Blue spent most of the day training, not really sure what else she should occupy herself with. She'd kind of wanted to sit in the common room and find someone to talk to, but then there'd been the tea party for Tangerine, and she didn't want to interrupt that. So instead she went back to the training room and sparred with Snow and a nameless orange Pearl. They were both definitely beginners and while Blue enjoyed the matches, she felt like she was doing more teaching than learning, which wasn't great when she still had a long way to go herself.

She wondered if Pearl might be up for a round or two instead, or a proper training session, or even just a conversation. She seemed to always be busy lately, while Blue was…decidedly not. Blue didn't have a clear role to fill here and that was fine, maybe it would take a little while, but she did need something to do as she tried to figure out what that role would be.

Yes, she'd go see Pearl. The other gem could probably use a distraction too; she'd been looking rather stressed ever since their arrival on Homeworld.

Blue found her, as expected, in the Crystal Gems' room. "Hey," she greeted her, smiling as the door opened. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Pearl said. "You're always welcome."

"Thanks." She stepped inside and glanced around, catching sight of the plans laid out neatly across the desk. "You're in the middle of something?"

"Nothing urgent. Why?"

"Um, well…" She pushed her hair back from her face, a gesture that was more habit than necessity. "I was wondering if we could keep doing some of the training that we started on Earth? With just the three of us, I mean. Or two, since Yellow's busy."

"Oh."

"Not that I don't enjoy the group training sessions," Blue said quickly. "But…I guess I miss it a little."

"I'm sorry," Pearl said. "I hadn't noticed. Or, no, that sounds silly, of course I noticed we'd stopped, I just—" She cut herself off abruptly, shaking her head. "I'd be happy to continue our training sessions."

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

Pearl nodded.

"Thanks." Blue hesitated, not quite sure whether How about right now? was an appropriate question. Instead, she found herself asking, "Um, you are…liking it here, right?"

"What?"

"The rebellion. You like being here?" Now that she was thinking about it, she began to worry. She was the one who'd asked Pearl to come.

Pearl sighed, hands wringing in front of her as she tried to formulate an answer. "I want to like it," she said finally.

"But you don't?"

"No. I do, I think." She gazed intently at a spot on the wall beside Blue and for a moment it seemed her mind had taken her somewhere else entirely.

"Then…?"

Pearl came back to the present, eyes jumping to Blue and then down to her own intertwined fingers. "It's hard not to feel guilty," she said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" She gestured vaguely, tears becoming visible in her eyes. "I gave up on them, didn't I?"

Blue stared at her, uncomprehending.

"I never believed that something like this would be possible. I didn't think Pearls could…" She drew in a shaky breath. "I don't even know how I rationalized that back then. It was sheer arrogance, thinking that it was only me out of all those thousands that could break free of my orders."

"Pearl," Blue said softly. "It's not like that."

"Isn't it? You believed they could do something."

"I believed we could," Blue corrected her, the emphasis gentle but firm, "because you showed me there was something else to choose."

"By chance."

"No. Or yes, maybe, but it wasn't only chance that got you through your rebellion or that made you agree to help me and Yellow after so long. It was you." She smiled faintly. "And it's okay if you didn't believe the whole time."

"It's not okay, it's—"

"What I believed," Blue interrupted, "was that someday things would happen, someday we'd take action. And—And I don't regret believing that, but I wish I'd met Yellow sooner. I wish I'd had her there a few thousand years earlier to make me actually set things into motion on my own instead of waiting. You know?"

"You still accomplished far more than I did for everyone."

"We accomplished it together, didn't we? And we got here in the end."

"I suppose we did," Pearl said quietly. "And I suppose it's one of those things I need to…to move on from."

Blue nodded. "I don't think anyone here would want you to feel guilty about it. If anything, they're just happy to have you around."

"Are they?"

"Can't you tell?" she teased gently. "What with Silver always trying to get your attention…"

Pearl laughed a little, swiping at her eyes.

"They really have been trying to get to know you."

"Have they?"

"Yeah." Blue's throat felt oddly tight as she answered. "Yeah, they definitely have."

"I guess I was too caught up in my own head." Pearl smiled faintly. "You really think they'd like it if I…"

"I think they'd be really happy."

"I'll try to do that then. I-I know I've been worrying Steven and the others too, but I didn't know how to explain it to them." She touched Blue's arm lightly. "I don't say it enough, but I'm very glad to have other Pearls in the Crystal Gems now."

"Thanks."

"Thank you." She glanced over to the notes on her desk. "I might take this over to one of the tables in the common room. Would you like to come?"

"Oh, um, no, it's okay. I should find something of my own to do." Training will have to be later, she realized, trying not to let her disappointment show.

"Alright. I'll see you later, Blue."

"See you later. Good luck."

Steven's face lit up the moment he saw Pearl come into the common room. "Hi!"

"Hello," she answered, catching his contagious smile. "I thought I'd come out here for a little bit."

"That's great!" He gave her a hug. "Missed you."

"Was I gone that long?" Pearl asked guiltily. She'd known she hadn't been as sociable around the other Pearls on base, but she hadn't realized it had affected Steven too. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's okay! I was just a little worried since you never come hang out in here like Garnet and Amethyst do."

"Ah, yes, I know. I'm going to be better about that from now on."

Steven nodded, giving her an encouraging smile. "I bet it's probably really weird for you to be back, so it's okay if you need time to adjust."

"That's…" She gazed down at him fondly. "Thank you, Steven."

"Yo, P!" Amethyst called. "Get over here already, Steven's got a present for you!"

"A what?" Pearl said, surprised.

"A present!" Steven confirmed.

"You better enjoy the special treatment," Garnet teased lightly. "Amethyst and I didn't get anything."

"You will, you will, I promise," Steven laughed, pulling at Pearl's hand to get her to follow him over. "Come on, it's over here. We were trying to clean it off for you."

"Oh?" Pearl began to be slightly concerned about what to expect from that disclaimer.

"Yeah, it's looking a lot better now," Steven said. He picked up something from the floor beside Garnet and held it out carefully in both hands. "Here you go!"

Her attempt at a polite smile quickly melted into a genuine one. "Oh, Steven," she breathed, leaning forward to look at the antique sword hilt being offered to her. "Thank you."

"You like it?"

"Of course I do," Pearl said. "It's beautiful. Do you know how old this must be?"

He shrugged, smiling. "I figured you would tell me."

And she did, immediately launching into gem history and the conception of this particular weapon type and a lot of things Steven didn't totally follow but was happy to listen to anyway. He got comfortable between Garnet and Amethyst as they watched her recount numerous details and pick up the sword hilt with just the very tips of her fingers to examine it enthusiastically.

"You picked a winner," Garnet whispered to Steven.

He giggled quietly. "I didn't know she'd like it this much."

Amethyst bumped his shoulder. "'Course she does, you gave her somethin' to add to her sword collection. And it's from you, so it's automatically better."

"And it would be rare to even find part of one," Garnet added.

"Ooh, I'll have to tell Violet next time I see her then!"

"Do you think she could tell me where she got it?" Pearl asked, pausing in her friendly lecture. "Wait, which one is Violet again?"

"She's purple and kinda has the same hair as you," Steven volunteered.

"Like this?" Amethyst laughed, shapeshifting into an exact copy of Pearl.

"No, no," Steven laughed. "A different purple. She's out scavenging a lot, so maybe you guys haven't seen her very much!"

"Ah, I see." Pearl finally took a seat. "So she found this while she was exploring?"

"Yep! I bet she'd be happy to look for more stuff like this if you ask."

Pearl nodded, then stopped herself, frowning slightly. "Well, I wouldn't want to distract her from getting the things the rebellion really needs…"

"It wouldn't be any trouble."

She jumped at the sound of another gem's voice behind her and turned to see the aforementioned purple Pearl.

"Sorry, I just overheard and…" Violet looked sheepish. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no, it's quite alright. Um, nice to meet you. It's Violet, right?"

She nodded. "Nice to meet you again."

"And really, I don't need you to go out of your way to look for things like this but…"

"It's okay. I bring back everything I find, so it's not like it'd be a bother. You can look through stuff whenever you want."

"May I?" Pearl brightened. "I'd like that, if you don't mind."

"Sure." Violet smiled. "Uh, me and Aura usually sort through in here when I get back from a trip, so, um, you can join us? Though there's not really a schedule or anything…"

"I'm sure we'll cross paths. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Violet hesitated, her eyes lingering curiously on the hilt, then saluted before hurrying away.

"Aww, making new friends already," Amethyst said, grinning.

"Well, I don't know about that, we only just met."

"Nah, you'll get along, she was totally into your nerd lesson."

"Hmm." Pearl narrowed her eyes. "I take it that means you aren't."

"I might stick around if you start talking about some cool battles."

"Ooh, yeah!" Steven said. "I want to know about that too!"

"Alright," Pearl laughed, settling into place beside the other Crystal Gems. Suddenly this didn't feel so different from evenings they'd spent together on Earth. "Let's see then…"

Crimson didn't know what normal days were supposed to feel like, but they seemed to be of short supply in the rebellion. What else could be expected?

She had spent nearly a thousand years without any sense of steady normality, so it wasn't as if it bothered her. But she had just barely, cautiously, gotten used to what normal looked like here with Silver and Chroma before everything started happening all at once.

Figures, she told herself. Nothing's meant to last anyway.

The sentiment didn't sound nearly as reassuring as it once had.

Right now, Crimson's instinct was to go out, clear her head, find a few more Pearls she could tell about the rebellion and possibly bring back.

But even that had its complications these days. They were going to have to renovate to put more rooms in, so that new recruits would have proper places to stay. And they'd been talking about putting in some other rooms too, so that Steven would be able to have all the human things he was accustomed to having at home like "kitchens" and "showers." Should they start making those changes before or after the warp pad was done? Would it spread Chroma and the others too thin? Would it bother the Crystal Gems that the warp pad wasn't the absolute highest priority project anymore?

And beyond all that, she had to think about…

"Crimson!"

White appeared in the doorway, breathing heavily. "What is it?" Crimson asked, and the other Pearl started talking before she even finished the question.

"Caddy found some Pearl fusion that needs healing and somebody to get her to safety."

Crimson promptly pushed all other thoughts aside and stood up. "Show me where."

White's gem lit immediately with a map, and she pointed.

"Okay, good. Let's get some tears and help her."

"I can't go with you, I have to run."

"White—"

"I mean it, I have to run!"

She was scared, Crimson realized, and her gem panged with sympathetic fear. "Okay. Okay, you go. I'll handle it."

White nodded, taking off as fast as her legs would carry her.

Crimson honestly wasn't sure if the broken Pearl from the fusion would make it, but she left her with her matching partner in the pool of healing tears and hoped for the best. The whole incident had been nerve-wracking for Crimson, so she couldn't imagine how the undissipated Pearl must feel.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Aura asked quietly as she joined Crimson in the little lounge area outside of her office.

She shrugged, shaking her head. "I hope so."

"Me too." Aura sighed, pulling her legs up and tucking them to the side. "Is it common, having two Pearls? I didn't think it was, but then we have Tangy and Cyan, and these two…"

"I think they belonged to two Topazes."

"Ah."

"But we do tend to attract outliers, don't we?" Crimson added with a small smile.

"Yeah." Aura looked at her for a moment. "What are you worried about? Do you think someone's going to notice they're missing?"

"I'm not sure about that, it's more that White came here when she probably shouldn't have risked it. She won't say much about her Diamond, but I can tell she must be getting suspicious."

"You can tell her to stay, next time she comes?"

Crimson clenched her fists tightly on her lap.

"You think she might not come back," Aura realized.

"I don't know. There's no telling what tiny thing is going to mean the end for her, and today—she was panicking, Aura."

"Oh." Her voice trembled slightly. "I-Is there anything we can do?"

"I keep thinking," Crimson murmured, "but we've tried every way I know to convince her. The only thing I can think of now is if we just…keep her here by force. But I can't—that's not right."

"No," Aura agreed quietly.

"But it's not right to let her go and get shattered either."

"No."

"What do you think?"

Aura bit her lip. "I think I just want there to be a third option."

"Me too."

She hesitated. "What about Sky and Caddy?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…they'll be closer, if anything does happen, right? Maybe they can help."

"I can't order them to risk their own safety. The rebellion needs them. To be there, with their Diamonds."

"Crimson," Aura said gently, "it's not about that."

"…No, it isn't." She dropped her head into her hands. "But I'm supposed to be practical, right? I have to prioritize, even if I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because I have to make some decision. If I let it be, then…"

"I don't mean you shouldn't make a decision," Aura said. "Just that you don't have to do it like that."

"Hm?"

"W-Well…" Aura sounded almost surprised that Crimson wanted her opinion on this kind of thing. "Given the chance, I think Caddy and Sky would do everything they could for White, even without you asking. So…So it's not wrong to ask, right? Maybe if we keep the two of them closer to her on missions and things, then she'll be a little safer."

She considered it for a moment, then lifted her head. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. That would be something, at least."

"And if Caddy keeps trying to get through to her," she added, "maybe it'll help White see there's choices besides waiting for White Diamond to hurt her?"

Crimson nodded. "So…less ordering, more directing things a little bit."

"Exactly."

"Maybe you should be the one doing this job," she said, smiling.

"I don't think so," Aura said warmly. "I'm just glad I can help you think through things."

"Well, you're very good at it." Crimson opened one hand invitingly and Aura settled her own soft fingers into Crimson's slightly callused ones. "Thank you. This doesn't hit too close to home for you, does it?"

"Hm? Oh, with White?" She shook her head. "No, I'm okay. It's tough to watch, but I'm okay." She lifted her hand, ran her pointer finger along Crimson's palm. "I guess we're similar in a way but…White's still waiting for a push to run, you know? Like I had with Blue and Yellow's escape. I'm just afraid she won't get hers fast enough."

"Me too. I wish I knew how to give her that push."

"You can't," Aura said softly. "It just happens."

"Yeah, I know." And it wasn't like Crimson had any right to judge White when it had taken her far, far too long to run herself. She glanced at Aura. "Did you need something? Sorry, I forgot to ask."

"No, I'm good, I just wanted to sit with you."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Would you like a hug?" Aura offered gently.

"That would be great," she answered with a weary smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Aura wrapped her arms loosely around Crimson from the side, resting her cheek against her left shoulder. "Just do your best," she murmured.

"I don't know what that is yet."

"That's okay," Aura said. "That's okay too."

"Hiya, boss! Aura said you wanted to see us?"

The atmosphere in the room seemed to immediately brighten with Caddy's arrival, as it always did. The young Pearl had initially seemed like she might be a wild card—like White had turned out—but she was actually pretty reliable and Crimson was starting to appreciate her energy more and more as she got to know her. And Sky too, attached at the hip as always, bringing a subtler warmth with her. Crimson didn't have to ask about White—it would have been obvious if something had happened to her.

"I did," Crimson said, standing up to greet them. "Hi, it's good to see you."

"Hi, Crimson," Sky greeted her with a smile.

"You're being weirdly formal," Caddy commented. "Should we be worried?"

"No, no. Or…not about anything new. I just think it's time we discussed White again. All of us together."

Caddy's shoulders went unusually rigid. "I'm not going to give up on her."

"What?" Crimson asked, taken aback.

"You're going to tell us to—"

"No, she's not," Sky interrupted gently. "She wants to see White safe too."

"Oh." Caddy relaxed a little. "You do?"

Crimson nodded. "We're not going to get anywhere if we start giving up on each other."

She beamed. "So what's the plan?"

"Can you stay for a little bit to talk right now?"

"Yeah, our Diamonds shouldn't need us for a while," Sky answered, taking a seat.

"Yep, all good," Caddy agreed. She sat too, kicking her legs up to rest on the corner of Crimson's desk. After a second's thought, she shapeshifted her hair to match Aura's. "That's better. What's up?"

"Well…" Crimson paced back and forth once before sitting back down behind her desk. That, as Caddy had put it, felt weirdly formal, so she scooted it around to sit in a sort of half-circle with them. "You've both said that you want to help White, of course. Our options are pretty limited but, with your permission, I'd like to request that one or both of you accompany her on missions from now on."

Sky began to fidget nervously with her jacket. "Accompany like…?"

"Just accompany," Crimson said quickly. "With someone to rein her in a little, she might be less prone to taking chances."

"And if something does happen, then…"

"Then I'll leave it to your discretion."

"What?"

"Obviously we're gonna save her," Caddy said.

"No," Crimson said firmly. "Not 'obviously,' Caddy. We don't know what'll happen. We can't predict whether it'll even be possible for you to do anything when the time comes."

"But—"

"Caddy." Sky touched her arm lightly. "It's not about how much we want to save White. It's about how much we can do without putting our own lives at risk too."

Crimson nodded. "That's why this is up to you. I'm not going to order you to prioritize one gem's safety over another's, because…look, if we were only thinking of the rebellion, then I would have to prioritize you two. But that means we'd be judging White's life as worth less than yours."

"She does that enough herself already," Caddy murmured, fire gone out of her eyes. "I hate it."

"Me too," Crimson agreed. "So I want you three—or you two, I guess—to keep yourselves balanced. Protect White and protect each other."

"We can do that," Sky said firmly.

"Definitely," Caddy echoed.

"Thank you. I don't know if it'll help in the end, but it's much better than doing nothing."

Sky nodded, looking nervous, and Caddy reached over to take her hand and squeeze it tight.

"We got this." Caddy sat up just the tiniest bit straighter. "So is it, like, there's a particular mission you need her for or…?"

"Partially, yes." Crimson pulled up a few images on her screen, holding it out for them to take a look. "We need to steal a warp core."

"We what?" Caddy exclaimed. "Boss, that's—somebody's gonna notice that for sure. I thought my favorite doppelganger and her posse were going to use that old junk they hauled in."

"They were," she said. "That material's fine for the main construct, but any cores left inside were too damaged to repair."

"Should we really be grabbing such a high-risk item right now though?" Sky asked carefully. "I mean, I know the Crystal Gems want to be able to get back home, but…it's not urgent, is it? Couldn't we wait until White is…"

"In theory, yes," Crimson admitted. "But it's more than just their way back home. We don't have a good escape route here, not really, and I'm not sure how much longer we can put that off before it comes back to bite us."

"But the base is safe—" Sky sighed, cutting herself off. "No, I know, we do need one."

"We need a lot of things," Crimson said. "And since we're going to have to make the effort to steal one of the cores eventually, I'm hoping we can grab a lot more along with it too. There's a shipment leaving for a brand-new colony planet and we're not going to get many opportunities to get a big haul like that. The next one scheduled is quite a way out."

She nodded slowly. "And how do we get away with that?"

"Replicators," she said with a smile. "Most everything can be replicated—even the warp cores themselves, Pearl says, though it's best not to risk it. So we'll take the originals of those, leave the duplicates."

"And everything else we just make one copy and stick it in our gems?" Caddy leaned forward excitedly. "Damn, White's gonna be mad she didn't come up with that idea sooner. You know, if she was the type that got mad in the first place."

"To be honest, I'm already kicking myself a bit for not thinking of it," Crimson laughed. "But then again, I'm not sure it's a good idea to have White running around with a replicator wand all the time."

"True, true! Plus it's one of those things like 'Do I really wanna stick this in my gem?' Like it's probably totally fine but the tech's so old that you don't quite trust it."

Sky laughed as Caddy gesticulated wildly. "I know, it feels like you might replicate yourself, doesn't it?"

"Right? I've already got two of myself, I don't need another one!"

"The rebellion wouldn't be able to handle it."

"But if there's more of me, then White wouldn't be able to ignore me!"

"You're going to win her over by swarming her?"

"Well, maybe not, but if I make like a hundred of me, maybe I can take on White Diamond!"

"Can you take Blue Diamond out while you're at it?"

"I'd take out all the Diamonds if you asked me to!"

"Okay," Crimson cut in before Caddy could really get going. "Putting that impossible and morally dubious strategy on the back burner…"

"Aww, I thought it had potential," Caddy sighed dramatically. "Wait, what's morally dubious about it?"

"You'd be creating a bunch of Pearls and telling them to go fight a Diamond."

"Ohh, yeah, fair point. And I'd have to figure out what to do with them all afterward. Okay, Caddy clone takeover is cancelled until further notice!" She grinned. "Alright. What were you saying before?"

"I have no idea anymore," Crimson said, amused. "Oh, wait! The mission."

"Mission Protect White?" Caddy asked.

"No, Mission Get Ourselves A Warp Core Et Cetera Et Cetera, with Sub-Mission Protect White."

"That's kind of a long name, boss."

"Abbreviate as you see fit." Crimson smiled, tilting her chair back slightly and then letting it fall forward. "Cyan and I were thinking you three plus Silver? Two of you to go in and duplicate and steal everything, and two to keep watch and provide backup if needed."

"That makes sense," Sky agreed, still grinning.

"Do you have any preference on who does what? Cyan wanted my advice but honestly I think you'd be the ones to figure out the best arrangement amongst yourselves."

"Me and Sky!" Caddy volunteered. "And Silver can punch anybody who gets close to White."

"That's terrible reasoning," Sky laughed.

"What do you mean? We're a great team!"

"Yeah, but we have to split up for this one. White's automatically going to be on the stealing side of things, and Silver is backup, right?"

"That is what I was thinking," Crimson said.

"Fine," Caddy pouted. "I guess it'd be kind of hard to help White when neither of us is there with her. Who do you wanna go with?"

"Um…Silver, I guess? You and White get along better."

"Okay!" She gave Sky's ponytail a friendly tousle. "Plus you're better with a sword than I am. You and Silver will be an awesome team."

She blushed slightly. "Thanks."

"Speaking of swords, I do want all of you to be carrying weapons," Crimson added. "If there's a particular kind you like, go talk to Azalea and get them sharpened. I don't want to take any chances."

"Got it!" Caddy stretched her arms. "Is it okay with Silver if we ditch them with her after though?"

"Yeah, she won't mind."

"Cool."

"Is there anything else we should know?" Sky asked.

"I think Cyan can fill you in on the rest when you talk to her."

"Okay." She hesitated. "We're going to do our best."

"I know you will." Crimson smiled gently. "Just remember, I'd rather have the four of you home safe than have a warp core, if it comes down to that."

Sky nodded, jumping up to give her a hug. "Thanks, Crimson. That—That means a lot."

Crimson nodded, holding onto Sky securely and making eye contact with a smiling Caddy over her shoulder. Stars, they seemed so new. But she had to trust they'd be able to handle this, because she didn't know what else she could do. "Take care," she whispered, and she wished she could feel some of the soft spark of confidence that shone in Sky's blue eyes as she pulled away.

"You take care too," she said warmly. "Okay?"

"Okay." She tried to give the two of them a reassuring smile as she sent them off to Cyan for some preliminary preparation. "I honor your service."

Nothing's meant to last, but I hope you do.