Prompt: Character B is lying on the floor, bleeding profusely from a wound on their stomach, Character A lifts up their shirt ever so slightly, but this pulls on Character B's wound and they try to protest, weakly pushing at Character A's hands. Character A (and the possibility of other characters) try and soothe them by shushing and gently pushing Character B back so they are laying on the floor/couch/table.

Rating: K+

timeline: Earth, pre-war


"Ready?"

"Ready!"

Rose and Pearl charged at each other, swords swinging. They were finally starting to get comfortable doing that. In the beginning, they had hesitated, each fearful of harming the other. Now, they clashed eagerly.

Pearl was mostly offensive, darting in and thrusting again and again with a pair of short swords. Rose was mostly defensive, deflecting with her recently discovered shield and wide claymore.

As the battle went on, Rose picked up nicks and scratches; shallow things that healed quickly. Meanwhile, Pearl remained untouched. This was typical for their bouts. It wasn't just that Pearl spent more time practicing, she possessed a talent that Rose did not.

Today, however, Rose made an opening when she deflected Pearl's swords with her shield. The dual wielder was left wide open, and Rose went for the attack without thinking. Pearl flung herself backwards but not fast enough. The tip of the claymore sliced across her middle and trailed a spray of blue as it left her.

Pearl hit the ground hard and dropped a sword, the empty hand clutched at her stomach.

For just a moment, Rose experienced the triumphant feeling of got her! Then the sight of blue fluid oozing out from under Pearl's fingers registered. Horror swept through her, and sword and shield dropped from suddenly numb hands. Pearl was already trying to scramble back to her feet, but she only made it far enough to fall on her butt again. Rose surged forward.

"Pearl, no! Let me see." Rose gently pushed the bleeding gem back into a supine position.

"I'm alright, it's not a big de- ah!" Pearl squeaked in pain as Rose lifted her hand away and pulled up her shirt.

Rose did not yet know the value of her tears, and that is why she repressed them at the sight of the gash in Pearl's belly. Instead, she fought to remain calm. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"Rose." Pearl grabbed her hand. "It's not my gem. I'll be alright. The quartzes deal with this sort of thing all the time."

Rose inhaled deeply and nodded. "I'll take you to The Reef, they will-"

"NO!"

Rose blinked in surprise. It was rare for Pearl to say 'no' let alone so strongly. "But why?"

I hate that place was the answer that sprang to Pearl's lips, but it seemed somehow unworthy and embarrassing. "They're going to wonder how this happened. They probably won't dare ask, but they'll wonder. And gossip."

"Oh." Rose absolutely didn't want to risk the other diamonds finding out about her excursions to Earth. She wasn't going to take the chance of rumors about Pearl acquiring mysterious injuries to get back to them. After all, Pink, and therefore Pearl, were supposed to be on Earth's moon, which had nothing dangerous on it. In the best-case scenario, Yellow and Blue would scold her for being careless, complete with reminders about what happened to her last pearl. And while Rose believed she deserved such a scolding; she didn't want to experience it. "We have to deal with this ourselves then."

"If we don't stop the bleeding, I'll lose my form." Pearl's voice was strained, and she squeezed her eyes shut against a wave of dizziness.

Rose tried to think. Wasn't there something humans did to deal with this kind of problem? "Pearl, do you have any cloth in your gem?"

The effort of reaching into her magical pocket caused blackness to briefly flood Pearl's vision. She could hear ripping sounds, and when her eyes cleared, she could see Rose tearing a cape into strips. Yellow Diamond had given it to Pink so she could look imposing while commanding her Gems to colonize Earth. But Pink had never liked capes, and so into Pearl's gem it went. Pearl managed to get into a sitting position and got rid of her shirt. Rose's touch as she wound the strips around her was a strange mix of painful and pleasing to the point that Pearl found herself inexplicably blushing.

Rose didn't seem to notice and finished tying off the pieces of cape. "There. I think that'll hold."

If anything, it was overkill. The layered strips were thick and tight enough that Pearl couldn't bend. But the bleeding had stopped, Pearl felt like she could hold together long enough to heal. "Thank you, my di- Rose." Pearl blushed harder. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to perform optimally for you. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. You don't have to do anything." Rose picked Pearl up. "We can just relax on the moon for a while."

You don't have to do anything. Pearl was still having trouble grasping that concept. And not so long ago, she would have even dreaded not having anything to do. But now, she and Rose could fill their time with talk about the Earth, and Pearl found that she was looking forward to it.