Note: Serious content warning for this chapter. The specifics are spoilery, but detailed warnings are given in the end-of-chapter notes, so please scroll down if you are concerned.
Grey Pearl
The air is hot, the ground is hard, and Pearl's exhausted, but still she walks.
She goes as quickly as she can, but she cannot run. The ground is too uneven, covered in jagged rocks which could easily trip her. Perhaps she could force herself to go faster… but something holds her back. She is not eager to reach her destination.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
Her feet hurt, her whole body aches, her eyes burn with tears she won't let fall. She doesn't want to think about those things, so she turns her mind outward.
She wishes she could do this somewhere else. Somewhere prettier. Not this desolate place of brown and grey rock, of vile smoke, of geysers which shoot up unexpectedly and startle her out of her skin.
No wonder this place is reserved solely for rubies, bismuths and obsidians. They're the only Gems who could stand it. They're the only Gems who'd want to.
The hot water pools are pretty, Pearl reminds herself. She focuses on them as she starts up the steep slope of the mountain. The water is clear, but not transparent. The tiny lifeforms inside have turned it spectacular shades of oranges, greens, blues—
Her foot slips. She goes sliding backwards— she reaches out quickly, just managing to grab a rocky outcropping. She pulls herself back up, finds her footing.
She can't fall. If her body is destroyed— if they find her gem—
No. Don't think. Just walk.
She walks.
Too soon, she reaches the peak. It is even hotter here, hotter than she's ever experienced. A boiling breeze blows by, burning her face, blowing her veil back. Pearl rips it off, letting it dissolve into light.
She's shaking.
She takes a few uneasy steps forward.
There's an edge before her. It's very close. She peers down over it.
Lava. Red and thick and hot.
On her foot, Pearl's gem glows. She reached down and pulls out the thing which brought her here. It's thin and slender, smaller than her finger. It feels surreal, that she's doing this for something so small.
It's a data-chip. Pearl's already memorised the contents. She was meant to add what she knows, and pass it on to someone else, but—
— but that's not an option anymore.
She doesn't know how they tracked it down. How they tracked her down. Who else was compromised. All she knows is that she can't let the Diamonds get this information. Not them, not their Authority.
And she won't let them get her. Won't let them steal what she knows, won't let them force her, won't let them Harvest her, won't let them shatter her, won't let them take her remains and use them for their own ends—
She clutches the data-chip tight, and stares down over the ledge.
Lava. Red and hot and thick. Molten rock. The thing from which Gems are born.
Pearl jumps into the volcano.
oOoOo
Note: Warning for death and suicide.