"And you see, with that line they basically erase Paulette's entire existence! I mean, I hate her, but you can't deny she was in the original—"

Peridot was interrupted as a loud, ringing sound cut through the air.

"Not again!" Amethyst exclaimed, clapping her hands over her ears.

"What do you mean again? What is that?" Peridot shouted, cringing.

"It's a wailing stone," Pearl replied, raising her voice to be heard as she stood up.

"Nobody's used wailing stones for years!"

"Well, we haven't exactly been upgrading with the rest of Homeworld," she said, hurrying to the closet and yanking out the stone. "Amethyst, hand me some pillows."

Half a dozen were thrown her way, one hitting her directly in the face. "Amethyst!"

"Just make it shut up already!"

"I'm working on it!" Pearl shoved a pillow into the wailing stone's center and then placed four more around it, muting the sound to a manageable buzz. "There!"

Amethyst relaxed, glaring at the covered wailing stone. "We really need a better way to get cryptic space messages."

"More to the point, why are we getting any message at all?" Pearl asked, confused. "It can't be Lapis this time, and there aren't any other gems that would be trying to contact us…"

The door was flung open behind them, Yellow and Blue hurrying in looking concerned.

"What is that?" Yellow demanded. "Did something happen?"

"It's a wailing stone," Pearl explained again. "It's done this before; it's not able to process information from Homeworld directly with all the changes in technology."

"No kidding," she scoffed. "Nobody uses those anymore."

"So I've been told."

"Someone's trying to send us a message?" Blue asked curiously, walking over and moving one of the pillows aside, then hurriedly replacing it.

"I could probably rig something up to listen to it," Yellow mused, tapping a finger against her lips thoughtfully.

"You don't need to," Pearl said.

"I don't?"

"We can just run it through Greg's van like last time," Amethyst agreed.

"Run it through a…van? I thought you said that was for transportation."

"It is," Pearl replied, "but he has a fair amount of musical equipment, and we managed to see it with his help last time."

"When did that happen?" Peridot asked.

"Just before you arrived and tried to blast us to pieces."

"…Sorry about that."

"It's cool," Amethyst told her, patting her on the back.

The warp pad activated by the temple door, and Garnet and Steven appeared.

"We heard the wailing stone!" Steven said by way of greeting. "Who's calling?"

"We don't know yet," Pearl replied, giving him a quick hug as he joined them.

"Greg's on his way with the van," Garnet added.

"Thank you."

"Can I take this thing apart later?" Yellow asked nonchalantly, wandering over to the stone. "It might have some useful parts for the ship."

"I'll help," Peridot volunteered.

"No, you cannot take it apart," Pearl said indignantly.

"I say go for it," Amethyst chimed in.

"Me too," Garnet agreed. "We have plenty of them."

"Oh, fine," Pearl relented. "You can take one. But first we're going to find out exactly what it's transmitting."

In less than ten minutes, Greg arrived in his van and began setting up the equipment so they could listen to the message. Yellow watched in fascination as he strung together rather primitive human devices.

"And there we go, that should do it!" he declared. "Wanna do the honors?" he offered, holding out a cord to Steven.

"Absolutely!" Steven mock-saluted him and hurried to plug it into the TV screen.

Almost immediately, a picture appeared, blurring for a few seconds before settling into a crisper definition. The gem on screen was a Pearl—though her gem wasn't visible with the partial picture they were getting—and Blue immediately leaned forward, trying to take in every detail. Golden yellow skin—darker than Yellow's by a few shades—and fluffy hair that fell to her chin, the tips curling up in no particular direction. Her voice had the same familiar commonalities that could be heard in every Pearl's speech, but had a hint of something stronger behind the soft subservience.

"—to Earth. Repeat, this message is directed to the gems on Earth. Can you hear me?"

"Can we transmit back to her?" Blue asked, hand pressed to the edge of the screen.

"I don't think so," Pearl said, shaking her head.

"We can try," Yellow argued, reaching for some of the other equipment in the van. "Can I borrow this?" she asked Greg.

"Uh, sure, knock yourself out. Just give it back in one piece if you can?"

"Understood," she said briskly. "Thank you." Yellow inspected a small video camera and then flicked it on. "Your other wailing stones?"

"In the temple," Garnet said, nodding. "I'll get one."

"Get three; I might break a couple."

"Got it."

"—unclear if you can receive this message. Please understand the planet's safety will soon be compromised. If you can hear me, please respond or signal that you are receiving this message, and further information will be provided immediately." The Pearl glanced sideways, then back to the screen. "We have limited communication abilities right now, but you can contact us at this frequency at any time. For safety purposes, please don't transmit any important information unless we've confirmed via video call that the line is still secure." She paused. "Thank you. Alliance out."

"She's gone," Yellow said irritably, setting the microphone she was holding down. "We should get this set up so we can talk back next time."

"Uh, I'm a little more worried about the whole your-safety-has-been-compromised part," Amethyst said, poking at the now-quiet wailing stone.

"We already knew that would happen," Yellow said briskly. "Though we were hoping for a bit more time."

"She said 'alliance'," Blue whispered. "They have an alliance."

"That's great!" Steven had been leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen, and he gave her a quick hug before letting go.

"It's certainly impressive," Peridot mused.

"It's dangerous," Yellow said. "How did they even manage that?"

"I don't know," Blue replied, frowning.

"You don't think it's a trick, do you?" Amethyst asked.

"To determine if we're here?" Pearl replied. "I suppose it could be, but…"

"There are easier ways to find out," Garnet finished.

She nodded, turning to Yellow and Blue. "Though I think it's wise to be cautious. Do either of you know her?" she asked, gesturing to the blank screen.

Yellow shrugged. "She's owned by a Citrine, I think?"

"Yes," Blue confirmed. "Cut…9ZV, I believe. She's kind of a young Pearl, and mostly just performs cleaning duties." She caught Yellow giving her a strange look. "What?"

"I should have figured that's what you use your memory for," Yellow said, smirking.

She smiled. "When you stand around in court all day, you don't have that many options. And I think it's important," she added more seriously.

She nodded briefly, a small frown on her face.

"I take it neither of you know her personally though," Pearl said.

"No," Blue agreed, "I just talked to her the once. She seemed interested in the projections though, so…it's not surprising to see her."

"I see." Pearl drummed her fingers lightly against her leg. "I think it would be best to focus our efforts on replying then. It's doubtful Homeworld would try and trick us like this—acknowledging the mere possibility that Pearls could think for themselves is too dangerous to the status quo."

"And she wouldn't contact us for no reason," Yellow concluded. "So let's get to work."

Yellow and Pearl began their work on the equipment immediately, Greg offering a little bit of help before he had to head back to the car wash. Peridot had volunteered her assistance as well, but they'd decided it would best for her to continue work on the ship, the others tagging along to help out.

Blue mulled over the message they'd just received, playing it back a couple times via projection. An alliance. An alliance meant progress—it meant that at least some of the many Pearls had come together, and that was amazing. She didn't know how they'd done it, but she knew full well there were ways to slip away. It was hardly unreasonable that, with a combined effort, it would be possible to find the time and minimal resources needed to put out that call.

But most importantly, they weren't alone.

She pressed a hand to her gem, reminded of the Pearls she'd kept there. Things are changing, she wanted to tell them. I'm sorry you couldn't see it happen.

Blue dragged her fingers through the sand, cringing a little at the feel of it. She needed to bury them soon, she decided. She needed to let them rest so she could focus on helping their surviving sisters on Homeworld. Her immediate thought was to talk to Yellow about finding time for it, but…last time they'd had any real discussion about that, it had caused a huge misunderstanding. She had no desire to bring up those memories again, or to make Yellow uncomfortable.

She could do this alone.

She could, but she didn't want to.

It felt selfish to ask for that kind of favor. Yes, she'd asked Yellow to fuse with her just recently, but that had been something that was more about them than just Blue wanting something for herself. She needed the closure, and Yellow didn't.

"Is there a reason you're lurking around?" Yellow asked over her shoulder when Pearl went back into the temple to fetch supplies.

Blue jumped, startled. "Oh, sorry."

"It was a question, not a complaint."

She relaxed a little and went over to join Yellow, stepping carefully around the wires. "How's it coming along?" she asked.

"Slowly," Yellow replied with a shrug, turning to give Blue a closer look. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" Blue said quickly.

"You look upset."

"I'm not."

"If this is about fusion…" she began uncertainly.

"It's not about fusing," Blue said, waving off her concern. "I'm fine. We're fine."

"Okay," Yellow said doubtfully. "What then?"

"I…I'd like to ask you something."

She waited.

"I mean…I'd like to ask you to do something," Blue corrected herself. "I just wasn't sure if that was alright."

"Of course it's alright," Yellow replied easily, giving her a strange look.

"It's just—You're not going to like it."

She narrowed her eyes. "Is this another terrible idea that highlights your complete lack of self-preservation skills?"

"No," Blue said defensively. "It's a favor, that's all."

"Then tell me what it is and I'll tell you if I hate it enough to say no."

She lowered her eyes. "I-I'd like you to come with me when I bury the other Pearls," she murmured.

Yellow remained silent for a few moments, and Blue started to worry she shouldn't have asked until she heard a quiet "I can do that."

"You will?" she asked, looking up in surprise.

"Yeah." She flashed a quick smile that ended up looking more like a smirk. "I still think you were half-cracked to do something like that in the first place, but I understand it's important even if I don't understand why."

"Thank you," Blue said, one hand clasped in front of her gem. "Thank you so much."

"Now can I get back to figuring out how this infernal tech functions?"

"Sure. Need any help?"

Yellow held up one piece out of the messy tangle of equipment. "Do you have any idea what this thing is?"

"Not a clue. Why don't you ask Pearl when she gets back?"

"Because whenever I ask Pearl anything about this junk, I wind up having to listen to some dramatic retelling of an adventure she and Rose Quartz had ages ago. I don't want a story; I want to know what in the stars it does!"

"I like her stories," Blue said, laughing as Yellow made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. "And, well, I think she likes having other Pearls to talk to."

"I don't mind her talking," Yellow relented. "I'd just prefer the explanation come at the beginning of the story instead of the end."

"Fair enough," she laughed, "though I think you've been annoying her just as much with your music tastes."

"Oh, I know, that was on purpose."

"Yellow."

"It was Amethyst's idea, not mine."

Blue snorted. "Of course it was. Do you actually like that stuff?"

"Yes," she replied, offended. "What's the matter with it?"

"Nothing, nothing! It's just surprising. Very anti-Homeworld of you though; I like it."

"I always hated court music," Yellow said with a small shrug.

"I can tell."

"Stop teasing and help me with this."

"What can I do for you?" Blue sang, grinning.

"Oh my stars," she muttered, blushing as she turned back to the equipment. "Never mind."

It took approximately five hours for them to work out how to do it. Connecting the wailing stone to the TV was easy, since that had been done before, but feeding a signal back through another wailing stone to transmit a message back—in real time—was significantly more difficult.

Pearl took the lead, directing Yellow through the process and going through some of the Crystal Gems' old things to find more technology that might help make the wailing stone compatible. Meanwhile, Blue watched and practiced her summoning—nothing, still, but she was hardly going to consider giving up with the fresh reminder of all the Pearls back on Homeworld.

"Done!" Pearl declared happily, standing up and dusting some sand and dirt off her clothes.

"I'm not entirely sure how we got that done," Yellow muttered, glaring at the collection of gem and human technology that had been weaved together with an excessive amount of wire, "but there it is." She crawled out of the mess and flopped down on the sand. "It better work, because I refuse to go through all of that again."

"Oh, it wasn't so bad," Pearl laughed, waving her hand. "Back in the rebellion, we had far less to work with! Now that was a real challenge!"

"You can work with this ancient junk all you want, Renegade, but I'm not touching it."

Pearl clicked her tongue, sharing a conspiratorial look with Blue. "Gems today…"

Blue snorted.

Yellow tilted her head back to shoot Blue an indignant glare. "I should be the one complaining here."

"You are the one complaining," she said fondly, poking the point of Yellow's hair.

"Yes, I am," she said haughtily, waving Blue's hand away. "And stop that."

"It's fun."

"You have your own hair to play with."

"My hair's annoying. Yours and Pearl's—it just stays up. I like it." She gathered her own hair and pulled it upwards.

Yellow took one look at her and clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sharp laughter that burst from her chest.

Pearl, likewise, did a poor job of concealing her amusement. "I'm not sure that's quite the renegade look you'll want."

Blue rolled her eyes, letting it fall back down messily and fixing her clips. "Fine, fine," she said lightly, laughing. "I'll be less drastic about it whenever I do change," she conceded.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Yellow replied, sitting up. "Now are we going to just sit here being silly or are we going to get some training in?"

"I thought you were taking a break," Pearl commented.

"I was, but if you two are going to team up on me I'd rather it be in a sparring match so I can get something useful out of it."

"You know," Pearl said, eyes lighting up, "I think that sounds like an excellent challenge."

"Oh stars, I didn't actually mean—"

"It'll do wonders to prepare you," she continued, already pulling her spear out. "Let's head back to the arena!"

"I'm going to kill her," Yellow muttered to Blue as they followed Pearl back inside.

"I'm glad you're getting along," Blue laughed.

"What part of I'm going to kill her makes you think we're getting along?"

"You complain about her like you complain about me. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign."

Yellow shot her a rather ineffective glare. "How can I politely say 'shut up' without actually meaning for you to shut up?"

"You're sweet."

"You're a pain."

"Thank you."

It was almost a full day before the wailing stone went off again, Garnet warping into the arena to tell the three of them just before it happened.

"Who should talk to her?" Pearl asked as they arrived back at the house and hurried out to the van. "It probably—hello, Greg—ought to be Blue, but I can stick around to help with the equipment if you like."

"I can handle it," Yellow said. "You're supposed to go help the others transport some of Rose Quartz's old—ahem, I mean Era 1—weapons, right?"

"That was our plan, but…"

"We can take care of things here," Blue reassured her. "It's probably best not to have a whole crowd of gems here anyway."

"You're right," Pearl agreed. "Well, you know how to find us should you need anything. Try not to break the van; I just did some tune-ups." She patted both of them on the shoulder, double-checked the equipment one last time, and hurried back inside.

"So I'm guessing you guys need me to get out of your hair now," Greg said lightly, putting away the guitar he'd been strumming.

"Out of…um…?" Blue exchanged a confused look with Yellow, just as the wailing stone started emitting a slightly dampened screech.

"We're unfamiliar with that colloquialism, but I believe the answer is yes," Yellow said quickly. "Thank you for letting us use your transportation machinery; we'll remove the communication system and give it back once we're certain this works."

"Hey, no problem," he replied. "Good luck!"

Left alone, Yellow hurried to get everything in place while Blue turned on the television screen.

She was greeted immediately by the sight of a Pearl—a different one than last time. Her hair was long, swept back from her face so messily that she looked more like a Quartz than a Pearl at first glance. Blue's eyes were drawn immediately to the off-center gem on her forehead, distinctive enough to identify her with. Her gem, eyes, and skin were all a striking black against an almost identically dark sleeveless outfit with gold and silver accents. Blue recognized her as someone she'd talked to—she'd belonged to an Obsidian—though she'd been strangely absent for quite some time and Blue had assumed she'd been shattered.

"Transmitting on Homeworld frequency 48031 to former colony planet Earth," the Pearl said, reaching for something off-screen. "If you're receiving this, please respond."

"We're receiving!" Blue said quickly. "Can you hear me?"

"No, she can't hear you," Yellow said, rolling her eyes. She took the headset Pearl had scavenged from Amethyst's room and stuck it on Blue's head. "Try it now."

"Hello? Hello, can you hear me?" she repeated.

"We're receiving you," the Pearl said, surprise evident on her face.

"Good, that's good! Hold on just a minute, we're trying to get the camera—oh, thank you," Blue said as Yellow stuck the small webcam in front of her and adjusted it to make sure she was properly on screen. "Can you see me now?"

"Negative."

Yellow smacked her controls irritably.

"Wait, no, got it." The Pearl on screen looked back and forth curiously. "It is you," she said, barely concealing her shock.

Blue nodded. "We're both here. Yellow," she said, beckoning her over.

"Hey," Yellow said, leaning into the frame briefly. She made an annoyed tsk sound and grabbed the microphone on Blue's headset, leaning in close to repeat the greeting. "Hey. Yes, we made it here in one piece." She paused. "Where are you and how are you calling us?"

The other Pearl took a second to respond—likely because of a slight delay from their equipment—and then nodded. "We have a makeshift communications hub—I'd rather not divulge our exact location. A couple of us knew the tech well enough to start up the equipment."

"You—wait, what?"

"Yellow," Blue said patiently, pushing her away, "if you'd like to do the talking, I'll just give you the headset."

"I just want to know what's going on," she said.

"I was about to ask."

"Okay, fine, I'll watch the equipment and make sure everything keeps working." She darted in again to grab the microphone. "This transmission is secure, right?"

"Yes, as secure as it can be." The other Pearl sounded mildly irritated.

"Good." Yellow let go and went back over to the controls, leaving Blue to readjust the headset with a faint smile.

"How many of you are there?" she asked, keeping her voice soft and friendly.

"Hold on," the Pearl said, holding up a finger. She leaned off screen for a moment. "Aura! Hey! I got it working!" she shouted.

Blue winced at the volume, but kept her eyes on the screen. To her surprise, another Pearl—the one who had contacted them the first time—bounded into view, leaning in close to the camera.

"It's really her!" she said excitedly. "I mean, hello," she said, blushing as she backed up, dipping her head and lifting one hand to wave at Blue.

"Hello," Blue replied, smiling. "It's good to see you again."

"Oh, you remember me," she said, sounding pleased. "I go by Aura now," she offered shyly. "Aureate, like gold."

"It suits you," she said kindly. "You can call me Blue."

"You use colors too!" Aura's face lit up. "Most of us do as well. We weren't really sure what to do about distinguishing ourselves, and it seemed like the easiest route. Oh, and this is Chroma." She pointed to the Pearl beside her.

"Nice to see you again too," Blue offered.

"Nice to see you," Chroma returned perfunctorily. Her eyes flicked between Blue and Aura, settling on the latter. "You can take care of the talking, right?"

Aura smiled and pressed a closed fist to the pearl on her stomach. "I can."

Chroma returned the gesture—hand to forehead—and nodded once to Blue before disappearing off-screen.

"If I can ask," Blue tried again carefully, "how many of you are there? And…how exactly are you there?"

Aura hesitated. "Well, there's about two dozen of us right now. We're mostly runaways and rescues—Pearls that were sent to be harvested."

"How…?"

"Resources are stretched thinner than usual…the higher-ups don't really have time to make sure everyone's being shattered, so we take advantage of that whenever we can." She looked down for a moment, then back up. "Oh, but that's just the Pearls that are here full-time. There are lots more that are still in service! They do what they can to help the rebellion too."

"That's…amazing," she breathed. They really had built the beginnings of a revolution.

"It is," Aura agreed, smiling. "I wish I had time to tell you more, but…"

"But you need to be careful," Blue finished. "You're right. What was it you needed to tell us?"

"We just received word from Yellow Diamond's court," she said. "There's…well, there's a lot happening here and we're fairly certain that's why she hasn't been able to spare any gems yet to go retrieve the Jasper she sent before—or investigate anything else. But she's scheduled in a new mission. The ship will be arriving on Earth in…um, just a moment, sorry." Aura leaned sideways, whispering a question to someone nearby before straightening up again. "Thanks," she said before turning back to Blue. "About one Earth month."

"That long?" Blue asked, though a feeling of dread was already settling in her chest.

"It's not long at all," Aura said, looking puzzled. "That's why we wanted to contact you."

Right, Blue realized. She's gotten so used to Earth and how fast everything moved here that she'd forgotten that mindset—on Homeworld, there was no shortage of time. It was a streamlined planet, with everyone in their place and no limits of day or night. There was no immediate rush when it came to conquering planets. It was a little odd for Yellow Diamond to delay, simply because that was atypical of her as an individual, but it could easily be explained by the discovery of another planet that could provide more resources than a trip to Earth.

"I wish we could do more to help," Aura offered.

"No, no, thank you for contacting us," Blue said. "It means we'll be more prepared."

She nodded. "We'll get you more information whenever we receive it, I promise."

"Thanks." She smiled and held up a hand. "I'll talk to you later. Be careful, alright?"

"We'll try." Aura touched her gem once more. "We honor your service," she said, a faint melody in the words. It gave the impression of one of the set phrases Pearls often used, but Blue didn't recognize it.

She hesitated, then lifted her fist to her gem to copy the gesture. "And I yours," she returned awkwardly.

Aura laughed, though there was no hint of unkindness in it. "It's 'I honor your bravery' actually, but thank you."

"Sorry," Blue said with a smile. "I honor your bravery."

Service they've chosen and the bravery to act. She never expected her quiet rebellion to come so far in such a short time.

"Goodbye," Aura said with a little wave.

"Bye," she echoed.

The screen went blank and Blue felt Yellow sit down beside her, their shoulders brushing just a bit.

"You did a better job kick-starting a rebellion than I thought," Yellow commented lightly.

"It's not just me," Blue said with a small smile. "It's everyone. It's finally…" She took a deep breath. "It's finally happening."

"You're alright?"

"More than alright," she laughed, pressing her fingers to her lips. "Come on," she said, excitement lighting up her eyes, "we have to tell Pearl and the others!"

"And warn them their planet's going to be under attack in a few weeks."

"That too." Blue clenched a fist determinedly. "We'll be ready."

She followed Blue's quick strides back to the temple, hiding a smile. "Yes, we will."