Pearl sat at the edge of the sky arena; the autumn sunset lit up the world around her. Pearl's swords lay causally next to her, her exercise paused to enjoy the beauty.
"It's nice up here." Bismuth said, sitting next to her.
"Yes," Pearl agreed. "The ruins always remind me of the past."
"Yeah. Great times." Bismuth said sarcastically. "Why do you want to be reminded of that? We won, we really won."
"…yes." Pearl said slowly "and I'm glad. Of course, I'm glad…but, it's hard, I knew who I was back then. I knew what she wanted me to be."
"She huh?…you were a slave. All that time. And I just let her treat you like that- I'm sorry."
"It wasn't like that. She wanted me to be free, she encouraged me to make my own choices- "
"Then why did she gag you, Pearl?" Bismuth pointed out. And Pearl turned her face away like she'd been hit.
"You didn't know her like I did." Pearl protested.
"I didn't know her at all until she stabbed me." Bismuth said and Pearl flinched. "She lied to all of us, Pearl. And we all believed her."
"You didn't know her like I did. You didn't love her like I did." Pearl protested.
Bismuth sighed, watching the orange sky reflect off of Pearl's face, bringing out the colors in her eyes, her hair, the light rainbow of her gem. Reflecting off her skin it made her look warmer, much like the glow of the forge had once done. "No, I didn't love Rose." She agreed. "Not like you did. But I loved her. I would have done anything for her." Laugh "I would have shattered pink Diamond myself."
Pearl laughed, a choked surprised sound. "I did shatter her!"
"Look at that! You got me beat…always knew you were better than me."
"Oh, I wasn't better than you Bismuth." Pearl protested. "You were loved by everyone…I was…tolerated."
"You were the face of the rebellion!"
"Doesn't mean they liked me. I was too uppity."
"That's what I loved about you. You knew what you wanted,"
"I knew what she wanted." Pearl disagreed.
"No…no, Pearl. I'm sorry I didn't know what was happening, I'm sorry I didn't help you. But you remember all those fights you had? About you protecting her? She didn't want you to do that. You made that choice."
"It wasn't like that; she shouldn't have been fighting at all! She was too important and if she had gotten hurt it would have been over-"
"But she wanted you to stop, and you didn't, because you knew you wanted to protect her, no matter what she wanted."
Pearl smiled "I guess you are right. I did make my own choice…but then you have to admit. She never ordered me not to, she let me make that choice even though she didn't want me to."
Bismuth nodded reluctantly. "I guess she did. I guess she let you make that choice…but she still gaged you Pearl…that must hurt."
Tears spilled over suddenly; Pearl could no longer hold them back. She nodded, "Every day." She choked out. "Every day it hurt."
"Oh, Pearl." Bismuth said, tears welling up in her own eyes as she pulled Pearl into a hug. "I'm so sorry."
"I'm sorry she hurt you." Pearl whispered, "I'm sorry I didn't know."
"We're here now." Bismuth said, "we're here now,"