Pearl was panicking.
In her mind, she'd made mistakes these past few days, yes, but what she'd just said far surpassed everything that had come before. This wasn't just a slip-up; it was a catastrophe. She'd revealed too much in front of Steven, things directly linked to the Diamonds. Something she, being honest with herself, had never meant to do... or maybe she had, but not like this.
And that involved her Diamond.
Pink Diamond.
A truth she couldn't utter, not because she didn't want to, but because a direct order from herself forbade it. An order still etched into her core like an invisible chain.
As everyone climbed down from Lion's back, Pearl could barely focus on the Cluster. Of course, it worried her, but there was something much worse. The looks Steven gave her from time to time. They weren't accusatory, they weren't cold... and that was the most unsettling thing. They made her completely nervous. She didn't know what to do, what to say, or how to justify what she'd blurted out without thinking.
She watched Garnet walk away calmly, as if nothing had happened, leaving her behind.
"Betrayal," she thought with barely contained fury, directed more at herself than anyone else.
Even so, she reacted quickly. She had to get out of there.
"I'm leaving," she said as she started walking toward her room.
She didn't get far.
A hand landed on her shoulder.
Pearl didn't need to turn around. Her body tensed instantly. There was a brief exchange of words that she barely managed to process, because the next second she was being lifted off the floor as if she weighed nothing.
Before she could protest, the door slammed shut.
From outside, Amethyst gave her a mocking look, clearly enjoying the moment. Lapis frowned, uncomfortable and annoyed by the scene. And Peridot... Peridot panicked completely, now that Steven wasn't there to help her.
Perla, meanwhile, could only think one thing as she was carried without any dignity.
This time I'd really messed up.
I dropped her carelessly.
Here, in this room, I was in charge. Perla knew it. She couldn't do anything.
"Good," I said calmly.
My mother's hologram appeared beside me, projecting that soft, familiar light. Perla froze completely at the sight of it.
"Ro... Rose..." she murmured, almost voiceless.
The hologram looked at her with a profound sadness, one of those looks that weighed more than any scolding.
"It's time, isn't it, son?" she said.
"Yes," I replied as I created a chair and sat down calmly.
Rose did the same. She materialized another chair and, with a simple gesture, placed one in front of Perla. Perla looked at it as if it were a divine command. She didn't hesitate. She sat down immediately, as if her body were on autopilot.
The three of us stood facing each other.
...
...
...
"So," I said, breaking the silence as I looked directly at Pearl. "You're going to tell me what the Diamonds are."
Pearl nodded nervously, glancing quickly at Rose's hologram, as if seeking permission.
And yes, dear reader, I know what you're thinking. Why did I leave my mother's hologram here? Easy. Rose ordered Pearl not to say anything. But this... this was an almost exact representation of her. For Pearl, it was practically the same as having her right in front of her. So talking wouldn't be so impossible for her. And who knows, maybe I'd discover something I didn't know.
"Well..." Pearl said, uncomfortably. "The Diamonds are..." she sighed and looked up at the holographic clouds on the ceiling, as if they were about to answer her.
She sighed again.
"The Diamonds are the highest-ranking gems on Homeworld."
I looked at her, resting my cheek on my hand, completely focused. Rose's hologram mirrored me almost automatically. Pearl looked at both of us and offered a sad smile.
"They're the ones who give the orders. They're the ones who... command, you know?"
"And what do they order?" I asked without changing my position.
...
"They order the colonization of other planets," Pearl replied, looking at me seriously.
I remained silent for a few seconds. I could see her getting more nervous, probably thinking I was angry with her.
I looked up.
"Colonization, I suppose, is to create even more gems, isn't it?"
Pearl nodded.
"I understand," I said, humming softly, processing the information.
The chair creaked slightly as I adjusted myself. This was just the beginning.
"What's the Diamond hierarchy?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Pearl was silent. I noticed her body twitch slightly, as if the question weighed more heavily on her than it seemed.
"Well..." she finally said. "There were four Diamonds. Blue Diamond, Yellow Diamond, White Diamond, and... and... Pink Diamond."
I stared at her.
"And what does each one do?"
"Each one controls a different sector," she explained, looking down. "I couldn't tell you exactly which ones, because they're constantly changing, but each Diamond fulfills a function."
"You said there were," I emphasized, raising my eyebrow a little more.
Pearl nodded, her fear evident.
"So... there aren't any anymore?" I asked.
Silence filled the room for several long seconds.
I looked up at the ceiling.
"You know, Pearl?" I finally said. "I really thought we were a family."
Pearl looked up suddenly, confused, but I didn't give her time to answer.
"I thought you all—Garnet, Amethyst, and you—trusted me. I truly believed we'd reached a point where you could tell me about Homeworld." My voice began to turn venomous, and I couldn't stop it. "But no. You don't tell me anything. You keep me in the dark."
My hand began to turn pink. I noticed it. She did too. Pearl looked at me in shock, her regret evident as I vented.
I shook my head and took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure.
"But it doesn't matter," I continued in a lower voice. "If you don't trust me... how am I supposed to trust you?"
Pearl tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come.
"I know, Pearl," I said gently.
She froze. She tried to hide it, but she couldn't.
"Know what, Steven?" she asked, trying to conceal her fear.
I glanced at her.
"That you still don't want to tell me," I replied with a hint of anger, struggling to control myself. "This pink form... is amplifying too many of my negative emotions."
...
...
...
"I've been having dreams," I continued after a few seconds. "Dreams where I'm not myself, you know?"
I looked at my mother's hologram. She remained silent, waiting. She knew this moment would come.
"I saw my mother, did you know that?" I finally said.
Perla immediately looked at the hologram.
"No. Not the hologram," I clarified.
Perla frowned.
Out of nowhere, a clock-shaped sphere appeared in my hand.
"You know what this is, don't you?"
"The clock of time," she said in surprise.
"I saw her, Perla. I know what she looked like. I know who she was. I know why she fell in love with my father. I know everything," I said with absolute seriousness. "I know what she was."
I stared at her.
"What she was...?" Perla repeated, her eyes wide.
"Do it," I told the hologram.
The hologram changed. Its form became larger, more imposing, more... real.
Pearl's eyes widened. Panic struck her. She fell from her chair and took several steps backward.
"What...?"
"What...?"
"This... no..."
She slowly raised her gaze to that figure she had never thought she would see again for fourteen years.
"My Diamond..." Pearl whispered, her voice trembling.
"My Pearl," Rose Quartz's hologram replied.
Pearl collapsed. Tears flowed uncontrollably as she clutched the closest thing she had to her best friend, her soulmate, her everything.
I remained silent, waiting. Trusting that what I had planned was right.
After what seemed like hours, Pearl looked up at me.
"Did you really know?"
"I've been aware of it for several years."
Perla's eyes widened even more.
"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, her voice breaking.
"I waited, Perla," I replied firmly. "I waited... and waited... and waited. I waited for you, or at least one of you, to answer my questions."
I stood up slowly.
"Every time I tried to learn something about my mother, about someone who would understand me, about this power..." I said, raising my hand, which began to turn pink.
"This power whose limits I don't know. I don't know if it will hurt me, if it will change my personality, if I'll feel hunger, if I'll lose consciousness, if I need any prerequisites to use it."
I lowered it slowly.
"None of those questions were answered. The only one who tried to help me was Amethyst... and even she did what she could, because she didn't have any information either."
I looked at Pearl, who was still on the ground.
"I know you miss her. I know what you tried to do when I was little."
Pearl tensed up, almost painfully.
A few seconds of heavy silence passed.
Then a laugh broke out.
It was mine.
"Ha..."
"Ha... ha..."
"Hahahaha..."
"HAHAHAHAHA."
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
The laughter came out on its own. It wasn't mockery. It wasn't joy. It was the release of someone who had carried unanswered questions for far too long.
"What did you expect, right?" I said, still laughing... but tears began to fall unbidden.
"They're gems. They're not human."
I clutched my head with both hands, feeling everything I'd repressed for years suddenly erupt.
"They don't have the same feelings. And yet they say they protect Earth, that they protect humans... but I don't see how, if they can't even live alongside them, they can understand them."
My breathing became heavy.
"I don't understand. Five thousand years, right? Five thousand damn years and I still don't understand."
I looked up, my anger barely contained.
"Neither you, nor Garnet. Amethyst is a lost cause and..."
My eyes fixed on the giant figure before me.
"And you," I said, pure venom in my voice.
Pink Diamond said nothing. She was used to those parts of me.
"You brought a child into the world without knowing if he would carry your problems, your fears, thousands of mistakes that weren't even his."
I pointed sharply.
"Look," I said, pointing at Pearl.
She was still in shock, but upon hearing me, she slowly raised her gaze.
"You left me with a dependent Pearl. Depressed. Completely tied to you. You left her like that... in love with you, and then you simply disappeared."
Pearl turned red instantly, tears welling up uncontrollably.
I sighed deeply.
"I really don't want this shit."
I looked up, as if the sky could give me an answer that no one else wanted to give me.
"Pearl," I said in a lower but equally firm voice. "I know what you've done. And I'm going to tell you something."
The silence grew heavy.
"Pink Diamond accepted the Cluster."
...
...
...
Pearl's eyes widened.
"What...? No."
She shook her head, unable to accept it.
"She couldn't accept that."
"She did accept it," I replied bluntly. "Because she didn't even look at that information. She was too preoccupied with her Rose Quartz alter ego."
Pearl was silent. Her body trembled.
"Really?" she whispered.
"Really," I said.
The room fell completely silent, as if even the temple was holding its breath.
"So what do you want me to do?" Pearl asked carefully, as if any word could shatter something.
"I don't want you to tell anyone yet that my mother is Pink Diamond," I replied firmly. "Only when we're done with the Cluster."
Pearl nodded slowly.
"Besides," I added, wiping away the last of my tears. "I'm telling you this in confidence. You were her Pearl, so I trust you. You're the most reliable gem I have."
That didn't help.
Pearl started crying even harder.
"And don't cry, Pearl," I said, though it clearly didn't work.
Then I saw her approach, and I knew exactly what she was thinking.
"I won't fuse," I said immediately, staring at her.
"Huh?" Pearl blurted out, completely confused.
"I know that look," I continued bluntly. "If I fuse, it'll be later. Not in this situation."
...
"Fine," Pearl replied, clearly disappointed.
I looked at her silently for a few seconds.
"They really don't know how humans work," I thought, as three black lines appeared on my forehead.
End of Chapter 53.