Okay just a warning, I sort of got confused with the order of the Pearlnet bomb prompts and thought that for today was Angst/Battle for a prompt until I realized that angst was Tuesday's prompt while battle was todays. So this may come off a bit angsty, still I hope that you like it.
It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission to scout a location previously thought untouched by the war to find a base to retreat to if it became a necessity. It was a precaution and there wasn't supposed to be any real danger, but fate really cared about endangering the Homeworld rebels.
The spear felt so wrong in her hands, it was the first time she had summoned her weapon, the long, blue, bladed spear should have been one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. Now it just looked ugly, twisted and it felt heavy in her thin arms. It was the first time Pearl had been on a battlefield without Rose, it was the first time she had been on a mission with only one other gem, Garnet, and with tears rolling down her face… she noted it was the first time she had ever shattered another gem before.
Even as a pearl, one of the servant caste, Pearl had gathered some experience fighting once Rose started her rebellion. She had fought dozens of battles; she had forced many foes to retreat into their gems and had been forced to retreat into her own gem, the latter more than the former she was ashamed to admit, but she was no stranger to the battlefield anymore. Still, even though she knew they were fighting for their lives, Pearl hadn't killed another gem until moments ago. It had started out as a simple recon mission to find a location suitable for a retreat if it became necessary. Which is why, Rose sent them into a jungle that was supposed to be uncharted and untouched by gemkind. Unfortunately it turned out that it the recon mission was one of the few times Rose was wrong and there were Homeworld gems in the jungle, five of them, each wearing the Diamond's emblem on their person.
Out of the Homeworlders, two of them were as large as Garnet, one was a dull green prasiolite the other a bright yellow maybe a citrine. There were also two smaller ones about Pearl's size but had thicker, more warrior like builds, an orange carnelian and a red Agate. The fifth was the smallest, but frightened Pearl the most, it was a hematite that had thin limbs and was hunched over like it was going to lunge any second. It was the small gem's eyes though that bothered Pearl the most, it reminded her of the earth beasts feral and hungry, the eyes of a gem that had never seen Homeworld before.
The Kindergarten gem was the first to get over the shock, she had been born to fight after all, and launched herself at Pearl. The wild eyes scared her far more than the other gems' freezing her in place, luckily for her Garnet was made of stronger stuff. Pearl only saw a flash of red light out of the corner of her eye before Garnet flew past her. With her fists armored up Garnet slammed the hematite into the ground with such force that a shockwave ran out of the impact knocking the other homeworlders to the ground before they could form their weapons.
The hematite was poofed instantly due to the force of the blow and Pearl felt a pang of pity, it wasn't like the feral gem chose to be created or to be a weapon. Now it was just a small rainbow pyramid in a crater, maybe once the war was over they could rehabilitate the Kindergarten gems, but for now she had to focus on surviving this fight. Garnet had already thrown herself at the rest of their opponents who were regrouping. The fusion backhanded the agate away from her companions with Sapphire's fist and uppercutting the prasiolite with Ruby's.
Not wanting to waste an opportunity Pearl quickly dashed over to where the red agate fell and ruthlessly cut off her head. The Homeworlder retreated back into the small red circle that had formerly been on her shoulder blade and the former servant ran back to the battle without a second look. The Kindergarten gem might not have chosen her lot in life but those loyal to the Diamonds did, she had run out mercy many years and friends ago.
Garnet was doing her best to fend off the other three gems though the prasiolite hadn't risen yet, the odds still weren't in their favor. So Pearl moved to finish off the larger gem before she could help the others and stabbed her sword into the gem's chest. It sunk in an inch or two but stopped before it could deal a fatal wound. Maybe the other gem was just too big or her sword was too small but the pain seemed to wake Prasiolite up from the blow Garnet dealt her.
Before Pearl could pull her blade out though Prasiolite grabbed the hilt of her sword and hand with one of her own and stood up breaking the weapon's blade in the process. "What's this, a pearl? A servant is playing warrior," the Homeworld gem asked making Pearl dangle now. "Oh I am going to tear Red Agate a new one for being dusted by a pearl," the hulking gem laughed. Then she noticed the odd shape of Pearl's pearl, "and a defect at that, this is just too funny," she bellowed as she squeezed harder.
If she was human Pearl's wrist would be broken and she would be screaming, but she was a gem so it hurt, but she was able to think through the pain. The benefit to fighting as a pearl was that no one expected her to be fighting at all which led to them constantly underestimating her. They expected her to cower and be servile once they caught her, but Pearl was no one's servant, not anymore. No, she was a knight. Drawing her other sword while Prasiolite was mocking her, Pearl drove her new blade right into the larger gem's eye making her howl in pain and letting Pearl drop. "You bitch," the Homeworld gem roared clutching her eye, "you'll pay for that you defective piece of garbage. I'll crack your gem for weeks before I kill you for that."
With Prasiolite towering over her and grabbing for her Pearl tried to crawl back, but she didn't have to when the carnelian came flying through the air and collided with the larger gem knocking them both over. "You alright Pearl," Garnet said haling the smaller gem up with ease after being pushed towards her by the citrine's blow.
"Yeah, just a bit surprised that Prasiolite didn't retreat back into her gem. Though I shouldn't be surprised, my arms aren't really built for strength like yours," Pearl said comparing her slim arms to Garnet's treelike appendages.
"I might be stronger than you but there are things you can do that I can Pearl. I'm sure we can compare our strengths and weaknesses later, but now's not the time," Garnet said adjusting her glasses that were knocked askew in the scuffle. "Besides, you might have made this easier for me to take out Prasiolite if you can distract the other two for a little bit I can take her out, can you?"
"Yeah I think I can," Pearl said drawing her third sword with a determined look in her eye.
"Good," Garnet said with a smile before turning to dodge Carnelian who had summoned a spear and attempted to skew her. She had dodged by the slimmest margin before driving her elbow into the smaller gem making her stumble clumsily. "Now get to it, I'm counting on you," she said before charging at Prasiolite.
Pearl couldn't help but feel a bit warm from Garnet's faith in her abilities, she turned to face the two gems. "What are you supposed to do, you're just a pearl," Citrine demanded spitting on the ground.
"Yeah that other one might be a bit of a problem for a freak, but just because you're a freak too doesn't mean you're anything more than a pearl," the Carnelian mocked.
Their insults stung worse than she would like to admit, but Pearl just brushed them off. Maybe she didn't care about her own value, but for now she was a pearl in the service of Rose Quartz, the greatest gem alive, that made her worth more than a hundred of each of them. "I don't know," Pearl said and her gem started to glow, "I might have some tricks up my gem. I only have to ask," she said raising her sword in defiance, "can the two of you survive the humiliation of being beaten by a lone defective pearl?" She wasn't really that cocky, but all she had to do was hold them off until Garnet finished off Prasiolite, not beat them.
The carnelian charged forward ready to punish the foolish servant who thought herself above her station. Her technique was awful for one so sure of herself, but Pearl wasn't taking any chances. She tossed away one of her swords to behind her attacker drawing the eyes of both her opponents a fatal mistake for the charging gem. Pearl shot a cone of light to where her sword would land and the light formed a replica of her which caught the sword and attacked the surprised carnelian. The Homeworld gem was able to block it easily since the hologram's movements were clumsy and slow but it did leave her back open for the real Pearl to stab.
The Citrine looked shocked, not that she could be blamed, they had started with five warriors from Homeworld sent to put down the rebels and three of their number had fallen to two of them. Two of them to a pearl no less, well she wasn't going to go out a loser like the others, she was at least going to take out this up jumped servant.
The yellow gem on Citrine's shoulder glowed and she pulled out a sword, it was Pearl's turn to have her eyes bulge. The yellow gem's 'sword' was larger than she was, probably heavier too, and she was coming straight at Pearl. The holo-Pearl tried to intercept the gem on a warpath but as she moved to block Citrine's sword her own was cleaved in half, it didn't even slow the weapon before it cut the hologram in half as well. When she saw that Pearl let out a wince but Citrine was still coming and she didn't have time to waste on a hologram, even if it did look like her.
Unlike the her companions Citrine wasn't going to take the servant caste member lightly and moved to finish off the pearl as quickly as possible. Pearl also noticed that unlike the carnelian Citrine was far more skilled with her weapon, she was probably the leader of the group. Pearl wouldn't have imagined a gem her size with a weapon that big could move as quickly as she did, but the Citrine proved her wrong. She had to dodge every blow since blocking would leave her no better off than Hologram-Pearl, but the Homeworlder's weapon was cutting it close while her inferior earth metal sword wasn't cutting Citrine at all.
Then as luck would have it Pearl tripped, over another jungle root like she had a thousand times during their trek to the clearing. She fell right onto her back and her sword skittered away, Pearl reached for her sword but Citrine stepped on her wrist before she could grab it. The homeworld gem was breathing heavily, "you're not bad," she admitted, "especially for a pearl. It's a shame you were born what you are, it's even more of a shame that you decided to side with the rebels. I wish I could spare you little pearl, but the Diamond's will is absolute," the massive gem said bringing her blade down on Pearl.
But before she could complete her swing her arm stopped, she was being grabbed by an armored fist. "No. It's. Not," a voice shouted and it was the last thing the Citrine would hear save for the sound of distant thunder as another mailed fist collided with her face.
"Glad I could make it on time," Garnet said breathing heavily as she helped Pearl up.
"I'm glad you could too, though I wish you weren't getting so much practice saving me," Pearl said accepting Garnet's back to normal hands.
"It's cool, next time you can save me," Garnet said with a cheeky grin that made both of them laugh. It also made them lower their guard; Pearl didn't even see the attacking gem until Hematite was a few feet away already lunging at Garnet's exposed back. Moving purely on instinct and only thinking that she wanted to protect Garnet since she couldn't protect herself. She could feel her gem glow and turn warm, it felt different than it ever had before and Pearl's hands flew to it and pulled out a weapon. It felt so right in her hands before Pearl could even see it and she stabbed it into Hematite's throat, right where its gem rested. Pearl gasped in horror as the world slowed down and Hematite was thrown backwards, its eyes wide with wonder and… gratitude as sick as it sounded.
Pearl could only stare in horror as she watched the Kindergarten gem slowly break down the crack on her gem growing wider by the second before shattering into a thousand pieces. She felt sick collapsing as tears rolled down her face and her spear rolled out of her hands. "What have I done," she asked more aloud than anyone.
"It will be okay Pearl," Garnet said crouching over the remains of the hematite bubbling all the shards she could find. She had felt something similar the first time she had shattered a gem, all three times had felt horrible, but time and war hadn't allowed her to mourn her enemies for long.
"I'm sorry," Pearl said desperately trying to wipe her tears away and stand up, but not managing to do both, "I know she was our enemy and that gems die in war, but- but I never thought it would feel this horrible. I can't help being weak-," she was cut off though as Garnet wrapped her arms around the smaller gem's lithe frame.
"Don't ever apologize for caring Pearl, not for your friends and not for your enemies," Garnet whispered softly as Pearl broke down sobbing into the larger gem's chest. "Even if we're on opposite sides of the war we're all still gems, it's okay to care."
"I-I never," Pearl couldn't even get the words out they felt like bile in her mouth.
"I put that together," Garnet said trying to joke but it fell flat. "You should cry if you feel like crying Pearl, I felt like doing the same the first time I killed another gem, but there was still fighting going on. Now, I've killed so many I can't even cry if I wanted to."
"Does it ever get easier," Pearl asked with wild optimism, her voice almost begging Garnet to tell her what she wanted to hear.
"No Pearl it doesn't," Garnet told her straight, "you might not cry after breaking a few more, but it doesn't get any easier. You'll still hate yourself each and every time you're forced to do it, but you know what Pearl," she asked cupping the pearl's chin and bringing her up so she was looking into Pearl's eyes. "I'm glad each time I kill another gem that I still feel as awful as I did the first time. Because I don't want to be like one of the Diamond's shock troopers who kill without digression. I won't ever hesitate to kill another gem if I have to Pearl, but the pain, the miserable feelings that I get when I do, I'm glad I still have them because it means I'm still me and I can still be the me I want to be. Now come on," Garnet said wiping the last few tears out of Pearls eyes, "let's get you home."
"Alright," Pearl said weakly, but better, still clinging to Garnet's arm, "Garnet."
"Yes Pearl," Garnet said not wanting to rattle her friend any more than she already was.
"Can-can we maybe walk like this, only for a little bit," Pearl practically begged.
"Yes Pearl," Garnet said and kissed her on the gem surprising all four of them, "you can hold on to me every time you need to," she promised as they started their long journey back to the warp pad.