it again?" Pink came to a halt. Pearl observed her diamond, she truly didn't want to disappoint her fellow diamond. Pearl knew exactly what she had to do to raise her diamond confidence.

"...My diamond. Have you been studying the same the first three days as the rest?" Pearl asked, sure what PInks answer would be.

"Yes! I didn't do anything else but studying."

"Then you will know it perfectly," Pearl concluded with confidence, watching as her diamond smile returned to her face.

"Right. I will." Pearl was matching her diamond smile of confidence. She was sure to impress. They walked right in front of the control room door. They waited for the door to slide open.

"Good luck " Pearl whispered.

"Silly Pearl perfection does not need luck." Pink grinned. They waited in front of the door some more. Moments passed. The door stayed closed.

"You chimed them?"Pink asked Pearl shifting on her feet.

"I did as we entered the ship, my diamond." Pearl summoned a screen, the action making her feel sore. It was doable. The chime was indeed sent and received. Pearl showed the screen to pink and asked. "Should I..." She could chime white diamond again...

"No, twice would ...look bad, right?" Pearl nodded, it would look, impatient. Impatience was not perfection.

"Maybe she is busy..." Pearl offered.

"Or forgot it..."Pink commented, and wouldn't that be something. Forgetting your fellow diamond...

They waited for a bit longer, in which time Pink was getting sadder. Pearl looked at her, maybe...

"Maybe I could give you the report about it. " Pearl offered and Pink posture relaxed, she smiled a small bit. Pearl returned it with a grin. Her diamond understood what it reports she meant. This was good. Before Pearl could even open her lips to say one word about the renegade daring adventure into the stinky fuel residue, white Pearl melted out the wall. Pearl moved in the correct posture.

"White Diamond will receive you now. "Pink stepped up and Pearl tried to follow. Pearl was stopped as White Pearl floated directly in front of Pearl. Blocking her. "Only Pink Diamond is needed."

Pink took a deep breath. "Pearl stays here till I get this done," Pearl responded automatically, obeying a direct order, watching as her diamond passed through the door that opened for her. With the door closing it was just her and White Pearl left, in the white hallways of the white ship. No imperfection existed. Everything had to be perfectly fit in the role they were made for.

White Diamond palace was not silent like the kindergarten, but the noise from working gems felt far away. Or muffed by a veil, making the noise of homeworld appear insignificant. Unreachable.

Pearl looked at White Pearl.