Archive of Our Own

Colour, light refracting around the room, bouncing and reflecting off Gems, off the varied and uneven walls, brightening the contrasting hues of all the present people. The ballroom had a dreamlike quality, the rhapsodic movement constant.

As Pink watched the gyrating bodies below, as she watched light filter through hair flicked out in a fan-like shape behind twenty different Gems as they twirled, she wished she could join in with them.

She knew better than to try.

Above her and to either side was a Gem who towered above her and all the rest in size. One a mournful blue, the other a vivid yellow. Pink knew that since the last ball, wherein she had dared cause a bit of a minor ruckus, she was on thin ice at the moment.

Behind her, White’s bright, lamp-like eyes may as well have been boring into her back. She didn’t know whether they were fixed on the organized excitement below, or on her—so they may as well have been on her.

Pink tried not to fidget. Eventually, she managed to get sucked into the bells and chimes of the music that surrounded her, into the dreamy atmosphere of the late-night gathering.

She hummed quietly along to the music, quiet enough that no-one but the Pearl at her side would hear her. Pearl wouldn’t tell on her, she was far too forgiving for that. Pink shot her a muted, secret smile when she caught her silently, barely shifting enough to be noticeable, tapping her foot along with the quiet beat of a cymbal.

Pearl blushed and stilled, and Pink felt a little bad for unintentionally pulling her out of her careless enjoyment.

The ball went on for a while, and despite Pink’s initial wariness after the less-than-ideal talking-to she’d received after the last one, she enjoyed it very much.

The Gems below all filed quickly but methodically to the sides of the room, leaving a walkway through the middle for the Diamonds above them to exit gracefully through before anyone else could leave.

Pink, closest to the door, was the first to rise from her seat, smiling graciously, and leave the ballroom. Pink pearl was right behind her, a reassuring prescence.

Outside, she waited for the others.

“Well, that went much better than last time,” Yellow remarked a little snidely, giving Pink a side-eye that Pink wasn’t sure if she was meant to see or not.

“Oh, it was marvelous!” Blue exclaimed in her quiet way, “did you hear the way the sound reflected off the new walls? White, the new ballroom couldn’t be nicer.”

White smiled a with a self-satisfied glint in her eye, “thank you, Blue, I certainly thought so.”

Pink took her chance before everyone went their separate ways in the short lull after White spoke to pipe up, “does anyone want to spend some time together? Maybe we can sit in Blue’s pool?”

Yellow sighed, “I’ve got duties to return to, Pink, I’ve wasted enough time with your diversions lately as it is.”

Pink felt a little pang of something unpleasant at the words, but she knew she shouldn’t take them so seriously.

“Hm,” White hummed along quietly, a distant look already in her eye, and Pink suspected she would get a similar answer from her, “I believe I can say the same, starlight. Perhaps some other time.”

Yellow was already halfway down the hallway, White beginning to follow suit, when Pink pouted exaggeratedly, “aww, but we haven’t done anything together in ages.”

White sent Pink one of her unreadable looks, something going on behind her bright eyes that Pink didn’t really even want to try to decipher just then, “really Pink, you can be so petulant at times.” She reached out and pinched the bottom of Pink’s chin, wagging it gently side-to-side a couple of times, “no-one likes a whiner,” she added sweetly.

Pink clenched her teeth and pulled her chin away from White, who held on for a moment before letting go, maybe just to prove she could. Pink had obviously gotten on her nerves a few too many times lately. Another pang, this one not so easily excused.

“Fine. Sorry I asked, then,” Pink mumbled as White left. Why were they all in such bad moods lately? She could never tell if she was going to get the Diamonds who beamed at her and clapped along with her antics, or the Diamonds who snapped and told her off. It sent her head spinning just trying to get to the bottom of it.

As she often did, Blue took pity on her, “oh, Pink, you can come sit with me in my room if you like. I think I need some time to wind down.”

Pink sighed, but nodded along and followed Blue to her chambers, their Pearls trailing behind each of them.

After the excitement of the ball, Blue’s chambers seemed extra dull and cold. This wasn’t always an unpleasant thing; often Pink found the dark blues and cool drafts through the large open spaces very calming. Sometimes they were a bit eerie.

At the moment, Pink felt some relief at being able to relax her stiff, formal posture and general bearing. Blue seemed to as well, more subtly—but Pink picked these things up.

Blue sat at her vanity and pulled Comby the comb out with an airy sigh.

“Blue, I wanna go in the pool!” Pink moaned irritably, walking up to Blue and leaning against the soft fabric that fell over where Pink assumed her legs must be (although she had never seen them and as such their existence would remain a mystery).

Despite herself, Blue sighed again, harder this time—perhaps it was more of a huff—“Pink, you know I’ve been busy lately, can’t I have a moment to rest? Could you just sit down and contain yourself for a moment?”

Pink groaned far more impressively than Blue had huffed and fell onto her backside on the floor before flopping onto her back. She glanced over at Pink Pearl, who was standing with Blue Pearl by the doorway, and rolled her eyes conspiratorially at her in reference to Blue. The corner of Pink Pearl’s mouth twitched up into a smile for the split-second before she managed to repress it.

“Blue, there’s nothing to do,” she moaned pitiably.

“You could shut your eyes and relax,” Blue offered, hesitating in her comb strokes as she came to the realization that Pink really wasn’t going to be goaded into quiet cohabitation today.

Blue looked tiredly down at her as she stared back up with big, round eyes Pink as the sky of a distant planet which had lately been draining all of Blue and Yellow’s collective time, energy and resources. Her lips pursed in a straight line for a moment before she offered a small, tired smile.

“Why don’t you come up here and let me comb your hair?” she asked after a moment, rising from her seat.

Pink huffed, but jumped to her feet and then gracefully leapt and floated down onto the hard surface of Blue’s vanity, Blue offering her a steadying hand as she landed a little unevenly on her feet. She sat herself down cross-legged, looking into the mirror ahead of her, and Blue sat back down behind her.

She smiled at Pink in the mirror, who couldn’t help but offer a small involuntary smile back.

The slow, steady pace of the comb working its way through her generous curly locks was more calming than she had expected.

Sitting there quietly, Pink felt the high energy of the prismatic ballroom ebb, and her keenness to get out and do something along with it.

Along with the ebb off energy came a slow, creeping heaviness. It started in her gem, and slowly, but very surely, crept outwards. Up her spine, through her chest, into her head. As soon as she noticed this old, familiar feeling, it grew stronger, as if, like her, it thrived off attention.

It was a familiar feeling.

In an attempt to crush it down through inattention, Pink spoke, “Blue, tell me about your new colony,” she said longingly, wishing as she often did that she had a colony of her own.

No-one thought she was responsible enough. Or maybe they thought she was stupid. The heavy feeling grew heavier.

She realized that it was probably just Blue pushing this feeling on her, so she did her best to ignore it and the strange, quiet buzzing that had started in her head. This was one of those days that being left in the quiet with her thoughts made her feel insane, and she knew it had to be Blue’s doing.

Blue hummed quietly for a moment as she thought of where to begin, “well,” she ultimately decided on, “the sky is almost always the most lovely, vibrant pink—just the shade of your eyes,” Pink smiled softly at the compliment, the heaviness turning to an ache permeated with a moment of affection, “until the sun sets, and it grows more and more red. The plant-life is almost entirely an ugly brown, but there is fruit and flowers that light up the place with soft pastel colours…

“Unfortunately, the atmosphere is very acidic. We lost a very large, valuable and well-outfitted ship to it. And then a few Gems, before we figured out what the problem was. It’s been exhausting trying to craft suits that will allow Gems to walk on the surface without being eaten away by the air.”

Pink shuddered at the visceral thought of Gems melting to nothing. She hoped not too many had been too badly hurt.

“Why don’t you just find a new planet?” Pink asked, genuinely curious.

Blue suddenly looked much more tired than even before, “that’s what I’ve been saying to Yellow, but scans of the planet promise extremely valuable resources hidden below the unforgiving surface. She’s convinced we can get to it without too many losses, but it’s beginning to look hopeless to me. I only hope White doesn’t find out if—”

Blue’s eyes flicked down to Pink, and she seemed to catch herself before going on miserably. It probably wouldn’t be appropriate to complain about White to little Pink. She shouldn’t put her through that, or start putting ideas in her head.

“But never mind about that, you don’t have to worry about colonies yet.”

Pink could not resist taking the opportunity to dive into the most common source of grief between her and the rest of the Diamonds, offered this opening, “I wouldn’t mind! Besides, not all colonies are that hard. I can start with an easy one!”

Blue’s lips tightened again. The comb’s slow, repetitive movement through Pink’s hair lost some of its natural rhythm. Knocked off kilter by a sudden sense of dread instilled in Blue.

Seeing this reaction, Pink got a little…

Petulant.

“Blue, you know I’m not stupid. You could even help me if something really bad happened!” She pressed on.

“Pink,” Blue said, the comb freezing in place, her tone dampened with low warning. Pink knowingly ignored it.

“Yellow’s always saying that you were both younger than me when you started your first colonies!” Pink exclaimed, tone equal parts hopeful and bitter, “I could do it!”

“Pink, its obvious that you’re not ready for a Diamond’s—”

Before she could say, ‘duties’ like Pink knew she would, Pink cut her off, “hey, I’m a Diamond too!”

Blue slammed the comb down on the vanity, and Pink flinched violently at the sudden outburst, something inside her Gem giving a painful and sudden jolt through her form.

Blue, exhausted and hassled, glared at Pink’s almost equally incensed reflection in the mirror, “Pink,” she groaned, “why do you always do this!”

Pink uncrossed her legs, stood up, and whirled around to face Blue, fists already clenched in anticipation of a fight, “I just think it’s not fair that—!”

“That’s enough!” Blue exclaimed, standing suddenly to her full height, towering over Pink—who flinched almost imperceptibly.

For a moment, she looked furious, then she sighed one final time, and her shoulders seemed to slump slightly. She fell back into her seat. She saw the fear that flashed for a moment through Pink’s eyes, for once. Pink didn’t deserve that.

“I don’t want to fight with you,” Blue said at last, “why don’t you go to your room? I think we’ve spent enough time with each other. Besides, Yellow’s right. I should get back to work.” Although as she said it, Pink doubted Blue had any intention of doing anything but sitting miserably in front of her vanity for as long as she could get away with it.

Pink scowled at her, the dark buzzing feeling sprouting in her Gem as she tried not to let her anger fade, lest it be replaced with something worse.

“Fine,” she said, and she hopped gracefully down from the vanity and stormed out of the room, Pink Pearl following close behind.

“Can you believe her!?” Pink demanded of Pink Pearl as soon as they were out of earshot of Blue—or perhaps a little earlier.

Pink Pearl shrugged, not sure if Pink actually wanted her to answer or if she was about to start venting. When a moment of silence stretched between them, traversing the hallways as they did, she got her answer and spoke up sympathetically, “they treat you like you don’t know anything sometimes,” she said, “I know it must be awful.”

“It is!” Pink exclaimed breathily, her rushed, angry stride slowing as she realized just how fast she was walking.

She came to a stop in a lonely, empty hallway.

“Aaargh!” she groaned loudly, burying her face in her hands.

Pink Pearl flinched, wary for a moment of Pink’s increasingly frequent outbursts. When none came, she hesitated, then reached out and put a hand reassuringly on her shoulder, “it won’t be like this forever,” she said, finding something sufficiently nice to say difficult.

“You don’t know that,” Pink said hopelessly, hands dropping to her sides. She clenched and unclenched her fists. “And today had been pretty good! Something always has to come along and ruin it.”

Pink Pearl had run out of things to say, so she held her hands together in front of herself and tried to look sufficiently empathetic to Pink’s strife.

“Is it me? Am I being unreasonable?” Pink asked suddenly, looking up at her Pearl with a dawning expression of heart-aching vulnerability that Pink Pearl could not ignore.

“No, of course not!” She answered quickly, not even having to take a moment to think about it.

“You’re just saying that because I’m your Diamond,” Pink said, unconvinced, “maybe if I wasn’t so… so…” she trailed off, at a loss for words sufficient enough to describe her many shortcomings.

“Yes, I am,” Pink Pearl said, surprising Pink, who looked very hurt for a moment, “but that’s the point, isn’t it? You’re my Diamond. You should be able to fulfill your duties, if you want to. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want that.”

Pink’s expression softened. Then she smiled a big, lopsided smile.

“Yeah, I know you’re right,” she said, affectionately, “you usually are.”

She let out a whoosh of breath from her nose, hummed for a moment, then said, “hey, lets go visit the garden. I don’t want to stick around and run into any of the others now.”

So instead of heading for Pink’s rooms, as she had originally intended, they made a beeline for the closest warp pad.

The light faded around them, and not a moment passed before a pair of long, noodly limbs had lassoed Pink’s arms to her waist with acute enthusiasm.

“Pink!” Spinel exclaimed, her voice shrill with excitement, “hi, hi, hi, hi, hi!”

Pink beamed at Spinel as she unwound herself with such fervor that she spun Pink around on her heels before her arms had returned to a normal length (or as close to it as Spinel could ever bring herself to get).

“Hello, Spinel,” Pink said, her voice sing-song with playfulness.

Spinel was quick to launch into her usual routine; bouncing around Pink excitedly, asking what she’d been up to after not having visited for quite a while now. Pink smiled through it, even as she felt a brief pang of guilt at having left off visiting for so long.

Soon enough though, she’d shrugged off Spinel’s questions and they launched into a game of hide-and-seek to pass the time. It was nice. It was really nice, actually, to take her mind off things with Spinel.

And later, after they’d been running around and playing for hours, they sat down with the more reserved Pink Pearl and smiled and laughed and talked for hours more.

The garden was beautiful, its many delicate flowers in bloom, pillars and fountains polished and glinting in the light of the thousands of stars that surrounded them, fixed in place between the blackness of space. In every lull in their conversation, the pressing silence of the endless abyss around them pulled in on them. Sometimes, it was lonely. With good company, it was calming.

When Pink finally grew tired of spending time with Spinel and thought that she might like some quiet now, she and Pink Pearl said their goodbyes. Spinel looked crestfallen to see Pink leave, like she always did. Pink felt a moment of regret at leaving Spinel behind, alone in their garden—but it wasn’t like she’d never return. And there was plenty for Spinel to occupy herself with, so the regret quickly left Pink’s mind.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long after returning to her room and lying down that her thoughts began to wander to less cheerful things.

What did she have to do to earn the Diamond’s respect?

The thought was sudden, it tore through her mind from where she had shoved it away in the back, disrupting everything else and sending her mood plummeting in an instant.

Pink’s eyes teared up suddenly, and a burst of anger hit her right in the stomach, rushing outwards from her Gem, spreading through her body for a moment before she crushed it triumphantly with a solution; she would just have to go bother Yellow until she agreed to give her what she wanted.

Pink rose from her spot, wiped at her tears, and said to Pearl, “I’m gonna go visit Yellow.”

To her quiet surprise, Pink Pearl looked a little reluctant to leave, “are you sure that’s a good idea? You know she’s not in a very good mood.”

“If not now, then when?” Pink exclaimed, a little hurt that Pink Pearl would question her—did she think Pink was stupid as well? She didn’t really believe that, but the thought struck her for a moment and it was painful.

“I won’t stop you,” Pink Pearl said, forcing a smile that was well-practiced enough to appear as genuine as anything, “we’ll go if you like. I just think…” she trailed off, unsure if it was really her place to have an opinion on this. Would it upset Pink? That was always the last thing she wanted, for more than one reason.

“What?” Pink prompted after a moment’s pause, halfway towards the door.

“Well, maybe you should wait until she’s finished with the current colony? So, she won’t be so stressed. She’s more likely to grant your request, then. If that’s why you want to see her.”

Pink frowned, “well, yeah, but it can’t hurt to keep asking. If I keep reminding them that I want it, they’ll eventually give in.”

When Pink continued looking at Pink Pearl expectantly, as if waiting for an answer, as if waiting for validation, Pink Pearl smiled cheerfully, and shook her head and her hands for emphasis, “if that’s what you want to do! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to stay on your ship by your own planet? It would be a good excuse to get away from everything when you need to.”

“And it’ll prove I know what I’m doing!” Pink said, thoroughly encouraged and smiling right back, hers more genuine than Pearl’s. Although Pearl always did feel a sense of accomplishment when she could instill confidence in her Diamond, when she could make her smile. It was why she always went out of her way to try.

The trip to where Pink was sure Yellow would be found, in her office, was short and determined. Her strides were long, purposeful, and fast. She was running over everything she wanted to say in her head as she and Pearl walked.

“Okay, wait outside for me,” Pink muttered to Pearl before heading in.

“Good luck,” Pearl whispered, so no-one inside the room could hear her.

Pink smiled at her before entering the room. When the door slid shut behind her, Pink Pearl let out a worried sigh, and took her place standing by the door to wait.

Inside, Yellow didn’t even glance up at Pink. She was unconsciously making a face at the holo-screen projected in front of her, her Pearl standing at attention by her side. Pink approached the stairs that lead up to the throne-like chair that Yellow sat stiffly upon, cross-legged and slightly hunched as her fingers danced this way and that across the screen, her eyes crinkled with frustration and intense focus.

“Hi Yellow!” Pink exclaimed, planting a false grin on her face as she waved up at the larger Gem.

Yellow’s head didn’t so much as move an inch as her eyes darted to look down at Pink for a moment before they rolled up into her head unsubtly and moved back to her screen, “what do you want, Pink?” she asked, although halfway through her tone seemed to soften as she realized how harsh she sounded.

Pink ignored the way that made her feel, and said, “Blue told me about the trouble you’re having with your planet. Maybe the two of you could let me help!”

Yellow’s lips pursed for just a moment, her expression twisting into doubt for barely a second before being schooled into something less telling, and she tried to be delicate as she said, “Pink, I don’t think that you’d be able to figure it out before Blue and I.”

Pink felt a little temporary surge of indignation before she said, perhaps a little loudly, “I know just as much about the chemical compositions of most kinds of atmospheres as you! I could help build something to protect people from—”

“Besides, I’ve already figured that part out,” Yellow cut her off, trying not to sound impatient—she really was, “I’m just trying to get the force-fields produced, but dealing with some of these Peridots is like trying to teach a Quartz to count.”

“There must be something I can do!” Pink pushed on, “if you’d just let me prove to you that I can—”

“Pink, I’ve told you before, I don’t have time for this right now,” Yellow said, tone growing more unpleasant by the word.

Pink tried to suppress a scowl, and was only partially successful, “if you gave me my own colony, I could—!”

“Pink!” Yellow shouted suddenly, and Pink managed not to flinch, not to show weakness, “get out, now.”

“No.” Pink said, stomping a foot on the floor angrily, knowing that she was right to do this and that she needed to stand her ground to look strong, “I want a colony! Stop treating me like I emerged yesterday!” she was dangerously close to starting to really yell at Yellow, and on some level she knew this wasn’t going to work, but her eyes were starting to heat up and sting with unfallen tears, and she had no intention of leaving empty-handed.

“Pearl, would you escort Pink—”

“Stop it!” Pink shouted, voice wavering, “why can’t you just listen to me! I’m sick of always doing the same things over and over again! I’m sick of having to sit in my room while you guys get to go out and have parades and songs written about how smart and brave you are! I’m tired of being talked down to! I won’t—!”

Again, she was cut off, Yellow slamming a hand down frustratedly on her holo-screen to close it, shooting to her feet and finally giving Pink her full attention. Pink was too angry to startle at it.

“Pink Diamond you leave this room right now, or I’m putting you in your tower!”

Pink wasn’t even listening, teary-eyed, she said, “why do you always have to do this!? You’re so nice sometimes, even though you’re always grumpy—why do you have to be such a—”

“That’s it, I’m not going to stand here and listen to this any longer,” Yellow said, forcefully keeping her voice from getting too loud. She charged forwards, and before Pink could do anything than let out a half-sob, half-shout in protest, Yellow grabbed her by the arm and carried her roughly from the room.

“Yellow!” Pink cried, refusing to let her tears flow because she knew it made her seem irrational.

But the damage had already been done, Yellow had already made her decision.

“I’m sorry!” Pink let out, not noticing Pink Pearl trailing behind them, feeling a sudden burst of guilt for letting Pink do this. It was all her fault, and if anyone asked she already knew she would tell them as much.

How many times had she done something stupid lately? How many times had she gotten Pink in trouble?

Pink Pearl tried to look steady, tried not to panic visibly. She had no idea whether she was successful.

“You’ve stepped out of line too many times lately, it’s time I taught you a lesson.” Yellow said firmly to Pink, also trying to keep her cool so as not to appear irrational.

Pink was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor of the tower. She was shut in.

She got onto her hands and knees, and was numb to the tears she watched splash onto the smooth ground underneath herself.

The next thing she registered was that she was in a sitting position, legs underneath her, although she didn’t remember sitting up. There was a loud buzzing in her ears, that cold, unpleasant numbness seeping through her body from her Gem. And pressing against her Gem, an uncomfortable heavy pressure.

Pink cried for a long time.

And then she forced herself to stop, without any idea how long she had been in the tower for, without any idea how long it would be until she was allowed out. She didn’t want to be crying when Yellow came back. She didn’t want to let her think she’d won.

Even though deep down, Pink knew she had.

The sound of the door opening sent a sharp pain through Pink’s form, but seeing White’s face, unreadable as it was, replaced that pain with elation.

“Come on, starlight,” White said, offering her a hand.

Pink took it, got to her feet, and left the tower as quickly as she could, wobbling only slightly. She glanced Pink Pearl out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t look long or hard enough to notice the smaller Gem’s subtle tremors or the quiver to her lips.

Pink thought she saw a brief flash of pity warp White’s expression for a moment. In fact, she was sure of it. But it quickly returned to some form of neutrality.

White’s hand, the skin tough but reassuringly cool and smooth, pressed up against Pink’s side, caressing her cheek, “there you are,” she said, “lighten up,” and she smiled at what Pink thought must be a half-joke about how White lit up every room she was in. Pink thought, bitterly, about how very much she could not do that.

“I’m sorry,” she said reflexively, even though she wasn’t really.

White didn’t answer, and Pink thought that she probably spotted the lie.

“You shouldn’t let the things Blue and Yellow do get to you,” White said reassuringly, though her tone was off-puttingly coy, her smile uncomfortably frozen in place on her face, mechanical and always uncertainly genuine, “they can be just as silly and impulsive as you.”

Pink wasn’t sure why White thought that was a nice thing to say.

“I asked your Pearl why you seemed to think it was a good idea to bombard Yellow while she was busy,” White said slowly after a few moments, retracting her hand from Pink. Pink looked at her properly as she kneeled in front of her, her cape pooling up on the ground. Pink had an urge that she did not act on to run her hands through the smooth, sheer fabric. She loved the texture of it.

Pink Pearl, for her part, stiffened. She had been in just as much trouble as Pink had been, another offence in a long line, lately.

“You shouldn’t be so easily led, Pink,” White said. Although she didn’t sound angry, her unwavering voice was tinted with the cold disappointment that often crept into her tone when she was speaking to Pink, and it almost hurt Pink more than anything else would have. “You can’t let your Pearl tell you what to do. If you want a colony of your own, you’ll need to be more confident and decisive. You mustn’t take advice from lesser Gems.”

Pink sniffled and looked at the floor, “sorry,” she almost whispered.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

“I love you, starlight. Even though you’re difficult,” White told her.

Pink felt good, felt warm and right hearing the first half of that. And just more pained at the second half.

Everything had been so hard lately, for all of them. And when they were stressed, or tired, or unhappy, they all lashed out at each other.

Pink knew they loved her. White, Yellow and Blue. They told her all the time. They smiled at her and sung to her, gave her gifts and hugged her. But sometimes…

Sometimes it had to be like this. Pink wished it didn’t. But it was just the way it was.

“Let up on the subject of colonies now,” White said, “when Yellow and Blue think you’re ready, you'll have one.”

Pink nodded, still not looking White in the eye.

“Now why don’t you run along and find something constructive to do. Yellow and Blue have left for their planet, now that they’ve worked through their… issues. When they return, we can all spend some time together at last. How does that sound?”

Pink nodded, once again, and tried not to cry, “good,” she said quietly.

“Good,” White repeated, “I shall see you soon.”

“Mhm.”

And Pink was left with Pearl.

“I’m sorry,” Pearl said after a few moments of charged silence, approaching Pink. A tear splashed against one of Pink’s shoes. It was absorbed into the supple fabric.

She clenched her teeth.

She wasn’t angry at Pink Pearl.

She really wasn’t.

But the moment White was out of sight, she saw red.

And when Pink Pearl put a reassuring hand on her without warning, rage exploded outwards from her Gem, though her form.

Force was expelled from every part of her.

And that was when it happened.

Pink didn’t even think of Pink Pearl’s wellbeing for a moment. She had been thrown out of her sight as a great crack like thunder echoed through the corridors, and the walls and ceiling around her were rent apart, chunks of dull rock crashing into the floor around her.

But then she thought of Pink Pearl, and spun to her side to look for her, hoping she hadn’t been hurt.

Then she saw what she’d done.

Horror and fear replaced her anger.

White’s footsteps sounded behind her, and she was back.

“What did you do!?” she asked, voice shrill but not raised.

“She—I didn’t mean to! Pearl just startled me is all!” Pink said, rushing to Pink Pearl’s side. Somehow, she had managed to hold onto her form, though it was wavering.

Her face. Oh, her face. Pink let out an agonized moan at the sight of it.

The cracks in it were the mirror image of the ground under their feet.

She was trying to get her up, but Pink Pearl didn’t seem to have the prescence of mind to stand on her own.

“We have to take her to the Reef!” Pink exclaimed, voice shaking, legs shaking, supportive hand shaking.

When she looked up at White however, she knew something was wrong.

“Startled you, did she?” White said quietly.

Every emotion Pink felt disappeared in an instant. Numbness again.

Static leaked into her head.

Something was very wrong with the way White was looking at Pearl, who was groaning in pain, a sound that sent shockwaves of fear through Pink.

“Perhaps it’s time I put a stop to her bad influence on you, once and for all,” White said, and her eyes widened, lighting up like stars in the night.

“Wait!” Pink exclaimed.

“Quiet, Pink,” White said, voice unconvincingly saccharine, “I will not allow her to step out of line as frequently and profoundly as she does any longer.”

White wouldn’t have hit her, but Pink still dove out of the way of the blinding jet of light that shot from the older Gem’s eyes when it came.

She would always feel guilty about that, even though there was nothing else she could have done. If she’d tried to protect her Pearl, White would have overpowered her with ease and had her way anyway. White always got what she wanted.

With White’s assistance, Pink Pearl’s form stopped wavering at last.

With White's assistance, Pink Pearl never once wavered in any way, literal or metaphorical, for thousands upon thousands of years to follow.