Pearl woke up on a cushion in Rose's room. She jerked upright with a laugh. She'd done it! She'd summoned her weapon! Before she could say anything or at least do a celebratory leap, she noticed the room was dark. The only light was from the window, shining moonlight in. She could barely see a silhouette resting in the cushions and covers. Rose. Pearl got up as quietly as she could and stood over Rose for a second.

She looked so calm. Pearl couldn't help but admire Rose, how she looked radiant even in her sleep. She wished that she could wake her up and tell her that Rose had healed her, but she wanted to spend extra time in there.

How would Rose react to that? In another thought, what would Rose think about Pearl's… change?

She sat down next to Rose and waited. She tried to keep her breathing quiet so as not to wake her. Maybe Rose was already awake. Pearl half-hoped she was.

Pearl leaned back against the wall, stretching her legs out.

She watched Rose's closed door. She looked outside again. Earth's Moon, Luna, had half-risen. Usually Rose would be in a meeting with the Diamonds. "Then why isn't she with the Diamonds?" she asked without thinking.

"I don't need to." There was a mutter from beside Pearl. Pearl jumped only to realize it was Rose.

Pearl stared down at her, flustered. "You're awake?" But she'd done it every other night!

"Of course," she groaned from her pillow. "Are you alright?"

Pearl nodded. "Yeah." She clenched a fist on the floor, gripping one of the pillow's tassells hard enough to tear it. "Oh!"

Rose laughed tiredly. "Don't worry. It's just a pillow."

Pearl smiled. With Rose they never were forced. "I wasn't." Pearl stopped for a moment. "Why… don't you need to check in with the other Diamonds?"

There was a pause from Rose. "You've changed!" Rose sat up, her Gem lighting up to point a beam at Pearl.

Pearl stopped. Rose was dodging the question. It didn't matter that Pearl was wearing shorts and a shorter veil now, did it? "Yes?"

"Is that why you didn't reform when I healed you?" Rose let out a sigh. "I was afraid I hadn't."

Pearl nodded. "That's exactly it."

"Why?" Rose asked, turning and placing an arm around Pearl.

Pearl felt her face heat up. "I was proud. I'm the — the first Pearl to summon a weapon." She felt her chest lighten. "I'm the first, ever."

But Rose had a reason for not going to the Diamond check-in. She felt her chest tighten again. "Why don't you have to meet with the Diamonds, though?"

Pearl saw Rose's face tighten then loosen in a wince. "I'll… I'll explain in the morning, Pearl." She leaned down into her bed of pillows. "Everyone's going to hear this."

She sank into her cushions and closed her eyes. Pearl didn't say anything else to her.

Why wasn't Rose telling her before the other Gems? Pearl took a deep breath, watching Rose as her breaths evened out. Pearl stared out the window. Morning was going to be a long wait.

"Pearl."

Pearl opened her eyes to see Rose holding her hands out. "You've been resting all morning. We're training now."

Pearl stood up, smacking her head against the wall. "Ack!" she said. She brushed her veil down, still surprised at how short it was. "Sorry, we should get going."

Rose rubbed Pearl's hand. "At your own pace, Pearl."

Pearl looked down at her hands, clenching and unclenching over each other. "I don't want to keep the others waiting. We should go quickly." Pearl stretched her legs to gain balance and started running. She stopped when Rose wasn't in the lead, or even following. "Rose?"

She saw Rose's fingers knit over her gown. "It's nothing. Go on."

Pearl narrowed her gaze. Was this related to the Diamond meeting?

It seemed like Rose read her mind. "No, it isn't about that. I'll be there in a minute."

Pearl gave a hesitant glance out the door and released her breath. She opened the ancient wood door and closed it behind her. Soundlessly she ran through the hall into the foyer. She skidded to a halt and found the stairs. She ran up it again to see the training room. It was different this time. The mannequins were gone, replaced with flipped over tables painted with targets.

What was going on now? Pearl noticed that nobody was in the room with her. She was the first one here, then? Pearl clapped her hands and they each grasped each other.

The others came up in a single file. Tiger's Eye was in the lead, while Rose took up the back. Pearl stared in dumbfounded silence as Rose waited for the others to find a position.

This was as strange as when Rose wanted to keep this Earth alive. What was wrong with Rose?

Pearl watched as Rose motioned for Pearl to come over. Pearl noticed Peridot staring at her. She blushed blue and turned away.

"This is new!" Peridot sat closer to Pearl. "How did you change your uniform? I've never seen anything like this!" She glanced at a screen already popping up on her arm. "Apparently, none of the records have either!" She leaned in close to Pearl, and Pearl tried to inch away.

"I just wanted to stay in my Gem for longer," Pearl said tensely. She noticed that starstruck gaze in Peridot's eyes and smiled. She'd never felt important before. How was a Peridot… idolizing… her? "Maybe you could do it, too." Pearl couldn't help it. She had to say something to make the Peridot feel somewhat better. Or was it to lower Pearl down to Peridot's level? She didn't know.

Tiger's Eye cracked her knuckles. "What are we doing today, Rose?"

Pearl looked over to Rose to see a guilty look on her face. "We're… sparring."

Amethyst raised her hand. "We sparred yesterday," Amethyst said. "We could try to do something else?"

Rose shook her head. "No. There's an even number, so we'll be fine."

Pearl watched as Greg reached for his ridiculously long hair and tugged at a few knots in it.

"I still don't have a weapon," Greg said weakly.

Rose turned to him. "Don't worry. We'll get you a mace."

Greg stared in wonder, then shook the expression off his face. "Yes, ma'am."

Rose looked down at him. "Call me…" she hesitated, and Pearl was afraid that she'd ask him to call her Rose. "Pink Diamond. Or my Diamond."

Greg stared dumbfounded. "My Diamond is a gem thing, though, right?"

Rose nodded. "And I name you an honourary Gem until we leave or you die."

"That's a bleak concept… my Diamond… but thank you."

"You're welcome." Rose put her hand to her chest and bowed ever so lightly. "Now for who'll be with who." Rose seemed to be doing some thinking. "Ruby and Sapphire, you two will be fighting. It only seems fitting given your weapons."

Peridot leaned into Pearl. "They've both got gauntlets. How cool is that?"

That was pretty cool, Pearl had to admit.

"Tiger's Eye and Amethyst, you two will go against one another." Pearl noticed that her feet were digging into a new red carpet. "I'll go against Peridot. No, you can't use your limb enhancers. And finally…"

Pearl knew exactly what was coming, and she hated it already. It was going to be the human that already knew too much. He'd be investigating her every single move, trying to gain more leverage against her. Her face started burning.

"Pearl and Greg, you two will fight."

Pearl felt her face falling farther than her feet. She couldn't actually be fighting him.

"Now," Rose clapped her hands, sending echoes through the training room. "Get into your positions. Fight whenever you want to."

Pearl narrowed her eyes at Greg. He, on the other hand, clapped once. "Alrighty then, Pearl. Shall we?"

Pearl tried to act confident, she really did. She looked more like a newly-emerged Peridot. "Fine," she said through gritted teeth. Oh how she hated this human.


Pearl leaped back just as Rose shouted to stop. She skidded backward on the floor and some hair fell into her face. Greg lowered his mace and dropped it immediately.

She stood tall and placed the tip of her spear on the ground. Odd how in such a short time, she'd grown so synchronized with it. She lowered her gaze at Greg and noticed the sweat dripping off of his skin.

How disgusting.

Greg stood up taller and stretched out his back. He then placed a hand on his cheek and stared at it. Pearl'd certainly won this one. She'd managed to scratch him, but not injure him. Just like Rose said.

"Well, then." He rubbed the blood onto his pants. "You're really good at fighting." He then grinned, one that chilled Pearl's skin. "Especially for a Pearl. You're sure there isn't something…" He shrugged, like he wasn't just defeated in the spar. "Oh, I don't know, different, about you?"

Pearl backed away. "I don't know what you mean." She knew she was supposed to sound calm, but if Greg was being louder about her defectiveness, then it surely wasn't going to be good.

"Sure," he said quietly.

Pearl took another step back, instinctively raising her spear tip off the ground. She glanced back at Rose, a silent plea for help.

"Greg, please, we're done fighting." Pearl heard Rose's heavy footsteps and her shoulders fell slack. "Is everyone else alright?"

Pearl noticed the bruises up and down Rose's arms and the great violet bruise crawling down her forehead. There weren't any wounds on her cheeks though. Pearl's hands clenched around her spear. What had that Peridot done to her?

Amethyst was the first to turn. "Yeah! We couldn't lay a spike on each-other!"

That was a lie. There were punctures up and down any exposed part of their bodies. Pearl grimaced. How were Amethyst and Tiger's Eye both smiling?

Pearl noticed the whip hanging from Amethyst's hand. It was barbed with what looked like violet knives.

"Good. Give yourselves some time to heal. We'll keep our partners for three days so we know their fighting styles full well." Pearl knew Greg's style full well. Swing around wildly and hope he hit her. Pearl hadn't been fighting for more than a day and knew that was a laughable fighting style. But she was sure that she hadn't been perfect herself.

Rose wiped her bruised forehead. "And that's all for today. Greg, find yourself some food."

Pearl furrowed her brows. But Rose had said that she was going to be telling them why she hadn't been speaking to the diamonds. She ran to Rose.

She hesitated a second before standing on her toes to tap her shoulders.

Rose turned down to her, her face lightening.

"You were going to talk to us about why you weren't speaking with the Diamonds," Pearl muttered, not caring if the other Gems heard.

While Rose was thinking about her question, Pearl turned around. The others were already starting to leave.

"Wait!" Rose shouted from behind Pearl. "I need to say something, first." Pearl turned to see Rose pointing at a newly-installed bench against a wall. She stepped onto it, crouching birdlike on it. She tried compacting herself further as Sapphire sat next to her, freezing her right side. Tiger's Eye took her left side. Pearl felt plain squished, but didn't dare complain.

"I've been meeting the Diamonds every night," Rose said, gripping her arms.

Pearl already knew this, but noticed Amethyst throwing a knowing glance at Ruby.

"Last night, Blue Diamond informed me that she was sending over an entire shipload of dangerous and defective Quartzes." Pearl winced that the word Defective. "In my view, that's an act of war. And because it takes a vote to remove a Diamond…"

"Remove a Diamond? You mean shatter?" Ruby asked.

"No." Rose whirled to face Ruby, who hadn't yet sat down. "Diamonds aren't actually diamonds. Diamond is a title."

Amethyst's mouth gaped open. "That's why you looked so much like a Quartz!" she said. She then paused. "… Are you a Quartz?"

Pearl watched Rose, wondering if she'd reveal her name. It took a century of knowing Rose before she told Pearl that Diamonds were a title. Another ten years before she knew Rose's actual name.

She watched as Rose's hands clenched and unclenched. "Yes." She stepped back and held her hands out. "And because you need to vote to remove a Diamond's title, I've decided to step down from my position."

Pearl crunched even tighter into her crouch. What? Why would Rose even…?

"I've cut off all communications with the Diamond since Blue told me about the shipment. And because I'm no longer a Diamond, you should call me by my real name. Rose Quartz."

Pearl dug her nails into her veil, feeling the familiar give of fabric tearing. She was actually doing this. Rose remembered the threat that they were going to remove Rose's title back when Earth was being discussed as a colony. This time, over Earth, she was voluntarily losing her diamond status.

Greg seemed stupefied, knowing absolutely nothing about Gems. Of course he wouldn't.

"So what now?" Peridot asked.

Pearl noticed Greg's face brighten. She saw his hands tap eagerly on his chair. Pearl knew what he was expecting.

Apparently Rose was thinking the same. "It's your planet, isn't it?" Rose stepped closer to him, an amused smile on her face. "Let's see what Earth likes with humans. Free humans."


AN: So I'd like to apologize for the wait. I am literal crud at keeping deadlines. Anyway, I'm going to point out that I've got a tumlr. Shoot me any questions, theories, or any fun stuff about FYE over there at .com :)