A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews so far! Big thanks to those who told me that the formatting messed up in this chapter when I posted.
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Yellow Diamond must be starting another war. She's been asking non-stop questions about tactics, weapons. Rose, Pearl, and Garnet barely even survived their last altercation, which means that she intends to not let such a thing happen again for her next decimation.
"How about the Catalysts?" She drawls, taking a look at Pearl out of the corner of her eye, but keeping her head positioned towards her screens.
"The-" Pearl shudders to think of what Yellow Diamond could do with such a weapon, "the Catalysts were destroyed long ago by Rose. There's nothing remaining but de-powered pieces."
"Don't lie to me," Yellow Diamond growls, turning in her chair and leaning towards Pearl.
"I'm not." Pearl assures her; she is.
A tense atmosphere fills the air. Pearl's not going to reveal the location of anything that could cause destruction- and Yellow Diamond has no real way if she's telling truth without sending a squadron to Earth to override their temple defenses and search.
"You think I have use for millennia old weapons?" Yellow Diamond laughs, "This isn't about retrieving them, it's about accountability."
"For whom?"
"You Crystal Gems caused a lot of trouble; it wasn't all about Earth- even your Amethyst picked up on that. For many of you, it was about change," Yellow Diamond says, "a pearl, allowed to act like a gem and think for herself; the fusion, defying standards; a topaz, becoming a high ranking warrior; several quartz, defecting from their squadrons- the rebel movement didn't stop at earth. We had to break a lot of gems on Homeworld to crush the rebellion before it started here. My own pearl turned her back on me, giving away secrets and plotting my demise."
Pearl takes this information in quietly. She'd hoped, from Earth, that some day they wouldn't have anything to fear. That maybe the system would be overthrown- if as many gems joined the Crystal Gems from Earth alone, she could only imagine what would happen if their ideals spread to other colonies, to the gem's Homeworld.
It wasn't foolish thinking after all, but in the end, neither coup was successful. Rose was able to save only herself and two or three others, depending on how one counted. It wasn't exactly a new gem civilization.
"You don't know where the Concord Stone is?" Yellow Diamond says, repeating a question from from earlier; Pearl had taken a few hits when she first arrived trying to truthfully deny knowledge of that artifact, "Someone does. If it's not a Crystal Gem, then someone within our ranks has it."
Pearl understands where this is going now. The scent of another rebellion is in the air, and gems who have nothing to do with her are going to start trouble. They've been lying low for a few thousand years, but they won't forever.
Homeworld did their best, destroying anyone who might not be loyal and creating new gems, ignorant of even the thought of defecting, to take their place. Peridot knew nothing of the Crystal Gems because even the mention of anyone successfully breaking away, even for a short while, was too much of a threat.
Yellow Diamond seems to have little desire to learn more about the war that changed Pearl's life over 5000 Earth years ago- all of this, all of the questions, Sapphire's death, have been about punishment for them and accountability for gems she's never met. Pearl wishes them well, but she doubts she'll be around to see anything happen. It looks like she's starting to outlive her usefulness. All Yellow Diamond wants from Pearl is process of elimination.
"Lapis Lazuli was imprisoned for thousands of years by you Crystal Gems, but even she took the risk of sending a message to you before Peridot arrived," Yellow Diamond snorted, "she's hopelessly trying to save her own skin now by proving her usefulness, but I think she's better off broken or put back to use in another object."
That's out of her hands, Pearl knows. Blue Diamond gets to decide what happens to her prized Lazuli, and it must infuriate Yellow Diamond to see her walk, with minimal consequences. She wonders what will be enough to turn the Diamonds against each other. She's seen it before.
They've removed every Pink Diamond insignia that used to exist here, Pearl's noticed. She's sure mentioning her is under penalty of death. Weakness is not tolerated, even among the Diamonds.
"If you don't care about Earth, then what is Peridot doing there?" She asks, finally.
"Peridot is working on a project," Yellow Diamond says, mood lightening almost imperceptibly, "you should be happy we pulled you off of that planet when we did."
...
Peridot keeps close to the citrines on her way back to the ship, pleased to see no sign of her kidnappers.
They think she's spared them, Peridot assumes, but she's really only letting them live long enough to see the death of their planet. She takes no satisfaction in it, but that's how it is.
The door seems to not have been tampered with, either, and swings easily open at her gem signature's command. The hard soles of her limb enhancers clack loudly against the floor as Peridot leaves her guards to their own business, heading to the ship's control room so she can finally leave this garbage planet once and for all.
Oblivious to the large pink beast disappearing into the corridor behind her, Peridot sinks happily into her chair, floating her touch stumps over to the submerged controls and letting the signal wash over her as she redirects her ride back to the median warp planet.