Chapter Text
Pearl had a bad feeling about this.
It began with another failed attempt from her Diamond to stop the colonization of Earth. Their manufactured rebellions had been met blow-for-blow. Blue Diamond had reassured her own that the Empire wouldn't back down. They simply weren't doing enough. So her Diamond had decided to change track.
The two of them stood in the Sea Shrine. It was unguarded. That meant, Pearl knew, that the architects trusted the shrine's traps to take care of would-be intruders. Her form shuddered involuntarily. But it wasn't her place to voice her misgivings.
"My Diamond," she said. "You do know what you're looking for, right?"
"An hourglass," her Diamond said. She sounded very unsure of herself. Pearl saw why: before them stood dozens.
"Yes, well…" Pearl gestured. "Do you know which?"
"I'll know it when I see it," her Diamond said, unconvincingly. She walked back and forth in front of the glasses. "Hmm."
Pearl simply stood where she was. Some of the hourglasses were beautifully ornate. Some were more simple, less impressive. Powder blue sand trickled through each one, each hourglass in its own direction.
"Oh!" her Diamond exclaimed. "Pearl, look at that little one!" She trotted over, crouching in front of a small hourglass encased in a glass shell. "It's ad-orb-able!" She giggled to herself.
Pearl wanted to advise her against it. Surely that wasn't the one. But this was her Diamond first and foremost, and she was her Pearl first and foremost.
So she kept her mouth shut.
Her Diamond picked the tiny glass up. Her hand was big enough, though, to knock over a neighboring glass. The tinkle of falling glass broke the silence.
Then they both heard a rumble.
"My Diamond," Pearl began.
She never finished. The ceiling vanished and the weight of the ocean fell onto the two of them.
What happened next wasn't clear. Pearl expected to be crushed between the ocean and the floor. But when she regained her senses, she was in the open ocean, a deceptively strong arm around her waist. Organic life danced around her. She looked up and saw her Diamond.
She went slack. Her Diamond settled to the floor and set her down. Pearl stumbled into a sitting position next to her.
"Are you okay?" her Diamond asked. Organics fluttered around her head. "You're not hurt, are you?"
Pearl didn't answer right away. "What happened?"
"I couldn't leave you, Pearl," her Diamond said simply.
Pearl was shocked into speechlessness for a minute. "You…"
Her Diamond held the hourglass out. "It's safe, too."
"You…!"
Her Diamond looked up. "Pearl?"
"You risked your life for a Pearl?!" Pearl stood up in a huff. "What were you thinking?!"
"I…" A shadow crossed her Diamond's face.
Immediately Pearl realized her mistake. "My Diamond, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have shouted, especially not at you, Your Eminence. I just…" She should shut up. She should really shut up.
"I'm nobody," she said. "I'm nothing. If I was broken, you could just get a new Pearl."
"No," her Diamond said.
"But you? You're everything." Pearl couldn't stop herself. "Everybody needs you. Everybody loves you."
"I'm not so sure about that," her Diamond said, her eyes dropping.
"I'm serious." Pearl moved forward, putting her hands on her Diamond's outstretched one to get her attention. "Without me, life would just go on. Everyone would move on. What would everybody do without you? What would I do?"
Her Diamond met her eyes. She seemed like she wanted to cry. Maybe she was, and the water was carrying it all away.
Then her eyes widened. "Pearl?" she said.
Pearl felt an odd warmth under her hand. The hourglass they had taken was glowing.
"Oh, no," Pearl said.
They weren't prepared for the sudden change of scenery. They stumbled and fell.
Ice gripped Pearl from the inside out. She'd done this. She had. It was her fault.
"I need to be replaced," she murmured to herself.
Her Diamond sat up. "Where did we go?"
"I…" Pearl cringed. "I don't know if that's the right question, my Diamond."
"Oh?" Her Diamond looked around.
"When did we go?" Pearl asked. "We're still on Earth."
"Wait," said her Diamond. She stood up and approached something.
Pearl followed suit. They were looking at a primitive stone road of some sort. It was divided in two down the middle, with metal barriers about the height of Pearl's waist on either side.
"It's not magnetic," Pearl said. "Gems didn't build it."
"Then…" Her Diamond gasped. "Is this… Earth… Without me?"
"No!" Pearl said right away. "That's impossible!"
Something rushed down the road past them. It, too, resembled a primitive piece of junk.
Her Diamond jumped ten feet in the air with a squeal and floated back down. "Pearl!" she said. "Humans built that!"
"Well, I, um…" Pearl stammered. "Are you sure?"
"Look!" her Diamond cried, pointing at the vehicle. It had pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. The door opened.
Out stepped a figure about Pearl's height with a Quartz-like build. It wore cloth on itself, with no visible gem. Its skin was peach and its hair was stunningly dark. Its eyes, staring right at them, matched exactly.
Well. Pearl shuddered. They were in a fix now, weren't they?
That really was a human.