Warning! This chapter contains some very minor spoilers for Steven Bomb 5, so if you haven't watched the episode yet, might be best to wait.

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Sapphire Pearl

A sapphire's sanctuary was usually silent. So silent that when a noise did shatter the quiet, Pearl couldn't immediately recognise the noise for what it was.

The sound was quiet, staccato, broken. What was it? Footsteps? Ice-breaking? Music?

No. Sobbing.

And the source of the sound?

Sapphire.

Pearl found her Sapphire at the very back of the chamber, tucked in the corner. She was on her knees, back pressed against the wall, head in hands. Sapphires were always small, but now this Sapphire seemed… crumpled, like she'd collapsed in on herself. Her gown had gotten caught up in bunches, her hair was in tangles, and the cold was so sheer that it rivalled that of space's vacuum.

Pearl approached cautiously. "M-my Clarity? Is something wrong?"

Sapphire turned on her then. Her single eye stared, wide and empty. "Everything."

In her millennia of service to Sapphire, Pearl had always felt cold— but now she felt frozen. Nonetheless, she had her duty. She said, "Is there any way in which I can assist you?"

"No."

The certainty in Sapphire's voice was absolute.

Pearl resisted the urge to shiver. She'd always know what her Master was. Sapphires were seers. That was their duty, their purpose. Her Master could see the future. To her the entire course of history was laid bare.

But Pearl had always found that relatively easy to ignore. Sapphire never shared any of her visions with Pearl, of course, reserving such insights exclusively with the Diamonds and other brilliant cuts. Whatever futures Sapphire saw had no bearing on someone as lowly as Pearl. To Pearl, Sapphire was just a Master, and a good one at that. Distant, perhaps, but not too bad. Sapphire was always polite, always patient, always courteous- even kind, in her own strange way. Pearl had always been quite content serving her.

And now Sapphire was on the floor, tears frozen on her face, and Pearl found herself truly confronted with her Master's nature for the first time in her life.

What did you See? Pearl wondered.

She must have voiced the question aloud, or else the seer had predicted she would, because Sapphire smiled a grim smile. "I should not tell you."

Pearl's cheeks flushed hot despite the cold. She bowed her head. "Of course. Apologies, My Clarity, I spoke out of turn—"

"Quiet," Sapphire ordered. Pearl went quiet. Watched her Master carefully. The not-smile was gone, but Sapphire did not look angry. "I should not tell you, but I will."

Pearl opened her mouth, but no words came out.

The Sapphire spoke:

"Pink Diamond will be shattered."

"What— what do you mean? That can't happen!"

But Sapphire's expression made it clear that it could. It could, and it would.

But that— that was impossible. Diamonds— they were perfect. Diamonds were invulnerable. Diamonds were unbreakable. Diamonds were forever.

How could Pink Diamond be shattered?

"There will be a war," Sapphire predicted. "Already Pink Diamond's general has defected, and others follow in her footsteps. There will be more to come. The rebels will plead, and reason, and argue, and fight, but Pink Diamond will not bend. So she will break, break into a hundred pieces, when Rose Quartz plunges a sword through her gem."

The chamber fell into silence, but still the prophecy seemed to ring loud. Pearl listened to the words' echoes, barely comprehending. This shouldn't be possible. Couldn't be possible. "There must be something we can do. We have to tell her— we can stop it—"

"We can't."

"But—"

"We will not tell her," Sapphire said. "Because if we did, we would not be believed. It would be sacrilegious to say. Pink Diamond will die. It is inevitable."

Pearl began to shake. She shook and shook, and until she fell to the floor with her shaking.

It was terrible— terrible to think, terrible and selfish and blasphemous, but— she, and her Sapphire— they were members of Pink Diamond's court— if there was going to be a war, if Pink Diamond was going to die, then— "What's going to happen to us?"

"I do not know."

"How can you not know?!"

"Even if one stands on a flat plain, view unblocked, still one cannot see past the planet's horizon. If you stare into the void, still there are stars so distant they are beyond sight."

"W-what?"

"There's a limit even to my visions," Sapphire clarified.

Pearl stared at her, gaping, horrified— then buried her head into her hands and cried.

Pearl had never met Pink Diamond. But she was still in Pink Diamond's service. Still lived on the planet which Pink Diamond ruled. Pink Diamond still watched over them, guided them, taught them, protected them—

— what could they be without her?

A cold, heavy weight settled around Pearl's shoulders. She stared at it in shock. Sapphire's arm, wrapped around her like an icy shawl.

Sapphires were not supposed to touch pearls. Pearls were not supposed to touch sapphires.

But Diamonds were not supposed to shatter, so what did any of that matter?

There were no reassurances to be found. No guidance to be given. No certainty to cling to.

So the Pearl and the Sapphire clung to each other instead.

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Author's Note: You know, there's actually a lot of 'official' pearl colours that are named after other gemstones. For a story like this, sometimes it's annoying- other times, it's inspiration.

Also: Little Rebellions now has a TVTropes page! Thank you so much to whoever it was who created it, and anyone who's contributed- discovering it honestly made my day :)