A Million Dreams
Arrogant moron. Pompous fool.
Rose Quartz was beginning to think her plan to hassle Homeworld away from Earth was ill conceived. A plan to stealthily sabotage the construction site of the communication tower went wrong before it even began because an Agate and a troop of Quartzes stumbled upon their hiding spot while they still scoping the place out.
While Rose and Pearl had gotten pretty good at fighting by now, Garnet was still new. Only one of her components had combat experience. For the other, and the fusion herself, this was her first real fight. Rose was focused on using her shield trying to keep Garnet from getting overwhelmed by too many opponents while Pearl darted about slicing and dicing.
Rose didn't notice the Quartz coming for her exposed side until it was too late. She braced herself for impact, but what actually collided with her shoulder was Pearl, having been thrown back after taking the hammer blow to the face.
The CRACK sent cold shock through Rose. She dropped her shield and clutched desperately at Pearl. "Nonono!"
The tiny gem emitted an earsplitting electronic shriek, a sound that a human from several thousand years in the future might liken to a windows computer having a conniption. It did have one fortunate effect. The soldiers had regarded Pearl with a certain amount of skittishness, and the unexpected unholy noise caused them all to flinch.
Garnet immediately seized Rose's hand and led her on a mad dash to escape the fight. Once they were safe, Rose examined Pearl's gem and gasped. It was very deeply cracked, almost split through. The rest of Pearl's face was a mess of blood and tears. Her nose was flattened against her left cheek. Her body twitched and shuttered uncontrollably and her limbs twisted themselves into unnatural, painful looking shapes.
Garnet took one look and came apart. The temperature plummeted and frost formed under Sapphire's feet. Her eye darted about wildly, looking at things none of the rest of them could see. "Come on, come on! There has to be something!"
"The- the reef!" Rose stammered, clinging desperately to that one thought. "If we grab a ship-"
"We won't make it in time!" Sapphire sobbed.
Ruby, for her part, was strangely calm and solemn. "There's no coming back from a crack like that. I've seen it plenty of times before."
Despair and horror crashed over Rose. "But… but…" This couldn't be happening. She couldn't have gotten another pearl cracked. She couldn't be about to lose another one.
Pearl made another noise, almost like words. "TecAHHt UUooo. U mor… zZZrt- tant."
That sent Rose over the edge. "Pearl, no! I'm not more important! Why, why did you do that?" She sobbed. "I'm sorry." Sorry for this stupid rebellion idea. Sorry for bringing Pearl to Earth. Sorry that Pearl was given to her in the first place. Tears began spilling out of Rose's eyes and she leaned over and began covering Pearl's face in kisses and tears and apologies.
She was snapped rather abruptly out of grief when Pearl's nose suddenly straightened out and smacked her in the cheek. Rose recoiled in surprise, then gaped in shock. Wherever her tears touched, Pearl's face and gem were magically repaired until she was whole and unblemished, as if nothing had happened at all.
Pearl stared up at Rose with stars in her eyes and Ruby and Sapphire were staring at Pearl's gem in awe.
"It's… fixed?" Ruby asked tentatively. She turned to Sapphire. "Pearl's gonna be okay?"
Sapphire nodded. "She's gonna be okay! Her gem is really fixed!"
"You healed me. You're a healer." Pearl burst into delighted laughter and lunged upwards to hug Rose. "You're amazing! I love you!"
Rose sat stunned. There had been too many surprises. First the enemy soldiers finding them, then Pearl getting cracked and seeming about to die. Now the unexpected discovery of healing powers and Pearl not only wasn't going to die, she had used the word 'love' to describe her feelings for Rose for the first time.
A giddy grin split Rose's face as the weight of self-loathing lifted and was replaced with euphoria. Healings powers! She wasn't just an instrument of destruction, she could heal!
Suddenly, anything and everything seemed possible. She could become a gem worthy of Pearl's love. She could save the Earth. And someday, maybe…
I could heal you too.