Pearl ducked her head out over the kindergarten's edge, yet again. One hand was placed over the sword hanging at her side. Course she didn't know how to use it.
She noticed how the kindergarten was a mess. Holes that once held gems were capsized, and the few holes that still survived looked like they'd been dug out by small animals.
Maybe that was just the light though.
Pearl barely discerned a bed of mud at the centre the canyon's bottom. How on Homeworld would that have gotten there? Technicians wouldn't have put a kindergarten on top of an underground lake, would they? Of course they wouldn't. Pearl growled at herself and slammed her fist on the cliff's edge, sending rocks tumbling to the bottom. What was she supposed to be looking for? All she knew was that the Sapphire was gone. Should she be watching out for ice patches and Sapphire tied up on a stake?
She sighed and looked behind her to see how Peridot was doing. She was crouching on the ground, arms to the ground. She noticed a vibration in the ground. Peridot's face lit up only to fall after a few seconds. Dammit. Pearl turned back to watch the gorge again.
Wait a second.
Pearl double-checked to realize that the Tiger's Eye and Rose weren't there any more.
She turned back to the kindergarten, looking for them now. It was then that she noticed the shadows creeping against the wall. She noticed Rose striding through the kindergarten, the Tiger's Eye in front of her.
She watched as Tiger's Eye kicked a rock out of the way, and heard it crash against the kindergarten's far wall.
Right beneath her, she heard a strangled gasp. Pearl straightened out a the sound and looked down. Tiger's Eye exchanged glances with Rose and dug a massive hand in the ground. Pearl backed away from the cliff's edge. She came up with a small boulder, and hurled it at the wall Pearl was over. The edge fell away in clumps of dead grass, and Pearl hopped back.
"Ouch!" someone whispered.
Ouch? Pearl stood up and turned to the Peridot. "Try another pulse, I think I've got something."
Peridot glared, but sighed as she stuck her conical arm in the grass. Pearl felt a deep vibration, then heard scuffs of feet. Was that a Gem? An animal?
"Aha!" the Peridot shouted. Pearl stiffened and ran towards her.
"What's 'Aha?'" she asked, looking down at the Gem on the ground.
"Not telling you. Go back and keep watch, Pearl." She glanced up, the moonlight making it impossible to see her eyes through her visor.
"Excuse me, but I need to tell Pink Diamond." She paused and tried to add a bit more authority in her voice as she said, "Now."
She rolled her eyes and threw a withering glare her way. "Well, If your Pearl-esque little mind needs to know, there are three figures in the cave. One looks… Ruby-ish… and I have no idea what the other one is. But there's Sapphire in there."
Pearl stood for a few seconds, trying to process the information. That meant there were two Gems other than the Sapphire.
"A human child, maybe — Ack! They've stopped moving!"
Two kidnappers. Pearl shuddered at another thought. Two threats. Not to mention that one of those was supposedly a Ruby, a race of guard Gems that had all been shattered when Quartzes emerged to replace them. If she could survive that, then what was that Gem capable of?
"Move along, won't you?" Another pulse went through the ground. "Tell Pink Diamond, like you wanted to." Peridot glared at a screen coming from her other arm, and her face lit up. "Yes! Back to moving!"
Pearl nodded, stepping away to the edge of the cliff. Her eyes traced the gorge's edge, and how the ramp leading down to the kindergarten was a far distance away. She needed a faster way to get down. She looked down. There was a ledge a few feet down. It was in front of a hole, in case she should check in there.
She glanced back at Peridot, watching her expectantly. She hissed to herself and looked at the ledge again. Okay, so maybe it was a bit more than a few feet. She could still hop on down there and get to Rose far faster. In a choice of the safest or safe but faster way, she chose the latter.
She sat down to dangle her legs over the edge. She stretched her right leg down the wall, attempting to reach it. Not close enough. She narrowed her eyes, and put her weight onto her arms as she could get her body just that foot more. Still not close enough.
She bit her lip. The muscles in her arms were starting to hurt. As her hands started slipping, she growled to herself. She'd have to let go.
So she did.
She fell down, exactly on the ledge. Feet already falling out from beneath her, she spun to grab at the wall.
Her hands clawed at the hole's edge, but the dirt crumbled away as she grabbed it. She fell backwards and had to force all her weight onto the ledge. She just barely grabbed it.
Another strangled gasp.
Pearl's gaze snapped to the hole. The glimmer of eyes stared back at her in red and purple shock, but in blue fear. Her grasp weakened.
All it took was just one second for her to lose her grip. Dirt fell away in clods of dead grass and soil, removing Pearl's hands from the ledge entirely.
Slipping. She felt wind blast through her clothing. The cliff-top fell further and further away. Her back smashed against a jutting rock, sending jolts of pain through her. Her sword lost its weight and clattered to the ground.
A second later, she herself hit the kindergarten's bottom.
She groaned, trying to stand up. Wobbling to her feet, she became aware of the hole in her abdomen, and the throb in her shoulders. She caught sight of rose and struggled to regain composure. "My Diamond," she began.
Rose stared at her, the Tiger's Eye mirroring her expression.
She felt a surge of pride and fear at the whiteness at the periphery of her vision. "I found them."
Dazedly, she pointed to the ledge she fell from. The glow nearly covered her vision, and she could only see dim silhouettes. She barely felt her legs give way beneath her and she crumpled to the ground. Finally, the whiteness took over.
Rose stared in disbelief at the white gemstone laying in the dirt. Pearl'd never done that before.
"Least she isn't cracked," the Tiger's Eye said.
"I could tell that." Oh Pearl. Her stupid sweet Pearl. Why couldn't she have just walked? She stepped closer to the stone and knelt down in front of it. It was strange, seeing how a being full of life could just turn into a near-dead rock.
Rose stared up at the sky. Now she remembered why she wanted Earth to stay Earth. Because a planet so vibrant could have easily died. She looked at the kindergarten around her. If the diamonds didn't compromise for her, then it certainly would be just as dead as the kindergarten.
Just like Pearl looked. A tear threatened to fall down her cheek, and she picked up Pearl's gem. She rubbed the dirty gemstone against the edge of her eye, smudging her face with black soil. She held Pearl's gem in front of her chest, and watched it already start to glow. Rose laid the gemstone on the canyon's floor, watching it glow. The gem turned to light and lifted feet off the ground, Pearl's lithe figure already growing from it. Hair sprouted from the bright head. Her translucent skit flared out, stopping just before her toes. The glow faded, and Pearl's pale skin was now visible. Her eyes opened, and she fell to the ground. She stared up at Rose and got to her feet. Rose's lips parted in a smile.
"Ro — My Diamond!" Pearl said, hopping to her feet.
Rose tried to hide the wince when Pearl addressed her by her real name. "It's good to see you again, Pearl." She put her hands on Pearl's shoulder, and she noticed Pearl's posture straighten.
"You too."
They stood in silence before Rose realized the Tiger's Eye's gaze on them both. She forced her smile down and turned Pearl towards her. "Where did you say they were?"
Pearl nodded. "They're up in the cave. Three Gems. They might be gone now, though."
Rose turned to Tiger's Eye. "Go get Peridot."
"I'm on it." She ran to the wall in a chestnut-haired flash and leaped against the wall. She pulled her hands in about halfway up, and scaled it quickly. "Peridot, get down here! We've found them."
The Quartz stood on the cliff before the Peridot came to the edge. She picked the green gem up and jumped.
She descended near-immediately, and she fell to the ground almost gracefully. She unbent her knees and put the Peridot on the ground. "So what's the battle plan?" she asked, cracking her knuckles.
Rose looked up at the cliff then turned to Tiger's Eye. "You and I will scale the cliff." She turned to Peridot. "If we don't get them taken care of, you and Pearl will take care of them on the ground. And Peridot, don't use your arm cannons until you really need to. Understood?"
She nodded.
"Good. Now, let's go." She motioned to Tiger's Eye and ran to the wall. She leaped, and kicked her legs out. She grabbed a foothold and clawed into the wall. She pushed off with her powerful legs, her dress dragging the dirt on the wall. She jumped to another ledge, half-way to the top, and her eyes caught on the ledge Pearl fell from.
She looked into the shadow of the hole and realized it was lager than any normal Quartz' hole. The floor was smooth from years of use. Unlike the other holes, it was clean. Not a single pebble dotted its edge. She stared for a moment, before motioning to Tiger's Eye to stay quiet. If there were gems in there, she'd be able to hear them.
She put her left hand to her gemstone as she leaped onto the ledge. She saw nothing, but ventured a quick lie. "You're breaking several Gem laws, near all of which are punishable by shattering." She clasped her finger over her gem, hiding its glow. "We'll pardon you if you leave our Sapphire unharmed." She certainly wouldn't pardon them, but if the Sapphire was safe, she'd give them a less severe punishment.
There was silence, and Rose caught the glimmer of one, two pairs of eyes.
"Liar," someone whispered. She saw a flash of light. Rose summoned her shield seconds before something smashed into her. She held her ground, instead pushing her assailant away in front of her.
"Tiger's Eye!" she shouted, holding her shield high in case the Gem decided it'd be a good time to attack.
She heard rocks falling as Tiger's Eye clambered up the cliff wall. Rose felt another fist land against her shield. She grunted to push away the attacker. She put her effort into the ground below her, willing plants to come out of it. None came. She growled, trying to get more out of the ground. This place was dead.
Instead, she decided to just operate off her Gem's glow. She swung her shield, hoping to catch one of the Gems' heads. As her shield nearly collided with a familiar blue-haired head, she stopped. "Sapphire," she hissed as she threw her shield back. It collided with another Gem, and she heard her fly into the cave wall. "Get out of here!" She twisted, using only her gem's glow to operate. She watched Sapphire run beneath her shield and slide out the cave ledge.
Rose's eyes settled on the first attacker. She almost looked like… a Ruby? "Betrayer!" she heard the Ruby whisper.
Rose started for a moment. Sapphire trusting these Gems, or even promising anything to them? No. She dug her toes into the ground, hoping to will up plants. None came. She tried harder, but had to keep her eye out for the other Gems. Again, the plants didn't come. Was the soil in the kindergarten this dead? She dug her toes deeper, trying to muster something up. Nothing again. She pushed her shield up, feeling the give as someone flew backwards.
The Tiger's eye waited at the edge of the cave, eyes wide. She held a summoned morning star.
"What're you doing?" Rose growled. She was almost going to stop the other Quartz, but realized that nothing could entangle her.
"Watching for—" She stopped and ran into the cave. She swung her weapon and there was a gasp. A flash of light, and then a gem clattered to the ground. "Got the Ruby. But the Sapphire says there's another."
"What?" Rose looked in front of her, seeing nothing.
"I don't see her though," Tiger's Eye said, turning out of the cave. "She might have run away."
Rose shook her head, but then stopped. Or the Sapphire could have lied, given what the Ruby shouted at her as she left.
"You might be right," she said. The Tiger's Eye turned, and then she saw the purple glow. Rose grabbed her shield. "Dodge!" Tiger's Eye did move as the Gem ran at them. She leaped, hitting nothing. Rose saw her chance then. She pushed her shield out, watching as she fell straight off the cliff. There was another blast of light, and then nothing.
She grabbed the Ruby's gemstone off of the ground, brushing a bit of dust from it.
"My Diamond," Tiger's Eye said. "You aren't going to be crying for this traitor, are you?
Rose shook her head. "We just need to keep her prisoner." She summoned a bubble over it. She held her hands out as she stood at the edge. "And thank you for poofing this Ruby."
She leaped down the ledge, levitating just before she hit the ground. She dropped the final foot, making sure not to land on the other, unidentified Gem.
She picked it up and put into another bubble. "That's all of them. We did well. Peridot, you found them. Sapphire, you informed us of the second one. And Tiger's Eye, you neutralized the Ruby." She almost mentioned Pearl, but remembered the Peridot's reaction to Pearl. She decided not to say nothing, but her heart sank at the hard stare from her.
"But I have a problem with your… ethics, Sapphire?" She turned to the blue Gem and noticed her lighter hair rising. Ice trickled at the ground beside her.
"The Ruby called you a betrayer before you left the cave. Do you have any explanation for that?" She fixed a cold glare on her.
The Sapphire stepped away. "I — I didn't do anything, my Diamond."
She narrowed her gaze. "I think that isn't the case." She drew her shield again, letting the Ruby's bubble float in the air. She cast glances to the other Gems. Tiger's Eye was nonplussed. Peridot didn't seem like she could care less. Her eyes rested on Pearl, and her gaze dropped. She looked terrified. Her hands were working furiously on her veil, and she was watching Rose intently. Don't. That's what she was saying.
Rose didn't want to kill a possibly valuable diplomat, anyways.
She stared down at Sapphire. She looked terrified, like a Pearl who was about to be shattered.
Rose let her shield go, and it faded out of existence. "Well, if you want to be around these Gems so much, it'll be your job to guard them. You'll alert me when they reform. Understood?"
The Sapphire dropped her hands from their tense position. "Yes, my Diamond. Th-Thank you."
Rose didn't respond, staring her down. "Back to the estate, Gems."
They nodded and followed nervously behind as Rose headed to the kindergarten's exit.
