39. Runaways and Renegades

Danburite had not been paying attention to Steven's face, and when she noticed his eyes were shut, she started to shake him.

"S-Steven? Are you still with me?" Frantic, she checked for a pulse; his skin was almost as white as her own.

There was a slight cadence of life below his skin, but it was weak. She needed to get him out of here, but where? She hadn't any idea how to move him, and she was entirely lacking any of her equipment she would typically have access to when working with organic life. A Rose Quartz vile could do the trick, but she had no idea where she might find one.

Pearl was looking at the child, eyes low and quiet.

Lifting Steven was more difficult this time, still unaccustomed to using her own hands and arms, but Danburite angled him so she could keep the pressure on his arm.

"He will die soon," she said, eyes scanning the massive chamber for anything that might be useful.

"I am going. He meant to save you – if you still wish to leave, you must come now."

Blue Pearl rose with them, placing a gentle hand against the yellow and white veins that crept up Steven's discolored arm. "B-but… Yellow…"

Danburite wasn't a leader and was certainly not of a class to own a Pearl, so she wasn't sure what to tell her.

"I… am sorry. He will not survive if we waste any more time." She chose to omit the fact that, even if they leave this instant, he might still not survive.

Looking at Steven's pale face and then down at her arms, blue and soft and no longer marred by yellow rivers of affliction, Pearl was entirely torn. She owed the boy for her even making it this far, he had healed her, and been unreasonably kind – but she couldn't just leave Yellow.

To make matters more confusing, this Danburite was giving her a choice. A Pearl, she wanted to be told, to be led, to feel safe; with agency came responsibility and mistakes, and she felt like she had already made so many.

The Danburite was moving away, so she was quickly running out of time to make a decision – follow, or go back? The white gem had just made an example of the child for his own naiveté, that he was not being noble or wise by picking danger over life, but things were not that simple.

Things were never simple when it came to rebels, reminding her of another, even more painful encounter she had had with a white rebel, though those circumstances had been very different.

"No! This is your chance – our chance – I told you! I-I won't leave you behind!" White had yelled, shaking as she took a protective stance in front of her. The waves of gems would not stop and White would not let up, ruthless with a sword in her hands. Thinking they had both gone rogue, the soldiers came in waves, but they were wrong. Blue would not go, had not turned traitor.

She had been on the ground, collapsed onto her knees. There were tears, too, shed by both sides.

She wouldn't go. She couldn't. This was her whole life.

"J-just, go! I… don't want to come with you!"

She watched White tense at her hurtful words, but she did not lower her blade, poofing two Ametrine's easily. Blue had had enough.

"D-don't you see what you've done? You've… thrown away your life! Stop trying to ruin mine. We are just Pearls, and you're a… a fool if you think otherwise! So just, go!"

White had turned after she said that, her blue eyes hard and lined with tears.

"I-I'm sorry. Maybe someday, you can forgive me…"

White stabbed her through the stomach, no trace of anger or spite in her face, a mirror of Blue's own. Then she poofed, and when she reformed, White was gone.

Balling her hands into blue fists, Pearl went after her.

"No!" Pearl said, voice surprisingly fierce.

Dani was nearly out the door, having peeked her head around and was greatly relieved to find they were alone. This was her first time in White Diamond's district… ever. The rumors about the ghostly stillness of the facilities, empty yet consuming, seemed to ring true.

Needless to say, Dani was startled by the blue gem's sudden audacity – to be fair, Pearl seemed even more surprised by her own sudden fortitude than Dani, but the wispy gem did not falter.

Pearl folded her hands and looked down, her voice sincere and hurting. "Please. I can act as an escort past most gems we may encounter, but I only know of one warp pad and it is very far away. The child, he… he was confident you could get us off-planet. We will pass Yellow's cell to get there, and…"

For a moment, she was gripped by the memory again – it was so long ago, but still White's voice was clear as day as it echoed through her mind.

"I… I won't leave her behind."

/

Blinking several times, Pearl realized Connie was speaking to her, so she rubbed her eyes and responded. "I-I am sorry, Connie. Could you say that one more time?"

The girl was sitting on the bottom step of the beach house – likely, she could not bear to be inside for very long. Pearl couldn't fault her for that. Curiously, Connie was still pink, and the fading had slowed, or perhaps even stopped completely. When she first awoke in Lapis' grip on the Roaming Eye, the girl's skin had been an intensely "hot" pink color – it was more red than anything, but now, she had turned into the color of, well, Rose.

Their gemstone, at least.

Connie's hair was an even softer shade of pink, complementing the rest of her unnatural skin tone. Right now, she seemed to be fine, but Pearl was desperately worried about what this meant for Connie's physiology. The girl was only twelve, nearly thirteen – was this only temporary, like the Centipeetle's recovery? Partial, yet fleeting? Or was this like Steven's Lion, magical and bizarre but seemingly permanent?

Those fretting instincts hurt her, Pearl realized – these were the same sort of nagging worries that she had as Steven started to grow and come into his powers… but he was gone. Gone, like Rose, like Snowflake or Crazy Lace, like her old life, like most everyone she's met. They all go away eventually, don't they?

"… so basically, that's all of it. What do you think?"

Gah – I'm as bad as Amethyst right now.

"Um… yes, I think that is… all of it." Pearl felt guilty and did not want to make Connie repeat herself a third time, but she was very distracted with her own troubles right now.

Connie breathed a huge sigh of relief and stood up slowly, stretching her arms. "Well, we better get going then. The moment I turn on my cell phone, I'm sure my Mom will know."

Oh – the Maheswarans.

Biting her lip, Pearl should have figured as much. Time has been against her for millennia, and no matter how exhausted she was, it did not stop. Connie's parents deserved to know what happened just as much as Greg, so she followed Connie out onto the sand and into the streets of Beach City for the second time that night, starting the trek to the human home on foot.

Connie was hugging herself; it was a cold night for the small town, the cloudless sky failing to blanket the Earth in its atmospheric warmth. Pearl seemed very distracted, but she was grateful to have her company – being alone hurt too much, and Amethyst hadn't been very cheerful company at the Temple while Pearl and Garnet had told Mr. Universe what happened. Judging by the dragging way Pearl walked, modeling none of her usual dignity and grace, Connie could only guess how the conversation went.

Their search for Lion had been fruitless, and after only about ten minutes of searching, Amethyst went into her Temple room to "find something," but she never came back out. Connie assumed that she just needed some time to think, which was reasonable – everyone needed to process what had happened, and everyone would need to heal differently.

The girl came to a stop outside of a convenience store a bit down the street from It's A Wash, both of them noticing that the trademark van usually parked outside was gone. Greg had left, at least for now.

She turned to her teacher before going inside. "I'll just be a second."

Pearl used the moment of privacy to face the stars again; for some reason, it was comforting. The universe was constantly in flux, but somehow, it always seemed the same to her. From Homeworld, or Pink Diamond's base, or Earth – there was always infinite darkness and space beyond, predictably present if she just looked up. Perhaps it was the way the stars twinkled, shining like gems she had known and loved and lost, pinks and blues and whites, and a million other swirling colors that made her head spin with memories.

Steven. Rose. Rainbow Quartz. Bismuth. Biggs. Blue, Yellow, Pink… She sighed, letting her eyes squeeze together to fight off tears. Connie's parents would be relieved but confused, and she needed to be a strong presence for their sake, even if she truly did not have all the answers.

Connie came back outside and Pearl turned to look at her, eyes low but she gave the girl a small smile. She had not lost everyone – not yet.

Returning a weak grin, Connie set off and Pearl trailed behind her. "Let's go."

/

"Let's go!" Pearl whispered to Danburite, who was having difficulty keeping up with the blue gem's shape-shifted strides. The white gem was not much shorter than "Holly Blue," but she was still struggling to keep pace. To be fair, she did not have her limb enhancers, and she was trying to carry an unconscious, dying child carefully through a prison in which she was supposed to be dead and he was supposed to be in maximum security confinement.

They had been lucky to only pass by one pair of Quartz soldiers, and they looked away when they saw Holly Blue Agate striding down the hallway, looking self-important. Danburite was impressed with Pearl's ability to mimic the Agate, who she knew very well.

As long as she doesn't have to speak, this may actually work.

Dani watched the pointed ends of the fake-Agate's hair as they marched, trying to look official and subservient, which was not exactly difficult; she worked with the real Holly Blue for centuries, though they mostly stayed out of each other's way unless something was wrong with the humans within the Zoo. Typically, she would blame the Amethysts who were displaced after the loss of Pink Diamond if something was amiss, but more often than not Dani would find most complications were rooted in human biological inefficiencies. She quickly learned to keep that to herself.

They were entering another "safe zone," as they agreed upon earlier – areas in which they would run instead of walk, and Pearl would return to normal for sake of endurance. If they entered a straight hallway with no other gems, they were able to run two or three times as fast than moving deliberately and authoritatively. At this point, they had gone down two already, and this strategy improved their pace enormously.

Whenever the pair returned to walking covertly, Dani would do her best to shift Steven so she could check his pulse. It was alarmingly low, but steady; he had stopped bleeding beneath the "gauze" she had prepared from his shirt. How long he could last like this was unclear to her, his gem physiology likely the only thing having kept him alive for so long.

Pearl stopped as they were about to round a corner, placing a hand against a wall – this was much more strenuous than her usual duties, and while Dani tried to be understanding, Steven's life force was chiefly hanging on by sheer luck at this point. But she said nothing, knowing she could not fully appreciate Pearl's struggle; she did not have any real powers.

Quietly, Pearl turned to face Danburite, face unreadable behind her long bangs.

"Half-way down this hall – Yellow. Then, two lefts and a door."

Dani nodded once, and Pearl closed her eyes before shapeshifting once again. Turning the corner, they continued their serious march, Pearl trying to remember what little she knew of this place. Another memory came to the surface as they walked in silence.

"I think we can all agree, at least when it comes to design, my Diamond is superior." Yellow was beaming proudly as the four of them stood outside the Council Chambers – one of the few times they could all be alone together was here.

Pink stood up straight and shot a wink in Blue's direction. "Why don't you tell us all about it Yellow? It's not any of us have ever been there before. Please, do go on."

Pink always knew how to get under Yellow's skin, but the latter gem was happy to call her bluff. "Oh, I can talk all day if that's what you want."

"For the love of Homeworld, please, don't." White placed her thumb and forefinger against the bridge of her nose, tired of their constant back-and-forth.

Pink chortled, but said nothing. Blue cracked a tiny smile.

Eventually, Yellow Diamond could be heard shouting on the other side of the door, so they all looked down awkwardly. None of them liked when their Diamonds fought, but they knew it was sometimes the best way for them to express their differences.

White decided to try to alleviate the tension. "You know, one of these days, I bet I could sneak you all around my Diamond's military district. Then you would know the real meaning behind 'superior'." Her voice was joking, but she choked up a little – Blue knew how terrifying White Diamond could be, so she appreciated White trying to act brave.

Pink smiled, genuinely captivated this time. "Wait, could you really? Our Diamonds – well, at least my Diamond – she always goes right to the throne whenever we see your Diamond. I think it would be fascinating. Please, there's still so much I want to see before we go back."

Blue spoke up then, lightly so as not to offend. "I… don't know if that is a good idea."

"I must agree," Yellow said, but made her voice teasing. "Of course, Blue is the only one of you pebbles to think of the consequences. Why do you always have to act like such the rebel, White?"

The so-called-out Pearl just rolled her eyes, but promised Pink she would show her someday.

A shiver ran up Pearl's spine as they neared the halfway mark, wishing White could have kept that promise.

Pearl slowed her stride to a walk, and Danburite caught up as they stopped before a stretch of blank wall. The door was entirely inconspicuous against the white metal – if Pearl hadn't come through this part of the hallway originally, she would have never even realized it led into a room.

Gently, she pressed her hand against the surface until a panel popped open and she led them inside.

The room felt more like a catacomb than a prison, and the bright white of the walls, floors, and ceiling only made things more sterile and unnerving. Stretch outwards, the room was really more of a narrow passageway, but with no exit. It was longer than any of the halls they had gone through to get here. Each wall was lined in perfect symmetry with what Danburite could only guess were holding cells, although each destabilizing shield was fully opaque so there was no way for her to know who, or what, might be on the other side.

Dani moved close to Pearl, whispering over her shoulder. "Okay, quickly, we need to get him out of here." The lithe gem twitched, but said nothing, advancing down the hallway in her original form. So long as they did not move Yellow, she should be…

Coming to a sudden halt, Blue leaned forward near a specific shield and whispered. "Yellow?"

Dani had followed, unsure of what else to do, and they both listened. "B-Blue, is that you?" Though Dani has never met Yellow Diamond's Pearl personally, she always imagined her as a powerful and intense, smaller version of her Diamond, but the voice on the other side of this barrier was anything but.

"I-I'm here Yellow, I brought the… he, his name is Steven. But… just, don't worry. We will get you out." She was almost crying in her relief, and Dani felt a little uncomfortable, obviously not meant to be a part of this heartfelt moment. She busied herself by checking on Steven's heartrate again – about thirty BPM, she would guess.

But as Pearl opened her mouth to say something else, the other Pearl's weak voice croaked from the other side.

"No, Blue. G-go. Find White. She will pro-protect y-y-y-you." Her voice was going in and out like static – she must be cracked, and by the sounds of it, badly.

"N-no, Yellow, I told you, I would not leave you behind!"

Pearl backed away, and Dani watched as a beam of light appeared from her gemstone and filtered through the destabilizing energy, revealing the Pearl on the other side. This sort of technique wouldn't get them through the shield, but they could see through the layers of distorting light. Instinctively, they both flinched at the sight of her, her form morphing grotesquely; this was not from cracking, this was…

Dani turned away as Blue Pearl covered her mouth, whispering a single, horrible word.

"Corruption."

There was a tense, extended silence, but they could not wait forever. "Pearl…"

They both had grown still, watching Yellow Pearl twitched at the end of their vision. Not only was her body starting to change, incongruous points and scales spreading across her form, her eyes had turned completely white, and her whole torso was lined with disturbing white and yellow branching marks, just like the ones Steven carried.

She needed to get the blue gem to move if she still wanted to escape, otherwise, Dani would have to leave her behind.

"There is nothing you can do for her now. Let's…" but she stopped short as Pearl slammed her fist against the wall next to the yellow veil that divided them.

"I… Yellow…" her voice was soft as ever, but it was filled with so much pain it actually hurt Dani to listen.

The white gem looked nervously between her, the cell, and the exit. Steven would not want her to abandon them, but then, Steven wanted a lot of things that were not in his best interest.

Danburite turned and started hurrying away – she had already wasted too much time.

She said two lefts and a door. That is where I need to be.

Just as the white gem reached the exit, however, she stopped when she heard an unexpected sound. There was a two quick beeps in succession, then, a soft billowing sound that Dani recognized…

Before she could even fully turn, Blue Pearl was beside her again, clutching a yellow gemstone in one hand and a delicate blue rapier in the other. For the first time, Dani could see her full face, her brow was furrowed as if she was just posed with a difficult question, but she wasn't looking at her – she was staring at Steven's pale, peaceful face.

"He is fourteen." Her voice was even, deliberate. It wasn't a question, but Dani felt the need to respond.

"Yes."

The white gem peaked her head out the door, not bothering to wait for Pearl to disguise herself.
Looking between Steven and the gemstone in her palm, Pearl was shaken with conflict.

Yellow didn't deserve this, her Diamond didn't deserve this, even the child did not deserve this – but did she deserve it?

"Nobody deserves this."

He had said that, and now he was nearly dead, just to help her escape. And he was only fourteen?

"Blue is the only one of you pebbles to think of the consequences,"

How many mistakes would she have to make before she made one too many?

"There's still so much I want to see."

It wasn't fair, she had been so young, so kind…

"This is your chance – our chance!"

Why did she keep getting second chances? Why not Yellow, or Pink?

"You don't ever think about it? What it would be like to be on your own?"

….

It only took a moment, but Pearl narrowed her eyes and gripped Yellow's gemstone a little tighter.

Snapping her head up, Pearl dematerialized her sword and marched after Danburite into the hallway, into the path of the unknown, paved by thousands of years of mindless fear and obedience.

/

Pearl was genuinely confused now, following Connie back towards the beach – she should just bite back her pride and ask what was happening, but now she felt like was in too deep.

They obviously were not going back to the Maheswaran's as Pearl had thought, but they were heading down to the marina, along the dock where the local humans would anchor their boats. Steven had mentioned once that Connie had an interest in boats, but that still didn't explain what they were doing here.

The human girl looked, well, a lot less than human in the blue glow of the moon, her pink skin turning an odd but flattering shade of purple under the light. She sat down at the end of the dock and pulled out her cell phone, gesturing for Pearl to sit with her. Playing along, Pearl said nothing and accepted the seat.

Connie looked thoughtfully into the blank screen of her mobile device, and after a pause, she shut the face of the phone.

"Ma'am… can I ask you something?" Her voice sounded a little sad, but mostly anxious.

Nodding, Pearl tried to make her voice gentle. "Of course, Connie. What is it?"

The girl bit her lip, looking from her closed phone to her teacher, and finally looked down at their reflections in the water. "What made you leave Homeworld?"

She could have imagined a thousand questions, and that would still have been one of the last things she expected. Pearl had to shake her head to eclipse the sound of blades and shouts and the clink of shards that surfaced in her mind.

"That… is a long story."

"Oh," Connie said, turning away. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to…"

Pearl stopped her. "No, it's okay. I just…" she chuckled weakly. Nothing was funny, but it made the thought hurt a little less.

I just imagined I would have told Steven before I told you.

"But first, why do you want to know?"

The girl twisted her pink fingers together nervously. "I… just… I figured you out of anyone would understand, but… I guess I feel bad."

"Bad?"

She was still looking away, acting like a child who had been caught doing something wrong. It made the white gem's heart ache.

Connie started to talk, her emotions spilling out as her speech became rapid-fire. "I… don't want you or the others to think I'm just running away from home, this isn't like that. This is different – I'll go back, like I said. I will. I just… want to take a few days to process before I have to face my parents. Is that… selfish? I just… I want to make sure I'm not being stupid, I'm trying to be responsible. But it just feels so cliché… running away from home."

Pearl was glad her student faced away, because her eyes had gone wide in surprise and realization and then quickly darkened in shame. She had been leading her to believe that running away from her problems was a reasonable thing to do.

A little sharper than she intended, Pearl spoke. "Connie…"

The girl flinched, her insecurity obvious. It was nice, in a way, that Connie trusted her enough to confide in her, but she was just too young to do something like this.

"I should…" Take you home, apologize to your parents for letting things get out of control, reprimand you for even thinking something so foolish.

"I should tell you why I left Homeworld. Or, rather…"

A light appeared from her forehead over the water, suspended like a holographic movie before them. Connie watched in awe as a scene came to life before her.

Pearl was standing next to Yellow and Blue Pearl, their heads bowed obediently. Their respective Diamonds were standing in front of them, speaking, not paying any mind to the trio.

White Diamond's mouth moved, but Pearl sitting next to Connie was the one to speak.

"She will be… Pink. We will need a Pearl to suit her."

Then, the sight changed, and she was standing next to the same Pearls as before, but there was a fourth – it could only be Pink Diamond's Pearl.

"I can't wait until you all can see the colony. It's so, so beautiful." The new one was speaking, her face animated – the others stood, a mixture of bemused and judgmental, and said nothing.

Again, somewhere new. Now Pearl was standing somewhere high up, and Connie gasped when Steven's mother walked up beside her.

"So, I heard you like swords?"

Holo-Pearl turned to her, somewhat surprised but mostly amazed, obviously struck by Rose's beauty, presence, candor.

"I-I… I do, yes. I do like swords."

Connie glanced at her teacher, but she was watching the demonstration reflected through the water. Her eyes were focused, her expression hard to read.

Then, she was back outside that large door, Yellow Pearl speaking furiously while Blue Pearl held her head low.

"Why do you bother with the Earth colony so much? It is unbecoming."

The projection of Pearl rolled her eyes, but went on the defensive.

"Oh, you're taking this too seriously. I was only saying, it's something to think about. You can't say you don't ever think about it? What it would be like to be on your own?"

Yellow and Blue Pearl exchanged a heavy glance, but were silent.

The next scene was one Connie was familiar with from Stevonnie's memories, making her cringe.

Rose was the first to speak.

"Pearl…"

"Yes?"

"I'm going to stay and fight for this planet. You don't have to do this with me."

Pearl look offended.

"But I want to!"

"I know you do. Please, please understand if we lose, we'll be killed. And if we win, we can never go home."

Pearl's eyes softened, looking up at Rose. A knight and her liege.

"But why would I ever want to go home, if you're here?"

Connie expected that to be the end of it, but the blue light flickered lightly and refocused again on Pearl, looking frantic and grabbing her hair, yelling at Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl.

"I-I didn't want her to die. I didn't mean for this to happen – but – this is just the beginning! I'm sorry, but, you have to come with me. I promise, things are better on Earth. We can protect you – Rose, me, you'll see. Come back with me. Please?"

Yellow Pearl opened her mouth to speak, but Blue Pearl lifted her hand, eyes downcast.

"I think you should go."

"B-but, it doesn't have to be like this. I won't leave you behind. I know what life is like here, let me show you what Earth can offer. This is your chance, our chance, to be free."

The lights sputtered and went out, and just like that, the blue and white display was over. Pearl was still looking into the water, but Connie guessed she was still gripped by the past as the sea moved gently beneath their toes.

They sat in silence for a while. Connie felt a little awkward, but the look on her teacher's face told her maybe Pearl needed to talk about this more than even she did. The human girl wanted to understand her teacher better, and maybe justify her own reasons for needing time away from her home, so the silence was heavy with their shared sentimentality.

Eventually, Pearl was the one to speak, her voice deliberate and thoughtful. "There's… nothing wrong with wanting to take things at your own pace. The people we care for will look to us for provision, or for us to take their side, because that is what knights do. We defend, we exert, and we support; but sometimes, there are people who will not want our help, no matter how much we try to show them it is for the best. You cannot make peace with someone who does not want to see the world the same way you do. Friends, enemies… we are all blindsided by love – the love of what we think is important."

Connie was studying her colored hands, still wrapped by Pearl from several mornings ago, examining the way her pink skin contrasted against the white, but dirtied, bandages.

"Then, what do you do? I mean, when those people don't want to listen." She asked, shifting her gaze to their reflection in the water.

Pearl brought one of her knees up to her side, thinking. "Well… we have a choice. If we can't change their minds, we can continue to disagree. Respectful dissonance, you might say." She smiled wryly, turning to face the girl.

"Or, if you're like me, you can try to change the tides so they might want to understand. That is why I left Homeworld. One approach is peaceful – democratic, even – but slow-moving. The other is forceful, dangerous. That is…" Pearl trailed off, looking up at the sky once again.

Connie could start to feel the reality behind Pearl's words start to sink in; they were no longer just speaking about her keeping this truth from her parents.

"War?" Connie asked.

They sat there, teacher and student, a silence falling between two beings that should never have crossed paths. One was a just Pearl, the other was just a girl, and their lives were irrevocably changed by a Rose Quartz that disturbed the natural order of things.

If they let things continue on, of course there would be change eventually, a natural by-product of the never ending march of time… but to raise a blade for a cause? That would be to risk everything, but the changes would start to come, as immediate as they were severe.

Pearl stood up, her voice low but fierce.

"Yes, Connie. War."