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"Oh for the love of-" Pearl grumbled as she stepped in yet another pile of who-knows-what,"Amethyst, I understand you don't like order, but can you at least make your junk traversable?"
Amethyst groaned loudly as she rifled through a mound of broken appliances and ruined books. "I don't need to get the third degree from you, Pearl. I just wanna find your stupid rah-pee-er-"
"It's pronounced 'rapier'," Pearl corrected.
The purple Gem rolled her eyes. "Whatever! I just want to get your dumb sword so you can get outta my room already."
Minutes passed as Amethyst and Pearl would move from junk pile to junk pile in their efforts to find the slender gem's favorite sword. Amethyst pawed her way to the center of each miniature mountain of junk, coming up empty every time, but rediscovering lost treasures she had once enjoyed centuries ago. Then, the duo made their way to a moderately sized hill of...stuff and began the search. Or at least Amethyst did.
"You know, I could really use a hand here."
Pearl sighed and looked back down at Amethyst. "I know you don't expect me to root through your...garbage-"
"They're VALUABLES," Amethyst yelled.
"GARBAGE! To find the sword that YOU lost!"
Amethyst wanted to snap, but she kept her cool. "Alright, P," she sighed,"I hope you had a good time with that sword because you can forget about finding it."
"What do you mean!?!"
"Well," the shorter Gem spoke, snide just radiating from her tone,"clearly, you ain't gonna go rooting through my 'garbage' to look for your favorite irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind sword. But that's okay, Rose'll just get ya a new-oh wait..."
Pearl stared daggers at Amethyst. Her face was a dark blue, her brows furrowed intensely, and her palms were clenched as hard as they could be without causing permanent form damage. She knew that Amethyst was just doing this to spite her, she never really knew why, but she was often too irate to ask. And now was just like all of those times.
In a flash, Pearl dove into the pile as well, haphazardly tossing broken items and lost curios left and right. Her furious tossing was halted when Amethyst spotted an object, one that was unlike the rest.
"Whoa! Okay, time out, Pearl. I think I found something."
"Is it the sword," Pearl asked inquisitively.
"No...it's a tape."
Pearl scoffed and rolled her eyes. "What's so urgent about some old VHS tape that we just found in a pile of junk?"
The lavender Gem squinted her eyes as she observed the tape. "I think I remember what this is supposed to be." It was familiar, but she couldn't quite place why. This is one piece of junk she didn't know the story of.
"Let me see," Pearl said, taking the tape from her hands. After a brief inspection, she came across a semi-faded label on the side that read "TO PEARL AND AMETHYST. PLEASE WATCH."
And then it all made sense.
"Amethyst, th-this a tape from Rose," the pastel gem yelled in surprise,"Rose made this tape!"
The purple gem looked at the tape for a brief moment, coming up with nothing.
"How can you even tell? There's no name or anything!"
"I'd know Rose's handwriting anywhere, and this is definitely hers." Pearl had become extremely familiar with Rose's unique way of writing, mainly by reading old manuscripts and letters written by the pink Gem ages ago.
"So...now what," Amethyst asked scratching her arm,"I mean, do we go back to looking for your sword or...?"
Pearl ran to an adjacent pile of junk and began to dig frantically. Amethyst was confused at what the taller Gem was doing digging through her stuff at her own ravenous volition. "What are you doing, P?"
"We have to watch the tape," Pearl spoke manically,"Who knows what message Rose left for us? It could be extremely important!"
"What are you even looking for?"
Pearl began to mutter fast and incoherent sentences to herself for a moment before answering. "A–um...uh... A VCR PLAYER! We need a VCR player!"
Amethyst walked over and grabbed Pearl by the shoulders in an effort to calm her down. "Chill out, there's one in one of Greg's boxes. Let me get it so you can start drooling hard over Rose some more." Amethyst wasn't looking forward to it, she knew whatever was on this tape would either seriously bum Pearl out or just make her fall even harder for Rose.
After about ten minutes, Amethyst returned to the spot with a VCR player, television, and power generator in tow. She and Pearl set up the VCR and put in the tape. It seemed to be watched before somehow, so with a quick rewind the tape was ready for viewing.
The blue screen disappeared as, suddenly, Rose Quartz was onscreen, sitting in what looked to be inside of the van. "Are we...rolling now, Greg?"
"Yeah, you're on, hon."
"Okay," Rose began, taking a deep breath and looking into the camera,"Pearl, Amethyst. I just want to start this out by saying how much I love both of you. And it's because I love you both so much that I'm making this tape."
Pearl watched the screen with unflinching interest, getting to hear Rose's voice from something other than a hologram for the first time in over a decade. Amethyst looked over to gauge her interest, she knew for sure this was going to hurt somebody.
"Now, Amethyst," she sighed,"In the millennia I've known you, I don't think I've ever met a gem with half as much promise as you. I know that you can do literally anything you put your heart into. You may have been made here on Earth, but you could have easily been a general on Homeworld. And of all the Gems I met on my journey, I'm glad you stuck with me until the end. And, frankly, I'm astonished you don't love yourself as much as you deserve to."
The short Gem began to tear up only slightly. This just didn't have the same effect the second time around.
"And now, for you Pearl."
Pearl's attention shot up as she almost saluted her reflexively, soon remembering the circumstance.
"I don't think I could have asked for someone better than you. I'm just...you're the world to me, Pearl. And I don't think I could ever bear to see you unhappy. With that being said..."
Rose began to trail off, sending Pearl into a frenzy.
"I don't think I could requite your love for me."
Pearl placed both hands over her mouth in shock. She wanted to burst out crying then and there, but she composed herself. She knew Rose didn't feel exactly the same, but to actually hear her say it, that was a completely different kind of hurt.
The lavender gem looked over and winced at Pearl's current expression. She knew it was probably going to be like this.
"I know how you feel about me, and I really wish I felt the same because you are an outstanding person...but what Greg and I have is...different. Please don't let this change your perception of my love for you. But, Pearl..."
Pearl went up to the screen, holding onto bated breath as Rose continued her speech.
"Please try to move on! Please, Pearl," Rose began to break into tears herself,"Move on, if not for yourself, but for me. If you love me, truly love me as much as you think...you will be happy. I don't think I can stand to see a tear run down your beautiful face because of me, yours don't heal like mine. You don't need to cry."
Contrary to Rose's word, tears were flowing from Pearl's eyes in uncontrollable amounts. Amethyst was crying more now, not because of the tape, but because of...you know.
"Now, my time is running low, but you two have lifetimes to make your happiness! And I'm sure that the two of you will move past this and love Steven just as much as I love you both. But, be happy," Rose flashed a thin smile through her tears,"just because I'm not there doesn't mean I can't see."
"That's a wrap-"
The TV then cut back to the blue screen, and neither Gem knew what to say. Well, they did, but they didn't know HOW to say it.
"So Pearl..."
The floodgates of Pearl's sadness broke as she began sobbing full force, each breath getting more hitched than the last. She latched herself to Amethyst, almost as a reflex, and cried into her strong shoulder.
The lavender Gem returned the embrace as she patted Pearl's back in an effort to calm her down. It seemed to do a little as the pastel Gem loosened her grip.
When she broke off from Amethyst, they both then sat in dead silence for a minute or so. The purple Gem then decided to break the silence.
"Pearl...I-"
She was then cut off by an insistent kiss. Before she could even rationalize the situation, Amethyst returned it with gusto, moving her tongue ferociously with Pearl's, their tongues almost in sync actually. When they decided that it was enough, they broke off of each other, eyes locked and faces flushed.
"I'm sorry," Pearl muttered, dejectedly,"I just-". It looked like the pastel Gem was going to break down yet again, this time from embarrassment more than sadness.
"No! It's okay, Pearl," Amethyst said hurriedly,"It's totally fine."
Pearl sniffled and wiped her eyes. "It's just...Rose was right. I do need to move on." She looked off into the distance, almost avoiding eye contact from here on. "I just need to face the fact that she's made her choice and there's nothing I can do about it."
Amethyst gripped one of Pearl's hands, mainly for reassurance but also for...you know. "So that's it? You just done with Rose like that?"
Pearl shook her head and looked back at Amethyst. "In a way, I think I've always felt that it wouldn't happen, but I really wished it would. It hurt to hear her say out loud, but all she did was state the obvious." Pearl then used her free hand to grab Amethyst's.
"But, I think I'm finally ready. Amethyst...do you want to...well?"
"Hell yeah," Amethyst whispered loudly, pulling Pearl closer, their faces just millimeters apart. As if by pure instinct, they closed the distance with a kiss. One full of passion, one full of finesse, one that was just centuries overdue. And it was with this gesture, they knew that it was all going to be okay.
Pearl also seemed to remember something just now, her eyes wide with shock. "We still need to find my sword! Oh, how could you let us get sidetracked like this?"
She wanted to say something snappy back to her, but Amethyst just didn't want to spoil the moment just yet. "Okay, P, because we're a thing now, I'll tell ya where I put your sword."
"You had it the whole time?!?"
"Yup!"
"You are just unbelievable!"
"But you love me anyway!"
"Yeah." Pearl sighed happily,"I guess I do."