"Make sure you're careful."

It was the third time Caddy had said it, and White didn't dignify this repetition with a response any more than the last one. She didn't get why gems felt the need to say things more than once—it didn't accomplish anything.

Actually, she really didn't need to be talking to Caddy at all right now; she wasn't imparting anything new that warranted White sticking around to hear it. She should just head out on her mission already.

"Hey, I'm serious, okay? Don't go all self-sacrificial, alright?"

"Contrary to what everyone seems to think, being inclined to take risks doesn't make me inclined to unnecessary heroics," White replied in as neutral a tone as she could manage. "I'll get the job done." Stars, she wished they'd stop making such a fuss about her.

"Okay, okay, I hear you. Just saying." There was obvious relief on Caddy's face as she smiled, and White wasn't sure why her own emotions suddenly wanted to mirror that.

It wasn't like it mattered how Caddy felt about this mission. She didn't have anything to do with it; she was just inserting herself into White's life like she always did.

Time to get moving, White decided, and she turned to go.

"Hey," Caddy said, a little louder than she should have when they were only a room away from their Diamonds. "Good luck. You got this."

White didn't know what to say to that, so she just lifted her hand in a lazy goodbye. It was more than she usually did, and she tried not to react to the happy little noise Caddy made before her whispered farewell followed White out of the hall.

White liked the rebellion. The idea had appealed to her from the very beginning, because why would she want to give her loyalty to a Diamond that would shatter her without a thought? There were better gems to be loyal to.

At the core though, White's loyalty wasn't really to a gem at all. It wasn't that she had anything against Crimson—she was a good leader, as far as she could tell—but she didn't have time to find a gem to admire or look up to or even just be friends with. She respected Crimson, but she was just part of a larger picture of rebellion in White's mind that she promised she'd do her best to aid in the time she had.

But Crimson gave the orders, and White had no problem following them on occasion.

Projector Pearls, the older Pearl had explained to her. She'd kept it short and succinct, the way White liked it, but the concept was foreign and not of great concern anyway. Something before her time. Whatever kind of Pearls they were, White would rescue them, bring them back to the rebellion so they'd have a chance at a decent life.

She'd brought a bag with her, a colorful roundish thing that Steven had called a backpack, and Crimson had added in some more cushioning to try and lessen the possibility of damaging the gems in case anything happened as White was transporting them.

These would be dissipated Pearls, with minimal security given to them once the potentially sensitive information on their gems was wiped, so Crimson thought it would be safe enough to try and rescue them, intercept them before they got harvested. If anyone had asked White, she'd have said they should have tried to get them before their gems were wiped so they'd have rescued Pearls and gotten some information at the same time, but that was too risky. Not to mention it was harder to steal away with a group of Pearls than with their gems.

So White waited, as she'd been told.

The process was taking place in Facet Three, one of White Diamond's facets, so White didn't have too far to go to get to the right place. The tunnels took her almost straight there, and she walked the last bit of the journey on the surface, her steps purposeful but reined in so she didn't look too purposeful for a Pearl.

The hallways were a middling sort of busy, with a comfortable number of gems to go unnoticed in. White slipped away into a room beside the one the other Pearls would be in and shut the door. Crouching close to the wall, she listened to see if she'd be able to hear what was going on.

No, she discovered quickly. Unless the process and all gems involved were impossibly quiet, the place was soundproofed. A lot of Homeworld had updated rooms to be that way—less distractions. In White's case though, it meant she had to find another way in to eavesdrop.

Her eyes traveled up to the ceiling, searching. There, near one corner, was a trapdoor that would take her up into the crawl space designed for the little gems that ran maintenance. It'd be a little bit of a tight fit, but it would get her where she needed to go.

White bent her knees, then jumped up as high as she could. Her fingers grazed the touch pad to open it and then snagged on just in time to keep her from dropping back to the floor. It yanked her arm unpleasantly and she could just see Silver saying she ought to come to training more to build up some strength.

All the same, she pulled herself up with a little effort and crawled forward as stealthily as possible in the narrow tunnel. Her skirt snagged briefly on something sharp and she shapeshifted it off impatiently, getting rid of the spikes on top of her leotard at the same time since the tunnel was uncomfortable enough without having to worry about poking herself.

Off to the right, that should be the room she needed. White inched along carefully. No noise. She had to be absolutely silent, or some other gem might hear her.

Thankfully, that also meant she could hear them. It was ridiculously easy to catch what everyone was saying from there.

"Are you finished yet?" That was an Agate, probably. White didn't like Agates. There was one that always looked at her funny in court, like she wanted to steal her for her own. Preposterous notion, but all the same, White tried to avoid her. She might not have been made for a good life, but at least she was assured a quick execution instead of the long, drawn out years of awfulness that other Pearls had to endure. Everything in White's life was quick, and she liked it that way.

"There's still three more to go," another gem answered below her. Couldn't place that one, but probably a Peridot or something there to make sure whatever device they were using did its job.

"Three?"

"Two! Two now, this one just finished." There was fear in the gem's voice. "There's a lot of information on some of their gems and White Diamond said—"

"You don't need to remind me what she said," the Agate said impatiently. "Just get it done, and then leave them to get collected. I'm leaving two Citrines outside; I can't stand around here all day."

"Understood!"

Three gems total then. Good to know. She listened to the Agate leaving and catalogued the sound in her mind so she'd be able to tell when the room was empty. Having the Citrines outside was handy. White could just wait for the last gem to leave, drop down and grab the Pearls, and get out without anyone noticing a thing. Perfect.

It was only a few minutes before she heard the whir of machinery and a mumbled "Last one."

Only a little longer to wait now.

White stayed perfectly still, silent. She closed her eyes so she could focus only on sound. She hated waiting, hating the nothingness of it when there were so many other possible things to try doing, but this was what the rebellion wanted from her. She'd make sure it got done.

She waited. And waited.

She began to worry that she had missed something, some noise. The other Pearl hadn't taken very long, so… Should she assume she just missed it somehow? Go down anyway?

She was off schedule. Off schedule by a lot now, she realized. Which she didn't really care about except that she needed to put in an appearance with her Diamond. Was she already late for that? She had to be. But she couldn't just leave and come back, because then she might not be able to—

"Stars, she'll have my gem if I don't report back soon…"

White just barely managed to catch herself from flinching at the sudden words.

"Stupid Pearl."

Was that footsteps? Was she leaving? The door was opening again.

"Citrine," White heard next, the voice farther away now. "You two stay here. The last Pearl is being wiped but it'll be a while longer. Check in regularly to see if it's completed and then notify me promptly."

Well. This was going to be a problem.

White didn't have time to waste laying in this maintenance tunnel, not if she wanted to make it back to her Diamond's side in time. After she grabbed the Pearls here, she had planned to stash them in one of the tunnels, make a brief appearance at her Diamond's rooms as scheduled, and then rush back to base as soon as she was dismissed. Waiting for this last Pearl would be way too long of a delay.

But the room was empty now anyway… Well, nothing like a bit of improvisation. White wriggled forward, opened the door down into the room, and peeked out to confirm that it was safe. Then she repositioned herself and dropped down to the floor.

One glance around the room told her everything she needed to know. One Pearl hooked up to the strange machine, about eight others dissipated and lying in a pile. White went for the latter first, since she knew for sure she could take those. They were hurriedly stuffed into the backpack she'd brought in her gem, blanketed in layers of cloth so that they wouldn't clink together in transit and get hurt—or give her away.

White slung the bag over her shoulders and then made her way to the unpoofed Pearl.

"Hey," she said, not bothering to lower her voice. Soundproofing worked both ways. "Hey, you. Can you hear me?"

The Pearl was drooping in the chair, the pink gem on her wrist flickering erratically as the machine continued humming.

"Hey, Pearl. Pearl. You've got to wake up." White didn't get a response. She didn't know whether it would be safe to just yank the Pearl out of there, didn't know what the machine might do, but clearly that was her only option. Whatever it did, it couldn't be worse than the fate this Pearl had already been assigned. "Okay, let's go."

White ripped her wrist away from the machine and yanked her forward, to come tumbling down to the floor. That, at least, seemed to rouse her a little.

"Wh-What…?"

"I need you to be very quiet."

"What?"

"Quiet. You make a sound and they'll shatter the both of us. You hear me?"

The Pearl nodded mutely, the movement drowsy.

"Good." White took off the backpack and switched it around so the pack was nestled against her chest instead. "Get on my back."

The pink Pearl wasn't much help in that endeavor, but White managed to get her up, get her arms up around her neck and her legs at her waist. She seemed to have trouble keeping a grip on White, so she shifted some extra fabric at the top of her leotard and looped it tightly around the other Pearl's loosely linked hands.

"Quiet," she said again. She hated repeating things, but she didn't trust this half-conscious Pearl to remember it.

"Qui…et."

"Right. No matter what."

White felt the Pearl tense a little at that, but she ignored it. The real challenge now was going to be getting both of them up into the crawlspace.

She jumped once in place, trying to get a feel for how to do it with all the extra weight attached to her. "Okay," she muttered, positioning herself right below the opening. "Here goes."

Her first jump got her to the ceiling, but just short of where she needed to be. As soon as her feet were back on the ground, she jumped again, not wanting to waste time in case the Citrines decided to check in. They probably wouldn't bother, but White wasn't going to push it. This time she nearly made it, her hand almost catching on the side of the opening, but she didn't have enough of a grip and her nails were yanked back painfully as her fingers slipped.

"Fuck."

You're wasting time. You've already wasted too much time. This was supposed to be in and out.

"Quiet…"

The murmur from behind her came as a surprise, but it made White smile a little. "Yeah. You're right. Quiet."

One more. All the strength in her legs, all her strength to carry double her own weight. Yes. It occurred to her briefly as she dragged herself all the way in that it would be much easier to do this kind of thing if you could just put Pearls in your gem. A Pearl in a Pearl in a Pearl… Sounded like a weird joke. A silly, Cadmium kind of joke, she decided. Stars, she really was rubbing off on White.

It was decidedly difficult to crawl through with another Pearl on her back, but it wasn't impossible. Just slow. Slow was equally dangerous, and White decided not to think about that. Worrying wouldn't speed her up, only effort.

She projected a map of the area from her gem, then overlaid another on top of it, showing all the underground tunnel entrances she knew about. She needed to get to a room with one of those and there was no way she could risk moving through the regular hallways like this. Quick searching found the nearest one and White quickly continued in that direction. It was guesswork getting to the right room, but it was controlled guesswork.

This should be it, she thought as she finally reached another opening. She waited an impatient ten seconds to listen for voices and then opened the panel. No one there, good. White maneuvered awkwardly through it, accidentally banging the other Pearl against the edge once but otherwise making it out unscathed.

The pink Pearl's hold on her was jostled as they dropped to the floor, and White quickly grabbed for her legs to make sure she didn't fall off. Then she lowered her to the floor and hurried to open up the trapdoor that would take them into the tunnels.

"Down here," she whispered, grabbing the Pearl again and dragging her towards the exit. "You're going to fall, but stay quiet."

The Pearl's eyes narrowed slightly at the statement but White didn't give her time to process it, just pushed her through. There was a small thud, but the Pearl, true to her word, made no sound.

White jumped in after her, landing nimbly on her feet, and slammed her hand onto the panel that would close the entrance. "Okay," she said, hastily taking off the backpack and passing it to the pink Pearl. "You hold onto this. Just sit right there, don't move. And don't make too much noise—these tunnels are kinda soundproofed but nowhere near as good as they can do nowadays. Got it?"

"Got…it."

"You wait right here. If I don't come back, you go straight down that way until you find the place where it branches into two paths. Stay near there and wait. If you see Yellow Diamond's Pearl, Blue Diamond's Pearl, or a red Pearl with a gem in her right shoulder, talk to them. They'll help you."

"What… Why?"

"Why doesn't matter right now. I have to go." White shapeshifted her outfit back to its normal state and took off immediately, gem hot with anxiety she was usually able to ignore.

Have to get back.

She was glad the tunnels spat her out right next to her Diamond's quarters. If they didn't… Well, she didn't have time to think about what ifs when there was a very real danger straight ahead of her.

White opened the door, suddenly feeling dwarfed by the humongous scale of this room compared to the tunnels.

"Pearl."

She was, most definitely, late.

White Diamond's visage was very rarely angry, unlike Cadmium's Diamond, but White knew how to recognize her displeasure all too well. This wasn't quite anger, her irritation not escalated that far, but one wrong move might get her there.

"Pearl, your tardiness is unacceptable. Come over here at once."

"Yes, my Diamond. My apologies, My Diamond." White ducked her head and hurried over as fast as she could.

"Don't do that." Giant fingers reached for White, scooped her up effortlessly into a loosely curled fist. "Wear your service proudly at all times, little Pearl. You belong to me, after all."

"Yes, my Diamond." She lifted her head once more, stared back dispassionately, fought back her panic as a heavy thumb swept over her gem.

"Good. Now explain yourself. I've so missed your dancing."

The words were light, airy, but that wasn't the truth. White might have fallen for it if she were any other gem, if she didn't know the intricacies of her Diamond after spending every day by her side. Her paranoia seemed so desperately obvious once you recognized it.

"My apologies, my Diamond," White repeated, not breaking eye contact this time. "I discovered that one of the hallways outside had become dirtied and stopped to clean it so that it wouldn't detract from your brilliant presence." If she wasn't terrified, it would have been impossible to keep a straight face.

"Hm." The suspicion in White Diamond's eyes eased, but not all the way. "Very well, Pearl. But next time, you are to report here first."

"Yes, my Diamond."

"Yes," she echoed, lowering her hand to the floor to set White down. "Dance for me now."

And White danced like her life depended on it.

Her Diamond was satisfied only two dances later, and then she dismissed White curtly, interest no longer held by her newest trinket. "That was exquisite. You are dismissed."

Exquisite. A compliment, but not one White was sure she wanted. At least it meant she was safe for another couple days probably. Maybe less once her Diamond received the news about the missing projector Pearls…but there was every chance the Agate in charge would keep it quiet for her own sake anyway.

"We will have guests occupying the rooms in the south hall soon, Pearl. See to it that they're spotless."

"Yes, my Diamond."

White cleaned one room and then took off. She could finish the rest later.

Back down in the tunnels, she felt like herself again. She ducked into the nearest entrance and hurried back to where she'd left the pink Pearl.

She hadn't moved from her seat on the dingy tunnel floor, the backpack clutched awkwardly to her chest. She jumped when White appeared, then relaxed a little, though she continued to stare at her suspiciously.

"Okay, let's get going," White said, taking the backpack. She settled it carefully between her shoulders. "You look more awake now. Can you walk?"

The pink Pearl didn't answer.

"Hey. We have to get going."

"Where?"

"Somewhere nice," White said impatiently. "Come on."

"What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. Are you walking or not?"

The Pearl's lips parted slightly, then pinched shut.

"I take it that's a no," White concluded. A lot of Pearls seemed to have trouble saying that word—too foreign to them. "Up we go then." She scooped the pink Pearl up under her arm.

"Hey!" The Pearl was still careful to keep her voice down, but it was far more indignant than scared now. "Put me down!"

Well, she might have trouble with no, but she certainly didn't have any qualms about giving orders when she wanted to. White tightened her grip just in case she started squirming, though the Pearl was still rather limp from whatever the machine had tried to do to her.

"Not happening," White said calmly. "You can decide what you want to do when we get there."

"Get where?"

"Facet Eleven."

"Why are we going to Facet Eleven?"

"Because that's where base is. Can you be quiet now?"

The pink Pearl huffed and fell silent.

White picked up her pace, settling it somewhere between speed-walking and running. The tunnel would get them out to Facet Seven, but there were still plenty of places to get caught out there. Not to mention it was a little difficult walking all that way carrying another Pearl.

When they got as far as the tunnel system would take them, White set the Pearl down for a moment to take a breather. A very short breather, because she knew it was stupid to be doing this when she'd just given her Diamond every reason to be suspicious of her absence. She gathered the Pearl back up again and ignored the small hmph! that escaped her.

Another ten minutes and they were safe enough that she told the other Pearl she could stop being quiet. That was definitely a mistake, because then she was just rewarded with a bunch of weak flailing and instructions to put her down and explain what was going on.

"They'll explain when we get there," White said impatiently, and then steadfastly ignored her for the rest of the walk back.

She was incredibly relieved when she finally arrived at base and hurried inside.

"Crimson, delivery!" White shut the door behind her and scanned the entryway, finding no one there. Maybe she'd be able to just drop the Pearls off and disappear before she got a lecture.

"Put me down! Down!" the Pearl she was holding insisted for what must have been the thousandth time.

"Okay," she agreed, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor. "See? I told you I'd take you somewhere nice, so—"

"White!" Caddy came bursting out of the common room. "Where have you been?"

"On my mission," she answered calmly, pointing to the new Pearl.

"Oh, hi there, great to have you. Please hold on a sec, I have a lot to say to her."

The new Pearl didn't answer her, shuffling quietly sideways when she could see their attention was back on each other.

"Can you hurry it up?" White asked, slipping the backpack off her shoulders and thrusting it into Caddy's arms. "Here, that's the rest of them."

"Whoa, hold up," Caddy protested, taking hold of the backpack carefully. "You want me to hurry? You're the one who's been gone way too long!"

"Don't exaggerate."

"I'm not exaggerating! I thought you might have been caught!"

"I wasn't."

"That's not the point!"

"Then tell me the point," White said impatiently. "I don't see what you're so upset about. Crimson told me to get the Pearls and I got the Pearls. There was a complication with the last one, that's all. My Diamond doesn't suspect anything." Yet.

"Oh yeah?" Caddy challenged her. "Then why did I have to cover for you when she called mine wondering where you were?"

"You didn't have to. I didn't ask you to cover for me. Besides, I took care of it."

"You—Stars, White! You don't have to ask! That's just what we do!"

"It's what you and Sky do, you mean."

"No, I mean it's what we do, White. You included."

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"The rebellion needs Yellow Diamond's Pearl and Blue Diamond's Pearl more than it needs White's. It's stupid to try and cover for me, Cadmium. They need the intel you're getting them."

Caddy was practically trembling with frustration. "You can call me stupid all you want, but I'm not going to apologize for looking out for you! I'm not! I will never, ever apologize for that! You're important too!"

White didn't know what to say to that. She didn't know what Caddy expected from her.

"I know none of us have been around that long," she continued, voice wavering, "but come on, White. You know what the rebellion stands for, and it's not…it's not this. However you justify it in that clever gem of yours, it's not. We're equals. It doesn't matter how long any of us live, we're all equals and we all take care of each other."

What do you think I'm doing? The question rose bitter in White's throat but she swallowed it back down, fighting to keep her cool. But really, why did Cadmium think she was trying to cram so much into her short life? She might be a thrill seeker but that wasn't the only reason she did this stuff. She wouldn't have worded it like take care of each other, but—but that was what she was doing. Wasn't that obvious? She was taking care of everything she could for them before she was gone. Whatever she could do, she wanted to do it. Even small things, the "junk" she brought back most days was worth something to a rebellion made up of Pearls who brought very little with them.

"Don't you ever want more?" Caddy pleaded.

"Some Pearls don't get more."

Caddy just looked at her. Stared. Caught her bottom lip in her teeth like that would somehow slow her always free-flowing words. "Well, I wish you'd fight for it all the same."

I am. White didn't say that either, didn't want to admit that the only "fighting" she was truly capable of was playing obedient to her Diamond and trying to give her reasons—in between the real, more important excursions—why she should keep White around.

"White, is that you?"

The two of them were interrupted by Crimson, who came hurrying out to meet them.

"I'm glad you're safe," she continued, relieved. "Can you stay and fill us in?"

"No." The word came out louder than White intended, but she tried to stay composed all the same. "I can't. I got all the Pearls out, all dissipated except this one." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

"…Which one?" Crimson asked slowly.

White turned and was shocked by the sudden absence of the pink Pearl that had been behind her. "Uh, well, I guess she's around somewhere. She's kinda out of it, so I doubt she got very far."

"White," Crimson sighed exasperatedly.

"Blame Cadmium, she was being distracting."

"I have no doubt she was, but really, we can't just have a new Pearl wandering around on her own. She's probably terrified."

White shrugged uncomfortably.

"I'll have some of the others start searching," Crimson decided. "Anyway, are those the other Pearls?" she asked, pointing to the backpack Caddy was holding.

"Yep," the yellow Pearl said. "Where do you want me to take them, boss?"

"The infirmary, I think. I'll meet you over there in a bit, once we find this other Pearl."

"Gotcha."

"What color is she?"

"Um, pink. More like Azalea pink, not Millie pink. With a wrist gem."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"And White—" Crimson broke off, seeing that the other Pearl had vanished as soon as she'd turned her attention away. "I honor your service," she murmured.

"How do you lose an unpoofed Pearl?" Chroma asked, raising her eyebrows when Crimson appeared in the common room to ask everyone for help.

"Don't ask," she sighed. "Thanks, you guys," she said to the larger group that was beginning to disperse. "If you find her, take her to my office or someplace quiet."

"Will do!" Viri answered cheerfully, the others nodding along too.

"Thanks," she repeated. "Chroma, can you walk with me for a minute?"

"Sure. I was just going to ask you the same thing."

"Oh, alright. You first then."

"It's about Citrine," she began slowly as they headed out. "The fancy Pearl with her gem covered up who stormed out of training the other day?"

"I know who you mean," Crimson said tiredly. "You're actually not the first gem to talk to me. What did she say now?"

"What hasn't she said?" Chroma muttered. "Just—Just stuff about Silver and Aura. Stupid stuff they don't need to hear."

"What about you?" she asked softly.

"I've heard plenty worse than what Citrine can dish out." She paused. "Look, me and you and Sil, we've been on our own enough to not care as much, you know? But some of the others… They're still healing. They don't need another Pearl to come in and pick at their insecurities."

"Yeah, I hear you. I'll have a talk with her."

"Thanks. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, right. I just wanted to check in and see how everything's coming on the warp pad."

"Pretty good," she answered with a shrug. "Still got loads to do. Yellow, Blue, and Lavender are out taking the ship apart, so that'll give us more materials to work with. Oh! That reminds me, we're going to need to get over to Facet Five."

"Five?"

Chroma nodded. "The outskirts. We have to make sure that the warp pad signature doesn't get detected once we start using it."

"Makes sense. Is that something you need to do now, or after you have it built?"

"Anytime really. But it's probably better to do it now, that way we can start test runs whenever we're ready."

"We'll go with that then," Crimson decided.

"Great, thanks. Who can I take?"

"Well, I think I'll turn you over to Cyan for that part, if you don't mind. She's been putting together some small missions so far, getting to know everyone, so it'd be good for her to work on something that requires a little bit more strategy to it."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Chroma laughed a little. "I kind of forgot we have a tactician now. That's good though, it takes some things off your plate." She gave Crimson's arm a friendly squeeze. "I'll go talk to her and set it up then."

"Thanks."

"By the way, Pearl was asking if she could have a screen so she can study up on Era 2 tech," she added. "Is there one she can borrow?"

"I can lend her mine for a day or two at least. I'll take it over there now, do a quick sweep of the living halls for out new guest while I'm at it. Would you mind going over to the entrance, in case she tries to leave?"

"Yeah, no problem. And I'll talk to Cyan later and get back to you?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay, see you later."

"See you."

If she was honest, Crimson wasn't quite sure what to make of Pearl.

Labeling her as the Renegade was easy, but it was pretty clear she didn't want that defining her, especially since she'd gravitated immediately to building a warp pad over taking on a purely instructive role. And she'd shot down the idea of taking over a leadership position too. Crimson appreciated the level-headedness of that and she appreciated the chance to stay with what she was doing—she hadn't by any means volunteered to be in charge, but she was just starting to feel like she'd gotten the hang of it, that she was good at it even.

But in some ways, when Pearl wasn't busy with training or building, she seemed nearly as skittish as some of the new recruits. She didn't stick around in the common room unless the other Crystal Gems were there too, and even then she didn't seem totally comfortable amongst so many other Pearls. Perhaps it was just unfamiliarity? Crimson wasn't sure.

She swung by her own room to pick up the screen she'd left there and then headed down towards where the Crystal Gems were staying. She kept her eyes peeled for the missing Pearl, but she didn't seem to be on this side of the building. Oh well, she was sure the others would find her soon.

Crimson had nearly made it to Pearl's room when she bumped into Steven—literally, though thankfully she hadn't been moving fast enough for him to get hurt, just jump back with a startled "Oops!"

"Sorry!" Crimson said hastily, stepping back. "I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

"Yep, I'm okay, don't worry!"

"Sorry," she repeated with a small smile. "I should pay better attention. Or, well, I was paying attention, but I'm used to most gems being my height."

Steven laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"You haven't happened to see a pink Pearl around, have you?"

"No, sorry. Why?"

"White brought back someone new and she disappeared somewhere."

"Oh! Do you need help looking?"

"Sure, that'd be great," Crimson said gratefully. "Thanks. If you do find her, just let someone know and they'll come get me."

"Okay," Steven agreed. "Were you coming to ask Pearl to help too?"

"No, I just wanted to deliver something." For a moment, Crimson considered just giving him the screen to give to Pearl since he was already there, but before she could do that the door swished open beside them.

"Is everything alright?" Pearl asked, poking her head out.

"Oh, yes, hi," Crimson said hastily. "I was just—Chroma said you wanted to borrow one of these?" She offered up the screen.

"Oh, thank you." Pearl took it, then hesitated. "Do you have a moment? These have changed quite a bit since the last time I used them…"

"Sure," she agreed, surprised.

"Excellent. Steven, why don't you go find Amethyst and make sure she and Aura haven't eaten all the tea bags?"

"Can I do that after I help Crimson find the missing Pearl?"

"Ah…" Pearl glanced quickly to Crimson.

"Missing within the base," she clarified quickly, embarrassed. "It's, um, been an eventful day."

"Oh, alright. Yes, go ahead." Pearl placed a hand on Steven's head briefly.

"Okay, see you later!"

Pearl watched him run off to the other end of the hallway and then turn out of sight. "Come on in," she said, moving aside so Crimson could enter. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay." Crimson felt awkward standing there just inside the door, but Pearl hadn't made any real move to sit down or anything. "What's that?"

"I…" Pearl wrung her hands. "I'm not sure how to word this more delicately but…"

"You don't need to make it delicate."

"Yes. Alright." She sighed. "No one here is ready to fight in a rebellion."

"I know most of us don't have any experience but that's why we're training and—"

"No," Pearl interrupted. "None of you are ready. Garnet and I have seen firsthand what Homeworld can do, thousands of years ago or not. If you try and fight them, with only this much power and only this many gems, you'll all be shattered."

Crimson's gem went cold at the blunt words.

"And you are fighting in their territory. They will always have that advantage."

"I know," she said quietly. "I know all of that. Are you saying you think this is a lost cause?"

"No, I'm saying that you need to reevaluate. Right now, you're all acting like getting stronger and learning how to use a weapon is what'll save you, and it's not. What's going to save you is playing it smart. Finding a strategy. You need a long-term plan, and I haven't seen one."

Stars, Crimson felt like she'd been made yesterday when she was next to Pearl. She may have been amongst the oldest in the base originally, but Pearl had lived, what, nine times as long as she had? And by measure of experience, even more so.

"I'm not trying to criticize you," Pearl continued, "but I have no desire to see another group of good gems suffer because they underestimated the extent to which Homeworld will go to squash dissent. I will fight by your side, but I can't…" She drew in a labored breath. "I can't fight another war like that. If this turns into their forces against your—our forces, we will lose."

"I understand. I mean, I never planned on—I know we can't go asking for a fight." Crimson bit her lip. "I admire what I know of the Crystal Gems' rebellion, but…like you said, out and out war shouldn't be our first choice. I'm having everybody focus on training right now because—well, because we need it regardless, but also because I think it's best if they can have something solid to work on while we figure out what our long-term plan is."

Pearl nodded. "Which is a good call. I certainly didn't mean to discourage you from training. Just…" She sighed, sitting down in a chair. "I'd like to learn from our past mistakes. We did the best we knew how to at the time and we had a great many victories, but sometimes I go back and pick things apart and wonder if it might have ended differently had we taken another approach."

"You were the first truly successful rebellion. And you did save your planet. I think that's worth something." Crimson shrugged. "I know I'm no Rose Quartz, but I'll fight for my home just as hard as she did for hers."

Pearl shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"No, don't belittle yourself with comparisons. Rose was…Rose was what Earth needed. What the Crystal Gems needed. But I'm not sure she was ever what Pearls needed. I'm not sure I was what…" Tears began to well up in Pearl's eyes, and it took visible effort for her to force them back. "Never mind. What I'm trying to say is: I hope you can learn from us, but please don't copy us without critiquing our decisions."

Crimson nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay," Pearl repeated quietly.

"So would you be willing to strategize with us so we can figure a more solid plan than 'rescue all the Pearls'?" Crimson asked with a small smile.

"I would love to help."

"Thanks. And, um, Pearl?"

"Yes?"

"I'm interested in hearing more about the Crystal Gems' rebellion, both professionally and personally, so…feel free to come find me whenever?"

Pearl brightened a little, though her eyes were still teary. "I'll do that."

"Great." Crimson smiled, then gestured awkwardly to the screen that Pearl had set on the desk. "You don't need any help with that at all, do you?"

"No, I used one earlier and found it to be remarkably simplistic."

She laughed. "I'll leave you to it then."

"Thank you for bringing it by, Crimson."

"Yeah, thanks for talking to me. See you later."