"Back in a few days…" Connie whispered the response to herself again. She gave a sigh in worry and then smiled in determination. "I can make the perfect apology in that time, no sweat!"

Her phone suddenly buzzed and her heart leapt in fright, was Steven home early?

She looked to see an email from Pearl.

Dear Connie,

Hello. I would like you to make an appearance at the barn to see Amethyst and I. As humans say, répondez s'il vous plaît.

Love Pearl

Connie was surprised she knew what répondez s'il vous plaît was, and not the actual term of RSVP. Still, she hopped down and sent a quick email back. They had plenty to talk about, this would be another hard conversation.

"Connie!" Amethyst yelled, tackling Connie in a hug.

Pearl ran up and helped the two up before motioning to the already set table of tea and cookies. "I've created a comforting environment so you will feel safe enough to tell us absolutely everything that happened!"

"Oh, um-" Connie winced and then gave a small smile to Pearl when she suddenly pushed in her chair for her as she sat down. "Thank you…"

Amethyst grabbed the teabag that lay in her cup and gulped it down before looking to Connie. "So, we're, like, Rose's number one enemies, right?! Did you see her face? Was she super mad when you mentioned me?!"

"You… want her to be mad at you?" Connie asked in confusion as Pearl poured her a cup.

The small gem nodded eagerly. "Dude, I've always wanted to make Rose super, duper mad! Rose thought she was so perfect cause she never showed herself upset, I want to know she got mad!"

"She was mad, really mad… Pink Diamond was too. …They're actually remarkably alike."

There was a shatter and they turned to see the teapot on the ground in pieces. Pearl stared at the ground, her hands clenched over each other to her chest, shaking. "No, they're not… W-Why would you say that? That's ridiculous! Lady Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond are opposites. I should know! I'm Rose's pearl."

"Whoa, P, you okay?" Amethyst asked. She had to lift Pearl who still stood straight as a pole in order to get her out of the shards. "Pearl…"

Connie winced. She didn't mean for that to happen, she had just wanted Pearl to confess to knowing. "But… you're not her Pearl anymore, so you don't have to keep hiding her secrets, it's okay."

"Uh… what secrets?" Amethyst grunted while Pearl shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about, Connie." Pearl smiled before she began to pick up the shards. She sighed, her hands finally dropping. "We need a mop! Connie, how about you get it?"

Connie watched with slight suspicion when Pearl turned to Amethyst like nothing was wrong and they began to chat about going treasure hunting the next day. After a few moments, she coughed, getting their attention. If Pearl wouldn't, or rather, couldn't talk about it, Connie was the one that had to tell Amethyst. It wasn't right that Amethyst didn't know who she'd been serving. "You should get the mop, Pearl. I actually don't know where it is! You used it last to show Lapis how to properly clean a wet floor, your words not mine, so you'd know where it is!"

"Oh, of course… I can just tell you where-"

"Yeah, that could work too!" Connie changed her plan. "Amethyst, wanna come with?"

"Amethyst and I are in a discussion."

"Well I think Amethyst probably wants to talk with me instead!"

"Why in any universe would she want to talk with you instead?!"

"Because I can tell her something she needs to know!"

"She doesn't need to know it, trust me!"

"It's getting awfully hard to do that!"

"I'M GONNA GET THE MOP!" Amethyst announced loudly, shoving herself away from the table before practically running away. "Fix whatever's happening there!"

The two looked back to each other then.

"She shapeshifted right in front of me…" Connie muttered, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. "… Sh-She took me completely off-guard, I thought I could reason with Rose Quartz to talk to Pink Diamond but they're the same person! … How could I not see it…?"

"She created it to be confusing. She didn't want anyone to find out, not even the other Diamonds. I wanted to tell you but… a Pearl cannot obey a direct order from their master." Pearl explained. "You see, she wanted to be more than just a figurehead back then. She wanted to fight her own battles, but the others wouldn't allow it."

Connie watched as Pearl made holograms to display the story.

"To make it even more believable… She created a Pearl for Rose, me. I was told by her confidants all about her charade…"

The holo Pearl tried to dance around the figures of holo Pink Pearl and Spinel but they blocked her, trying to calm her down. A figure of Rose molded and it stepped up to Pearl before grabbing her wrists and forcing them to her sides.

"I was ordered to refute any claims that Rose was Pink… even from the gems I cared about."

Connie watched as the holo Pearl walked forward mechanically, her eyes unblinking and her face cold.

"Even though I knew they were one in the same, I was fooled too. She was so different in each form. One would throw tantrums and held authority over every gem in the empire and the other… seemed to be so poised and gentle. She never raised her voice, and always treated everyone equally… I thought that applied to me."

The holo Pearl cleaned Rose's sword and watched as her mistress danced happily around the room at a battle won. She swept Pearl up into it as well, getting dangerously close. When the Pearl blushed, Rose seemed to smirk before quickly switching to a loving smile.

"Everything I ever saw, heard, said, and did was for nothing my whole life on Homeworld. All I was was a servant, I only began to feel… real when I came to Earth."

"Seriously…? That's a low blow." They turned to see Amethyst leaned against the entrance, holding the mop so tight she could snap it in half any second.

"Amethyst!" Pearl gasped while Connie looked regrettingly at the floor. "How long were you-?"

"Long enough to figure out you regarded your relationships Garnet and I as nothing, as things you want to forget."

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that-!"

"'Course you did, you ignored me all the time! You hated me! And you don't want to think that was your fault…"

"Amethyst…"

Amethyst shapeshifted into a wolf and ran to the nearest warp pad before vanishing in it.

"Where do you think she went?" Connie asked softly.

Pearl gave a sigh before getting up. "I know…"

Thousands of years ago, Pearl had found Amethyst in the Kindergarten. Many liked to say that Rose was the one to do so, but that was a lie. It was Pearl. She was the first to see Amethyst, and Amethyst was the first to truly see Pearl.

Rose thought Amethyst was adorable and quickly took her in and placed her with a group of guards who were all rather terrible to the runt because of her size, and said that they would make her stronger. She often appeared back from missions beaten and bruised, but she'd insist it was from the mission, nothing else. One day it had been incredibly bad and Amethyst had been poofed.

When she reformed, she was surprised to find she'd been put in a new squad lead by 7XR. The group was full of Amethysts and Jaspers from her same Kindergarten and were all kind to her. It was strange she'd gotten this new assignment, she'd never told Rose or Pink Diamond about it. Who else would be watching her so intently though? She chalked it up to Rose.

Pearl was silent most of the time whenever they were both on duty, Amethyst however wanted to stay by her and protect her. By her, most thought she meant Rose. She thought she did too, because she owed everything to her.

Whenever their duties were done, Amethyst noticed Pearl would sneak away to practice her sword. She wanted to approach her and ask if they could train together, but she knew Pearl would be too nervous for that, even if she trusted her with her gem. She would watch though, and cheer Pearl on.

"Amethyst?"

Amethyst didn't bother to turn around from the boulder she sat on. "So I only matter on Earth, huh?"

Pearl scrambled up to the top of the rock and sat down beside Amethyst. "… Amethyst, you matter more to me than any gem I know, on Homeworld or otherwise… My life there… our friendship with Garnet…My ignorance of you and how… how much I cared about you was very, very real. I just… wanted to deny it because that would mean I had wasted all those thousands of years being real, and doing nothing about it because I'd be punished… You would be punished…. Our world and Rose was beautiful… but awful inside. But I found a new world. It's beautiful inside and out and it needs a lot of care but I don't mind because it's my home and I care for it more than myself and I-!"

"You're my whole world too, Pearl."

They were silent after that and leaned against each other, finally fully understanding as the sun set.

Connie glanced up from mopping to see Pearl and Amethyst walking back hand in hand.

"So, wait, you asked the underground rebellion to sabotage Pink's system just so I could come with you and Garnet?!"

"Uh, of course I did, you get this super pouty face on whenever you're super upset and you did it when Pink said you couldn't come." Amethyst smirked. She then laughed and pointed to Pearl's face. "There! That's the face!"

"Guys!" Connie called. She ran to them. "I'm so sorry, I should've never tried to tell Amethyst about her, it was your secret to tell, Pearl."

"All is forgiven, Connie." Pearl smiled gently as they walked back to the barn.

Connie looked between them and noticed they couldn't keep their eyes off one another, smiling. "Sooo, what'd you guys talk about?"

"Us."