Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When she couldn't escape it, held by that pressing darkness, Pearl returned to the pain. Her form was in bad shape already, numerous lumps and scrapes from the short battle flairing in protest at her slight movements, and here and there colder patches ached as deep as their wounds, punctuating her form and throbbing with a draining glow as it failed to heal. This body was barely functional: she should have left it long before. She had tried, but she couldn't.

Not here.

She pulled again, gritting her teeth against her damaged muscles to pull against the restraints. But they were fixed firmly, pinning her tight to the cold table, the unforgiving cuffs cutting into her wrists. She couldn't even see what type they were, her head pinned back too, digging into the table and affording her a view in the darkness of only the cold stone ceiling, tantalising hints of unfamiliar equipment tracing the edges. She shifted again, this time methodically testing each point of contact for something, some weakness that might provide a way out, but it all held fast. She wasn't getting out that way either.

Flickers of panic began to creep up around her stomach. No dissipating, no movement...

"No luck huh?" Pearl tensed at the voice, biting back a gasp as a warm hand thumped down upon her abdomen, sending jabs of pain shooting through her and bringing tears to her eyes. She bit her lip. She would not cry. 

"See," the pressure increased, constant, building as they waited, to a near intolerable level until Pearl yielded a look at the gem, their mottled black and white form waiting with a smile at her grimace. "I thought a few of these should be more than enough to dissipate you." She came closer, Pearl jerking involuntarily against the restraints as the weight lifted with a throb. Her captor strolled leisurely upwards, until she loomed over her with a leering smile. "I guess our little toy's just a bit too much for you. Such a shame."

Pearl almost scoffed. This gem couldn't sound less disappointed about the fact if she tried.

"Well," they declared, "I suppose we're just going to have to find something else. Don't worry," she patted Pearl's head for emphasis, driving it into the table again, "we'll get you dissipated sooner or later."

Chapter Text

She hated that for a moment it felt good, the cold metal tight against her damaged neck providing some relief. Then a sharp yank, returned her to the usual wall of pain that Pearl had found herself growing far far too familiar to, the pulling metal choking her with it (it felt like it would pull her neck out entirely and, she thought, it may have, if she'd been human). This gem, the Beryl, had seemed disappointed the last 'session' she came in for, even the sharpest toys no longer drawing a reaction from Pearl, her fun finally made a chore. So after trying to rough her up some more they'd let her be, abandoned in here as they busied themselves behind closed doors.

For a little while.

The gem was still working around her, fixing and adjusting whatever new torment they'd concocted, working at the restraints. There was a quite clatter of metal and Pearl felt her arm getting moved to one side, then the pressure released around her head.

Pearl looked around, staring at her hand in amazement. Free? But there were still chains there, new, but long enough to give her some limited scope of movement, the thickest stretching from her collar into the hands of the Beryl, the large yellow gem three times her strength, if not size. It took a moment in her befuddled state to realise she'd completely been released from the table, this cold platform she'd been strapped to for so long.

"Time to go on a road trip. No tricks now. or I'll send you swimming again."

Before she had a chance to gather herself a heavy tug on the chain dragged her off in a lump onto the floor. The Beryl let out a huff, and tugged at the collar again, half pulling Pearl up as she scrabbled at her neck. She tried to protest, tried to tell her she was trying, but her limbs were mis-set and unwieldy, too many days of inaction and gem damage leaving her uncoordinated and weak. Not that the gem could hear her anyway, her voice far too faint and whispery, easily ignored and dismissed, forcing her to struggle to her feet all the while feeling, fearing, that her head would get pulled off, the pain resonating from her neck and her gem making her want to vomit.

But she finally made it, stood heart pounding, head bowed, yet barely seeing the floor.

"Ugh," the Beryl stalked away. "Come on."

She lead her down into the ship, pulled behind like some kind some kind of human pet, or dragged without a second glance when Pearl's legs faltered beneath her.

They finally drew up before a cold metal door.

"Here we are, your new accommodation!" Pearl stayed silent, still trying to remember what turns they took, her bowed demeanour taken for mute compliance. "Hey Sidi!"

The other gems voice issued from somewhere near the wall. "Yeah?"

"Open up for us yeah?"

"Sure. Hang on," Pearl flinched as a loud shrieking siren sounded up around them, making her head throb and the Beryl laugh at her discomfort. The door slid open, and a telltale roar came from within, freezing Pearl in place.

"In you go." Beryl gave her a shove, Pearl flinging her arms out, bracing herself against the doorframe. "Oh no," the Beryl came up close with a coarse chuckle, "you're not getting out of this one. I think it's high time you faced up to what you did to our colleague."

Pearl clung on. She had told them, she had tried to tell them again and again that the corruption wasn't her fault, that it was The Diamonds, that everything had changed, but they didn't listen, too focused on fulfilling the duties they'd had when they'd bubbled themselves away so many years ago, waiting for a stray rebel to stumble into their trap whilst their colleague kept watch.

Pearl could see the corrupt gem cowering in the corner, built like some maned herding beast. She had felt sorry for it and them at first, the pain of seeing your friends turned into mindless beasts seared all too cleanly into Pearl's memory. But as the days went on, she found herself thinking the corruption was kinder. At least it didn't mean to hurt others. Yet that didn't mean it couldn't though: left alone against this thing it could easily trample her if nothing else, and without being able to dissipate...

Pearl locked her legs out, redoubling her efforts against the gem behind her.

"Enough!" The weight disappeared, dropping Pearl on her backside, a solid kick crashing into her ribs and sending her rolling across the floor with a groan. "Oh that hurt? I told you not to play any tricks." Another kick followed the first, leaving Pearl curled up and gasping before she was half-dragged, half thrown into the room beyond, jabs of pain ricocheting through her as she landed hard, throbbing in time with the sounding sirens. She registered a vague clattering as she was dragged again, quickly hauled to the back wall, her chains fixed to something there then the Beryl was gone, the door sliding shut behind her.

The sirens cut out, though a ringing echo of it still filled Pearl's head, and she was left alone, trapped with the growling, whining beast.

Chapter Text

"Don't tell me, you managed to get yourself trapped in here."

"Trapped?" Bismuth queried. In a disorientating flip, Peridot had actually gone quite once they'd walked in this place, only asking flatly if they'd cleared all the corrupt gems when they passed some claw marks on the walls. Seeing Ruby sat cradling Sapphire's gem hadn't surprised her either, and Bismuth got a feeling she knew exactly what this place was.

"Yup. Motion sensors by the door, most likely. They were always on the lookout for volunteers, but I guess they got corrupted along with everyone else. Then the systems just copped out over time. Best thing for it. I didn't know there was one on Earth."

"One what?"

Peridot paused, rolling words around her mouth.

"Hell."

Bismuth's mind turned to the claws marks, deep scratches floor to ceiling that littered the corridors, but were thickest by the entranceway, the narrow rock tunnel too small an escape.

"Peridot, what did they do here?"

"Testing. New gems, existing gems. These guys were always after the next advancement in weapons, injectors, soil enhancement."

"Scientists."

"Scientists don't hide away in the shadows, or work on live subjects." Peridot started fiddling around under the console inspecting the wiring. "They're cold soulless creatures who'd take one look at you or I and see a component to play around with, nothing more. They're the ones who come up with limb enhancers, destabilisers, forcefields..." She flicked a switch and all the power whirred on, screens flickering into life.

"Woah, is this a good idea? I mean, what about that trap you mentioned?"

"Inactive. There was emergency power still running in the background- we'd all be trapped if that programme was still running. Well, you might be." Peridot tapped at the keyboard. "Huh, scientists."

"I thought you said-"

"They have loads of logs on here: project records, transcripts, security videos..."

"Wait," Bismuth leant closer, "security videos? Are the cameras still working?"

Peridot tapped a little. "Yeah, looks like we've still got a few." She started bringing them up, but most were still dark. "Aha, lights!" Peridot flicked a switch, and a loud roar resonated up through the ship. She flinched back with a jump, almost toppling over before turning on Bismuth.

"I thought you had dealt with any corruptions!"

"We're safe- We blocked this area off. Can't get to us here." A loud crash echoed out in the hallway, the roaring now much nearer, but no longer getting closer. "Can... Can we take a look?"

Peridot pulled the video feed up and they finally got a good look. It was a distorted gangly limbed creature, full of spiked joints and sharp claws, like some nightmarish pale insect that clambered up and down the walls. It cried as it paced up and down, scraping and clawing at the welded barricade, letting out ear splitting shrieks as it tried to push itself through the gaps again and again, pressing itself against the bars of its cage. For a moment its legs scrabbled wildly, the creature stuck, then it spilled backwards, tumbling over and hitting the wall behind. Peridot let out a little snort of laughter and the creature preened at its head and flicked it about, trying to dislodge the impact.

Peridot frowned and peered closer. "Hey, why has it got a microwave on it's head?" she said. "Actually, never mind. I've seen how desperate Amethyst can get for popcorn: I too would be tempted to dive inside for the perfect toffee caramel treat!" She digressed into a long rambling explanation of the methods and secrets to popcorn making, not noticing her audience only had eyes for the screen.

The creature had returned to its attempts to get out, its cries dropping to a desperate whine as no matter how much it ducked and twisted it's body, it couldn't find a way through.

"Peri, we don't have time to mess around here."

Peridot pouted. "Fine. It should be a simple matter to bring up the logs and find out who we've got before we heal them,"

She never got that far, her eyes lingering on the dates attached to the first few records, then more and more at the creature on the screen.

"Oh. Oh stars." She shifted, turning to the others and their somber faces, looking pale, wishing she was wrong. "That's Pearl isn't it?"

Chapter Text

Everything about Pearl wanted to let go, stay lying on the floor where she fell and crumble apart. She was already halfway there. It would only take a few more of those form-ripping glitches and she'd be gone, beyond caring, beyond feeling anymore. She still couldn't dissipate, that dull weight trapping her in a body that was barely functional, with a gem held together by willpower and her hand, currently clamped over it in fear the jigsaw puzzle it had become would simply fall apart.

Perhaps she should let it.

She'd gotten so far too; breaking the cuff, freeing herself and sneaking out into the maze of this place. It had been a struggle to remember the layout, but she had slowly wobbled and dragged herself this far until her legs gave out beneath her, dumping her on the floor devoid of enough energy to even lift her head.

If she could just wait a little longer, get her strength back... she would likely be found, her luck turned to waste and even more agony as those beasts dragged her back to the table and their sadistic experiments. The longer she stayed down, the more likely it was to happen. She had to get out.

She couldn't.

Tears fell, bringing a chill to her cheek and she shivered, cold to add to her misery. Her cheek cooled again, the breeze catching at her nose and down her shoulders too, reviving her a little. Fresh air. She tilted her head. If there was air, that meant... With a huge effort she rolled herself to one side, slowly pushing off her shaking arms to slump up against the wall. She took a moment to gather herself, and brought her legs in, pumping herself up before half pushing, half dragging herself up the wall, feeling sick as the world tried to spin around her and knock her off her feet again. She closed her eyes a moment for it to settle, then took stock.

She may be propped up heavily against the wall, but she was upright, and a couple of small, weighted steps forward revealed the long corridor and the open doorway to the world beyond.

Freedom!

She started pitching her way down, and Peridot watched heart on edge at the screen as she drew closer to the outside world.

"I think we've had our fun now." The Beryl's voice was jarring after such silence, coming through the recording, a cold dash of reality.

"Told you she'd make it up there."

"Yeah, yeah." There was a pause, a gesture maybe. "Shall we?"

Pearl felt it immediately, the pressing weight that had held her here for so long gone, its absence threatening to tear her apart, to dissipate her as her injuries came to the fore all at the wrong moment. She clung on for a few seconds, battling to hold the flood back for those last few feet, those last few paces. She was so close! Then the pressure overwhelmed her, and she went, dissipating with a single desperate cry.

Chapter Text

It took a few attempts to stand up, her limbs uncooperative after their enforced restriction, and she leant heavily on the table for support. She didn't have time to hang around: whatever fortune that had granted her this window of escape wasn't going to last forever, but first things first.

Her hand trailed over her stomach. She could feel it, still there, still sapping away at her form, sending sparking flashes through that flickered and glittered as they struck within. Her fingers tightened, trying to dig in, trying to get it out. It didn't belong here. A wave of nausea wilted her onto the table, and she became acutely aware of the foreign object that lay within her, this sickness, the drain it had on her. Left alone it would slow her down. Worse still they could probably track it, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to get back to a warp pad before they did. There was a human town that was closer but this thing was too dangerous to risk taking there. It had to go.

Pearl focused for a moment, pressing her hand in again. Nothing.

She let out the quietest of bitter laughs. Of course she couldn't just shift it out. The same barrier that prevented her dissipation preventing this too, all the days of goading taunts telling her, encouraging her to break through it, mocking her inability still. She had tried, to her shame, so many times to comply, simply wanting some escape from it all, even temporary respite. It never worked, but it seemed to keep her captors happy, content to watch her struggle. Until they got bored again.

Her other hand tightened reflexively over her gem with a shudder, bringing more tears. What was she doing? She couldn't afford to mope, not here, not now when a way out beckoned. But she had an idea, the poor state of her gem another opening, another chance.

She pulled herself further over, propped up on her elbows so she wouldn't fall off, braced for what she was about to do. Fingers tightened around the cracks in her gem and she pushed, lances of pain rippling through her, making her eyes water as her body trembled and quivered. But it wasn't enough, still resisted by the barrier and she tried again, harder, this time rewarded as her body shifted and glitched. But it was agony, her nerves on fire as every part of her felt like it was being torn apart, grinding like some glass doll being crushed and squeezed against itself. She let go, left panting from the effort.

Did it work? A fresh wave of sparks focused her again, travelling across into her hand and making it twitch. Movement. It had worked, but not as much as she'd hoped.

She needed to do it again.

Pearl grit her teeth.

It took several more attempts, the unpredictable glitches falling poorly for her, pulled together in tight painful bundles, still restricted by her captor's strange device. Painful, but necessary, her desperation driving her again and again into this self-torment until the grey-green stone finally dropped clean out of her form, batted off the table to leave Pearl to collapse exhausted in its place.

Chapter Text

Bismuth glanced up at the knock to the forge door. "Garnet!" She quickly set her work down. "How's it going?"

"Err," Garnet froze a little, glancing at the class that was watching. "I-" she squeaked, abruptly coughing and trying again. "I need to borrow you. Gem business."

"Sure. Right the rest of you, go and research moulding patterns, see if you can make your own design: remember it's entirely decorative, so go wild."

As the door clicked shut Bismuth turned to Garnet. "So, what's the damage?"

"Found a new gem place. Crashed ship or something. There's a corrupt gem down there but the structure's wobbly."

"Wobbly?"

"Not good. Needs reinforcements," Garnet clarified. "Come on, we need to go!"

Bismuth was already chasing after the fusion as she dashed out the door, then immediately bumped into her as she turned to come back.

"Ah!"

"Garnet?" Bismuth went to grab hold of her, but she'd already ducked around, grabbing a bottle of fountain water and heading out again. "Woah, geez, slow down!" She didn't slow, making a beeline for the warp pad.

"Hold on!" Bismuth managed to grab her, spinning her around, the shade over her visor revealing a single pair of desperate red eyes.

"I am," she croaked, glancing at the few curious gems around them, watching. "Please, we gotta go."

She waited until they were in the warp. "Ruby?"

'Garnet' began to shake.

"It's okay, you can let it go," Bismuth assured her. She glowed, shrinking as she reverted to her usual self. Sweat dotted her brow and her knuckles shone as she clung her precious cargo close. The bottle crunched a little, and she glanced down. But Bismuth's attention was elsewhere and she knelt, wrapping, then opening Ruby's other hand. As she feared, there laid loose in her palm was Sapphire's gem. "What happened?"

"We found-" tears caught in Ruby's throat, hiccuping through the words, "-corrupted. Sapphire unfused, but she was hurt. She told me to bring you. She-" Ruby traced her thumb over the facets of the gem, wrapping it into her chest. "They'd said it was just a corrupted gem, we thought-"

"You went after a corrupted gem yourself? Are you cracked? We said we would stay together after-"

"I was together!"

"That's not the same. Both of you should know that. You shouldn't have gone alone." Ruby huffed and scowled at her words but it quickly faded away as she gazed at the sapphire once more.

Bismuth sighed, but let it slide, following Ruby to the site. It was no wonder they hadn't found this place before. It was buried under a cliff.

"There was a control room down here. The corruption was down that way. We need to block it off." Ruby tried to kick a fallen chunk of ceiling into place, while searching around for somewhere safe to store her precious cargo, still clutched tight as she took another kick, and almost toppled over for it.

"Hey, it's okay, I'll get it." Bismuth grabbed a loose girder and brought it across the hallway, quickly stacking it up with sheets of metal and other loose debris until she was happy with the impromptu barricade. "Right, let's have a look at this tech then."

A loud clang made the both of them jump as the corrupt gem flung itself at them. "Woah!" Bismuth immediately shifted her hands into sharp picks, the creature howling and hissing at them as it struggled to get through.

"Wait!" It turned towards Ruby, who stood dead still, a finger to her lips. The creature couldn't see, a misshapen hunk of metal covering its head, instead relying on feeling its way around, listening. They waited, and, after several tense minutes it turned and retreated back into the ship.

"What did you do that for? We could have had it poofed and sorted by now."

"She can't poof." Ruby sounded so small.

"What?"

"She can't poof." Ruby disappeared into a nearby room, plopping herself down in a corner and staring at Sapphire's gem in her hands.

Bismuth carefully approached her. "Hey,"

The bottle of fountain water was held up pointedly. Bismuth took it and placed it to one side, then sat down beside her. "Hey, it's probably just cracked. We've fixed gems in worse spots." Ruby stayed silent. "Is Sapphire cracked?"

"No."

"You've done a good job of keeping her safe."

More silence.

"She was hurt." Ruby revealed. "She was trying to protect us and she got hurt. So I carried her, I was going to carry her all the way to The Fountain, but..." She was rubbing the gem again and her bottom lip wobbled. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Of course she will. She's Sapphire: the toughest upper crust I know. Besides, she's got you to look out for her: how could she not be?"

Ruby sniffled, and dove into Bismuth's armpit with a hug.

Chapter Text

It took her longer than Pearl would admit to realise they had left her alone, her tenuous grip on time in this sunless place leaving her unsure whether it had been a few days or few hours that had passed. Every second she doubted, convinced her captors would spring in at any second, ready to resume their experiments, ready to admonish her for healing too much and reset the damage back to what it was, a 'gift' to help her with her one apparent job. Dissipate.

They'd said they'd let her go if she could. Pearl knew the chances of them keeping that promise were nil, and even less her chances of being able to, yet part of her wanted to cling on to the idea. At the very least she'd be able to escape the damage they'd inflicted on her for a while. But. It would count for little, and she'd be right back where she started; stuck here at the mercy of these 'scientists'. Another experiment. Just another gem to torment again, torturing then reforming, seeing how far they could push her each time, trapped in an endless courtship with suffering. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Her wounds ached and staled, itching sores as they slowly knit back together, infuriating sensation she couldn't relieve. But even that was nothing compared to the ache from her gem, and the barrier still at the back of everything that prevented her from escaping the pain.

Pain. Her experiences with pain had always been short-lived, either a path to dissipating, healed, or barely noticed in the first place, the raw adrenaline of battle keeping her distracted. She never knew it could fester like this, the slow ebb of agony that surrounded her being, but now it was all she knew, demanding her attention every living second. At least when her captors were there she had that distraction, but here in the silence her body screamed.

She wondered if the others were still looking for her. Neena would have told them where she'd gone by now and all it should have taken was a short investigation to find the entrance, realise it was a gem structure and come looking: they could easily overpower these upstarts. But they hadn't, and Pearl feared these gems had other technologies to hide themselves away. They'd managed to stay off their radar for nearly six thousand years already. Pearl cursed her own complacency. She should never have come here on a whim.

It was down to her, and she stilled, straining to hear, listening intently for any sign of life outside these four walls.

Nothing.

Experimentally she pulled at her wrist, rattling the cuffs, then waiting, nerves on edge for the expected arrival of her captors, every creak of settling metal making her jump.

But they never came.

She tried again, methodically pulling against each restraint into turn, hoping to find, to expose a weak link that might open her way out of there, getting bolder and bolder, until she was making quite a racket as she shifted and pulled as much as she could. Something slipped, jerking against her arm and pinging up her shoulder with the effort.

She paused, then tested the cuff again, lifting it up a full inch further than before, the subtle clatter of loosening screws the giddying sound of freedom. She was getting out of here.

Chapter Text

Pearl pulled at her chains and immediately regretted doing so, the noise drawing the attention of the corrupted gem. It rounded on her, but stayed back for now, just watching at it considered this new intrusion to its lair. It hadn't notice her at first, pinned up against the wall and she watched as it grumbled and sniffed around, occasionally snapping at the air. Its gem, a green quartz nestled in the back of its head, was almost buried in the thick mane and flanked by sharp spikes that trailed around down to its snout, a difficult and dangerous proposition to remove even if she could get hold and had the strength to do so. If it came to a fight it would be no fight at all, Pearl barely able to move, her collar digging in as it half lifted her by the neck.

Pearl gathered her strength to pull herself to her feet. She would at least give herself a fighting chance, even though her odds were still slim, and even that small move left her puffing and panting, the corruption taking interest in her and creeping closer.

"Get back!" she warned, her voice raspy and far too quiet to be much use. Still it was enough to give the creature pause for thought for a few bare seconds, but it edged even nearer, sniffing the air and huffing as it kept watch, each slowly paced paw carefully testing out her limits. "Hey! Shoo!" In a flash of inspiration Pearl smacked her chains against the wall, a loud jumble of noise that the creature flinched away from with a snarl. Good. Pearl kept it up, trying to make it as loud as possible every time the creature edged towards her, trying to find her blind spot.

"You won't hold it off forever.” The Obsidian's voice came through from some high hidden speakers, the creature snapping its head up at the noise. "Beryl thinks it'll tear you apart. I think it'll crush you. Maybe it'll play with you a bit first. I wonder how long it’ll take you to dissipate."

“She might not,” the Beryl chipped in. “Imagine that, living every second as it chews you up and tears you to shreds.”

“Should be interesting to find out."

Pearl noticed the way the creature hesitated, uneasy at the voices. A chance. "I-" Pearl's voice came out harsh and whispery, and she tried again, pushing hard enough to shout to stand even being heard at all. "Why are you doing this?"

“Look at her," Obsidian's tone soured. “She was supposed to watch over us, protect our stasis and keep the ship running whilst we waited for someone to stumble into our trap. Now she’s reduced to this, her mind gone, forced into this form to fight your battles.”

"I told you-"

"We tried to get her back, but she doesn't recognise us, not even a flicker of the fine gem she once was. You've turned her into a monster, and you think to ask why we’re doing this?! You’re no better than us!”

“It wasn’t me, it was The Diamonds, they attacked Earth-!” Pearl protested, immediately drawing a response.

“The Diamonds wouldn’t sully their hands on a pathetic planet like this!” A bang at the door made Pearl jump- the Beryl was still outside. “Your rebellion was little more than mud on their boots.”

“It’ll be crushed soon enough, even with these new creatures of yours.”

“Really?” Pearl struggled to make herself heard, her eyes blazing. “You were already losing!”

“The only person losing here is you: Our experiments here will enable our forces to wipe out the rebellion, and every single one of your friends will be shattered and crushed.”

“Yeah!” added the Beryl. “Count yourself lucky you get the preview.”

“I’m not impressed,” Pearl eyed the corruption that was hunkering back during their exchange, “because all I’m seeing is something you have no idea about, that you have no control over whatsoever. You shouldn’t underestimate these creatures.”

"That’s why we need to find out more. It is remarkable work I'll admit. Take a gem, tear away their sense of self, their mind, and turn them into a creature you can bend to your will... We could make good use of you rebels like this. Imagine, fighting your own people..."

"I don't need to."

“…how delightfully terrible! It’s almost poetic.”

“Sweet, sweet justice.”

“and terribly efficient on resources. We simply must know how it’s done.”

“I already told you, the Diamonds…”

“Yeah yeah yeah. We’ve heard enough of your tales. Believe what you will. It matters little.”

Pearl’s nerves picked up as the creature began its approach again. “What about your experiments?” Pearl threw out in desperation, waiting for a response. “After everything you’ve done to me, are you really going to throw all your hard work away like this?”

“Err, yeah.”

“It’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make.” The Obsidian clarified. “Everything has a time and a place. A function as it were. You’ve certainly been very useful to us. But now it’s time to find out what she does to a gem, and well, there's no point risking ourselves when we have such a useful volunteer.” Pearl pulled at her chains again. “We can always find more. Always. And besides, you’ll still give us some very useful information about our other experiments one way or another.”

"Why hasn't it got her yet?" the Beryl growled suddenly, "I’m bored; why hasn't it attacking? You heard her anger. Well here she is Prasiolite! Come on! This is the gem that did this to you, all ready and waiting for your vengeance. She's all yours. So go get her!”

“It doesn’t work like that!” Pearl cried, “Listen to-”

“’Listen’, ‘listen’, ‘listen’!" Beryl mocked, almost shouting. "I’m done listening! I thought I had you sorted before, but you just don’t know when to shut up! Well you’ll shut up soon enough, after you scream. Oh I can’t wait to hear you-”

"Beryl, enough!” Obsidian silenced her colleague with a command. “Look at it!” There was a moments silence, “Can’t you see what she’s been doing? Trying to distract us. Oh. Ooooh ho ho, you think you’re smart? Well, outsmart this.”

“Smarter than you.” Pearl tried again, bluffing the air. “At least I was never a coward, hiding behind screens, or shackles.” The walls stayed silent; the speakers finally turned off. Pearl puffed herself up and had to rattle her chains again to ward off the corruption, then choked as dust caught in her throat, her weary voice aching as she dissolved into a fit of deep aching coughs, taking her show of strength with it.

The room was silent in the echoes. A barely audible rumble started, growing into a low growl from the corruption as it pawed and crouched, teeth bared and snarling as it watched her, focused entirely on its prey. Pearl knew what was coming. It was only a matter of time.

And she waited,

And waited,

The creature pounced.

Chapter Text

She was stuck, weighted on the table, faint shapes looming above her.

“…found it in the human settlement, I think they use it to heat organic matter…” Their voices faded in and out, and seconds later a hot flash of pain landed with the liquid, making her gasp and yelp, trying to blink away the tears.

She was fading again.

“…cycle thirty-three, the subject remains secured in their original form, even though we’ve applied a pain threshold sufficient to destabilise the form for, ooo I dunno, Sidi?” Their façade of professionalism dropped for a second, “What do you think?”

“Five or six orders of magnitude over, at least.”

“Hmm.” Sharp prongs jabbed down into her form, unleashing a torrent of electricity that rattled through her and set her nerves on fire, wringing out a cry as everything pulled and tensed involuntarily, leaving her spasming and gasping in its wake.

“Seven. Nice and neat.”

“Oooh!” cooed Obsidian appreciatively. “Congratulations: You just withstood enough power to”

“-theoretically-”

“-theoretically dissipate a Diamond.” She propped herself up on her elbows. “So tell me: How did it feel?”
She didn’t answer. “Hey, Hey!” The Obsidian was slapping her cheek, trying to get her attention, but it felt like nothing compared to the pins and needles that still ran through her form. “I’m talking to you!”

“Did we burn her out?”

“I don’t know. We’ve certainly got her rattled; look, she’s shaking, the poor thing. Can’t blame her: most destabilisers aren’t rated this strong.” She could almost hear the grin. “Let’s try it again!”

“…dilated, sporadic form impulses, and involuntary movements indicative of significant mis-function.”

“Did we break her? I mean for real this time.” The Beryl leant in too, the bright light throwing her form into darkness as they loomed over her.

“Her gem’s still intact, but her mind…”

Her vision skipped as the light flashed across, shifting and distorting as the faces of the gems blurred one into the other, making the room swim.

“…can’t cope, trying to escape, run away.”

“Like that animal.”

The distant roaring whispered at the back of her mind and she could feel it pacing behind her, crowding, the hot fetid breath of the corruption washing over her gem, shuddering as it spilled down her back. Was this what it was? A madness from within, merely brought out by the Diamonds actions. How long did she have?

“Yes. The ‘corruption’,” they pondered. “Maybe that’s what drove them mad: pain. No gem’s designed to withstand such suffering. They all break eventually.”

The creature howled in the darkness.

She clung on.

They came and went, poking and prodding at her, taking measurements of old injuries each time, carefully cataloguing them in the chill air before marking out and making new ones, the cold assessments winding up anticipation of the pain every time.

…clammy hands closed around her gem, pulling, twisting…

…bindings pulled tight, stretching her to her limit…

…the sharp blossom of pain that drew her back out with a curse.

“Experiment negative. Subject failed to release their form.”

She let out another gasp as the blade withdrew, flashing as it hung high above her.

“Commencing again.”

“…new unit: Bludgeon, left arm, lower.”

“No,” she croaked out. “No.”

“What was that?”

“This is wrong.”

“It’s science. Your contributions will provide Homeworld with all the data needed to remove the rebellion from the face of the Earth and finally enable the colony to thrive in its place. Order will be restored. Don’t worry, you’re doing very well.” There was a crunch, a cry, and more darkness.

She could feel them watching as she woke, a grey indistinct mass hovering at the edge of her vision. “Why are you doing this?” The figure turned and rippled towards her, floating smoothly, its features slipping and shifting from one gem to the next as it spoke, ethereal and otherworldly.

“This unit has a function. Your function is not to talk.” Her throat seized up at the words, unable to make a sound.

“This-” she eventually forced out, “this isn’t right.” The figure loomed closer, a humanoid blur as it considered her, then a quick flick released her chin so she could get a better look, staring up into the dark, endless eyes of this nightmare that seemed to drip into oblivion. She was going mad.

“Correct.” The edges sharpened, stretching into a tall sharp peak, colours resolving into a familiar green gem. Peridot pulled up a tablet, her visor blank and opaque as she droned on, her prosthetics tapping away at the screen. “My records indicate this experiment is being run at sub-par efficiency The cold fingers tightened around her wrist, pulling it up. “These units are surplus to requirements."

“Wait, no!”

She didn’t listen, a short nerve-ripping yank tearing the limb clean out, holding it limp high above her head and Peridot woke with a cry, clutching and tense from the dream.

Tears stained her face and a hiccup engulfed her as, for a moment, her arm wouldn’t move, numb and inactive where it laid across the console. She poked it, carefully reassuring herself it was still attached, and then still active, merely sleeping from where she’d been lying across it, fallen asleep on the job. She bit back uncharacteristic tears of relief and nursed it back into life, taking stock as she shook it out. The control room was quiet, empty aside from herself, the logs still running, a steady image of Pearl just lying there, strapped to that table, moaning and shuddering helplessly at unseen injuries.

Peridot paused it. How much more was there? Her stomach filled with a riling mess, and she stood, a deep burning shame driving her away from the room.

The lower levels were sealed off, keeping Pearl contained for now, and Peridot wandered up and down the corridor, before darting outside, every strike of a claw across the tight rock tunnel a strike of fresh accusation against her, the slippery shifting ghost-like creature that had been her still haunting her thoughts and the shadows left behind.

She huffed and slumped down on a rock. She couldn’t do this.

“You don’t have to do all of it.” Peridot nearly leapt clean out of her skin as Garnet spoke.

“Garnet! You shouldn’t sneak up on someone like that.”

“I wasn’t sneaking.” Peridot looked around, and noticed she was simply sat on another rock nearby, unobserved in her distraction.

She huffed. “Well, someone has to. We have to find out what happened, figure out what they did to her.” Peridot shifted, rubbing her hands over each other. “There has to be something, some clue as to how they’re stopping her dissipating, even if I have to look through hundreds more, it’s got to be in there somewhere!”

“You’re wrong.”

“But-”

“You don’t have to do this. You’ve already done a lot, witnessed things I wouldn’t even dare to imagine. But if it’s hurting you, you don’t have to keep pushing through. You need to look after yourself too.”

“Me? But I’m not the one who’s been captured, trussed up and experimented on. I’m not the one who’s been turned into a mindless creature and trapped in there. I’m not the one whose life was played with like some frivolous toy! I should be able to do this!”

“Peridot, Pearl chose to fight in the rebellion. She knew and accepted all the dangers that came with that then, and she knows it just as well now. She’s been through war. You haven’t. You don’t need to prove yourself.”

“This isn’t about that: It’s about helping a fellow Crystal Gem in need. Those gems, they can’t just be allowed to do something like this. It’s not right.” Peridot bit back a shudder as the words echoed through her. Maybe she should take a break. She hadn’t been so on edge like this for ages.

“Peridot, Pearl wouldn’t want you to put yourself at risk because of her."

The green gem sighed. “But she would. She does this sort of thing all the time. That’s the point. She’d do this same for any of us, even me without a second thought. Even though I called her a toy and beat her to a pulp with my robot.” Peridot folded her arms tight and fixed Garnet with a steely glare. “If she would do it, why can’t I? Isn't that how friendships work?"

Garnet went to answer, then bit her lip, uncertain in the twilight. “Let’s just focus on getting her out of there. Then we can all move on from this.”

“Right.”

Right.

Chapter Text

Garnet and Bismuth were hovering over her shoulder, an unnecessary audience to Peridot’s work.

“Must you?” Peridot complained. “I’m not likely to find anything useful with these distractions breathing down my neck.”

“We haven’t got anything better to do.” Bismuth countered.

“Until we have an idea of the state of Pearl’s gem, we cannot take the chance of hurting her further.”

“What if we got that microwave off her? She then stands a chance at recognizing us, and we might finally get a peek at the gem. What do you say Garnet?”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“Come on, I think I’ve got something that might do the trick.”

The two gems left Peridot to her work, letting out a sigh and bringing up the next log.

“..all you need to know about the Crystal Gems is that they’re coming for me, and when they do you’ll regret ever laying a finger on me.”

“Oh they won’t know you’re here. Four thousand years and we’ve never been seen once.”

“Get off me.”

A sound came through like nails down a blackboard, accompanied by a gasp of pain.

“We’ll do exactly what we want.” She pat Pearl roughly around the cheek with each word, bringing a blush of blue to the surface as it smarted. The Obsidian smiled at her work, and the compliant silence it brought. "Now let’s see,” the gem ambled across the room and pulled a couple of tools from side; “shall we start with the destabiliser or the knife?”

Pearl let out a grunt of discomfort as the knife landed, followed by a huff as it was pulled out in short order. The gem went to go again but paused, the weapon hovering mid-air.

“You’re not afraid of pain are you?” Pearl didn’t answer, as the gem twirled the knife around. “Not like this, not like others would be.” She hummed and tapped the blade against the table, creeping closer to Pearl each time. “Usually by now our guests would be a gibbering mess, but not you.” The knife flicked around and was brought crashing down, stopped mere millimeters from Pearl’s face. She didn’t flinch, merely turned a disdainful glare on the gem.

“But everyone’s afraid of something,” her captor leant over, trailing her fingers around Pearl’s pearl, sending shivers recoiling within her, “even if they try to bury it deep inside. Don’t worry, we’ll find what makes you tick. Nothing like a good bit of sheer terror to get the soul working.” The knife was launched up into the air, tumbling over until it was neatly caught. Pearl muttered something under her breath and its decent paused yet again. “Excuse me, what was that?”

“If you’re trying to intimidate someone, you’re better not indulging in such wasteful showboating. In any real fight flashy moves like that are entirely useless. All they do is telegraph to your opposition that you have no idea what you’re doing.”

“Oh, I know exactly what I’m doing.” The knife came in again, the tip digging into Pearl’s cheek, “teaching you respect. You’re far too disobedient for a pearl.”

“And you’re too crazy for an Obsidian, but here we are.”

“That tongue of yours is taking you well on the way for another round of testing. We seemed to make decent progress with the destabiliser: I wonder how long it’ll take to make you scream.”

“How original(!) Can’t you think of anything else?” Pearl raised an eyebrow, keeping her composure as the Obsidian seemed to blow up for another berating. “Please, I’ve been through that party before.” Her captor was beginning to look very angry indeed, knuckles tightening around the blade. “What? You think I’m supposed to be afraid of you? Ha! You don’t scare me. You may be able to hurt my body, stop me from reforming, but that’s all you can do. I know that my friends will find me, sooner or later, and they’ll find you too.” I just need to hold on ‘til then, she thought to herself.

Obsidian broke into a slow smile. “You know… they should have been here by now: A sapphire with future vision? And a Leader who always seems to know where the newest Homeworld forces arrive… They should have been here for you long ago.”

“So they got delayed. They’re still coming.”

“And going. And coming, and going. Always going. Strange that, almost as though they were just passing through and they were never looking for you at all.”

Pearl almost rolled her eyes. “You’re lying. I know they wouldn’t abandon me. They will find you and they’ll show you exactly what they think of this when they come, and if you’re lucky, very, very lucky, they might just convince me to let you live.”

“That’s some mighty tough words for a pearl, especially one in your position. Not a great place to be making threats.”

“Why not? You’re not letting me make much of anything else. Maybe you’re scared of what I might do.”

“I’m not scared of some pearl!”

“Oh really? If you’re so sure then let me go: Try me in a fair fight, and I’ll show you exactly what I’m made of. I know a thing or two about how to handle a weapon.”

“Oh?” A look of confusion passed over Obsidian’s face. “Oh! Of course!" She waved as though it was obvious. “The war! So they actually let you fight other gems?" She laughed. "And here I was thinking you were just some mascot. No wonder we aren’t getting anywhere, to have been in battle so often,” the knife flashed down again, piercing her torso again with its cold sharp bite, “you must be so familiar with this.” Pearl gasped as the blade was turned, tearing the hole deeper, that new chime of ‘wrong’ as her body protested. “So how did you get into that mess? Did your owner turn to the rebellion?”

“What owner? I belong to no-one,” Pearl declared, glaring at the gem. “Never will.”

Obsidian laughed. “Oh, you might have been right then, but take a look around you pearl; that isn’t true anymore. You belong to us now. And I do believe I gave you an order. I want that form gone. Now chop, chop,” the knife flew up, poised high above her once more, “you’ve got a job to do.”

“You’re being rather stubborn.”

Pearl stayed silent, ignoring Obsidian as they loomed.
“I’d rather thought we might have made some progress by now, but clearly you have no interest in engaging with our projects.”

“I’m not your guinea pig. If you plan on torturing me anyway, I see no reason to do the same myself.”

“Yes, a problematic attitude, but you wouldn’t have joined the rebellion if you were made right so it’s to be expected.” Pearl huffed and pulled at her restraints, wanting to set them straight. “Should’ve tried putting that energy into the task we gave you. It was quite simple.”

Pearl stayed silent. Sometimes you couldn’t argue with people like this: it was just giving them more rope to hang yourself.

“Clearly we can’t take it any further,” A flicker of hope ran through Pearl, immediately tempered by caution, “but that’s alright: we have several other briefs we’ve been itching to try out. I thought this might be an interesting one:” She made a show of pulling up the file on her screen. “ ‘Investigate the reconstitution of shattered gems into fighting units.’ ”

Pearl’s mind trailed over the words, an uncomfortable pang of familiarity around them.

“I suppose you already know that gem fragments retain an element of their sentience, terribly, horribly distorted of course, but useful, in the right application. They’ve been used to power various weapons and armours already, but imagine if we could shape them into cohesive units, able to follow orders without question, fueled by that desperate rage they all seem to have… we would have a inexhaustible army bolstered by every battle we have, our own enemies cleanly integrated into our ranks, fighting their own. Isn’t it poetic? Sustainable too: every time they fall, we just patch them up again. It certainly has a lot of promise.”

Pearl pulled against her restraints again.

“You don’t seem much of a fan.”

“What’s this got to do with me?”

“Well you’re our volunteer.” Pearl froze. “There’s a few tests we need to do first, basic experiments with construction and fixation of gems, see how they react. But of course, we’re gonna need some gem fragments to play with.” She lifted up a saw, sharp teeth glinting in the light.

“No.” Pearl struggled and pulled against her bindings, letting out a cry as they were merely tightened in response. “No!”

“Ha, so now you’re scared. I can see that mind working, still trying to find a way out… Well there is no way out from this.” Her hand trailed around Pearl’s gem savouring the fear in her eyes. “I wonder how much of that mind will be left when I’m done, whether you can still hold this-" she pressed on Pearl’s body again, drawing a panicked groan, “-together when every part of you is falling apart. How long will you hold out? Maybe you’ll stay awake through it all, every second… imagine that.” Pearl choked back a sob, still trying to fight her way out. “Oh don’t worry, if you do happen to dissipate, well, we can revert straight back to our original plan but, between you and me, I’m rather hoping you don’t.”

Pearl slumped back down, her body throbbing. “You’re a monster.”

“Just doing my job. Now,” she hefted the saw again with a smile, “chin up!”

“No!" It drew closer, whirring up as the blade crept closer to her gem. "No, no no no no NO!!!”

Peridot was shouting too, tumbling back from the console as she scrambled out of the control room and pelted down the hallway. “No!”

“Stop! STOOOOP!” She skidded to a halt by the doorway, catching Bismuth and Garnet in a tableau, Garnet holding onto corrupted Pearl’s neck, fighting to keep her pinned in place whilst Bismuth carefully lined up the saw to the hunk of metal that laid there.

“Hold on Peri, we’re just about to take-”

“NO!” Peridot shrieked, “You can’t!”

“Peridot,”

“Let her go! I can explain, just," Peridot pleaded, "let her go!”

Bismuth and Garnet shared a look, registering her distress, and Garnet released the corruption, which ducked away, before coming back with a pointed swipe that clattered through the bars. It paused, head snapping up, listening to something faint before skittering away entirely, disappearing back into the depths of the ship.

“What the-?” Bismuth started, then faltered out as the sound reached them, sending shivers down their backs. “Er…” she gulped, “do you guys-?” It was faint, somewhat muted, but coming through clearer in the silence was screaming, cries of pure pain and desperation. Peridot paled as she realised she hadn’t stopped the recording.

It kept going, the harsh lungful screaming of someone who couldn’t do anything else, breath after breath and with it and hidden in the gasping silences, the jarring whine of a saw.

“Is that-?”

She nodded. “Pearl.”

Chapter Text

The cuff shifted, until with a final rattle it came free, Pearl’s hand immediately flying to the straps across her chest and, when that didn’t yield, up to the release the contraption that pinned her head so she could take a better look.

She didn’t get far, a wave of nausea striking her back as soon as she lifted her head, her hand darting to her gem. She paused, fingers hovering over the surface. She'd almost forgotten this, not the pain, that constant ache between the eyes, but the damage, filed away and laid dormant in her immobility. Her hand shook, the agonising cuts that felt as thought they were tearing her apart coming fresh to her memory.

‘Tearing her apart’… it wasn’t just a feeling: they were, they had, cutting her up piece by piece. She hesitated, reluctance drawn from a desire for ignorance, a desperate wish that not knowing would deem the damage undone, or better than she feared. But quiet hopes wouldn't help her escape. She needed to know.

Taking a breath she traced over the surface with the lightest touch, her stomach lurching as she investigated the sharp, fresh cracks and canyons that now lay there, deformations in the once smooth surface of her gem. It went deeper too. Something shifted under her touch and so did the room, her vision and body collapsing in a shudder at the movement.

Her gem… she clapped her hand tight, suddenly afraid it would simply fall apart, wondering how it hadn’t already and trying to suppress a shudder as she flooded with fresh dread.

How- How could she even be being like this? She was shattered, in a way, tears springing up in quiet pity, a grief. She had only ever known fragmented gems as faint echoes of themselves, barely sentient, desperate to become whole again. Perhaps because her gem was still there, damaged, but there, she had a chance. For now. But it was a slim one; one wrong move and she would simply fall apart.

Without a move they would tear her to shreds.

She glitched.

She didn’t mean to, her hand tensing over sharp edges and they shifted, grinding against each other, the feeling resonating through her form, still squeezed and suppressed into herself but tearing her apart until it passed, everything snapping back into place. She wasn’t supposed to be able to do that: the curious Obsidian had paused cutting up her gem to try and replicate the trick when it had wracked her then, with no success. But it had passed. She was still here, she hadn’t dissipated and, for the first time, she was glad of it.

She explored a bit further, trying to judge just how bad it was; she still had this window of escape after all. Curious. It was almost elastic around the edges, her form somehow supporting the gem instead of the other way round, clinging on to itself. Pearl was too, her hand instinctively clasping around it once again, but that arrangement couldn’t last forever: soon enough she’d need to choose between the need to preserve her gem and the need to escape.

Carefully laying her head back again, she slowly released her hand, pulling it away and bracing, eyes shut against the ripple of pain that accompanied the movement. She reached over, letting out a muted huff as she realised she couldn’t quite reach her other side. The hand was back up, carefully turning her head and releasing again, slowly, piece by piece, testing each movement, hoping through every second that she wouldn’t lose her gem.

More glitches came and went, dragging her against the bindings but leaving her still stuck and exhausted beneath them. She struggled again, this time trying to pull the other cuff loose but it remained almost out of reach and held fast, slipping from her fingers and Pearl cried, tears running in frustration as her chance of escape kept slipping away from her.

In a desperate ploy, she swung over, twisting and flinging herself against the restraints as they bit into her form, cutting old wounds and new, her gem slipping and threatening to throw out completely but she grasped hold of the cuff, bracing and pulled with all the strength she had and didn’t have, determined to be free. She shook, clinging on as a section of her gem began to slowly slide out, filling her with a sickness, a terrible hole, almost overwhelming sense of absence, until it yielded with a jerk, dropping her slumped back onto the table.

She stayed there, shaking a while, washed out from the effort. Then, gritting her teeth, she raised her hands and carefully pushed her gem back together, holding it in place.

The other bindings came away more easily, finally allowing her to stretch and move, a mistake and a delight as every movement hurt and reminded her how she was so alive, pushing herself off the edge of the table to finally find her feet, and the way to her freedom.

Chapter Text

In the darkness Pearl knew she was running out of time, and options, searching through her aching mind to find something, anything that could get her out of this hellhole.

It must have been weeks now, these gems had tortured and tormented her, demeaned and damaged her, turning her gem into a mockery of itself, or mocking her: granting her a cruel hint of freedom before tearing it away again, and they had made it perfectly clear they would do so again and again and again, never letting their prize go, keeping her trapped in an eternal train of experiments.

If she stayed here any longer they would destroy her.

She couldn't do this alone.

The sound started up, a loud warbling siren that resonated through the ship right up to the control room.

"What the-?"

"Beryl, stop sitting on the buttons."

"Hey!" The sound grew louder, "I'm not! DOES THAT SOUND LIKE ONE OF OUR SIRENS TO YOU?!"

"Now you mention it, no." Obsidian grumbled, leaning forward to scan the console and find the source. "Oh wow." She pulled up a screen. "You gotta give it to her, that's certainly creative."

Beryl growled, swore, and stormed out the room, leaving Obisidan watching the screen, Pearl lying there, mouth wide open and vibrating slightly as she pushed out wave after wave of this deafening sound.

"CUT THAT OUT!" Beryl burst in, barely heard over the modulated wailing, "OI!" A sharp backhand across the face didn't even cause a flicker in the wall of noise. She could scarcely believe it could be coming from such a small gem but it did, filling her head with nerve aching sound. "Shut up! Shut up shut up shutupshutupshutup SHUT. UP!" she bellowed with a cry, and threw the microwave at her, tearing it across the room. It narrowly missed and toppled to the floor, followed by heavy shackles and weights launched straight after in her fury, but Pearl kept going, focused only on one thing.

Beryl scanned the benches for something else, eyes lighting up as they landed on a small beaker hiding towards the back. She scooped it up, turning to their disruptive guest. "I said SHUT! UP!"

Pearl's gasp as the cool liquid hit the back of throat was a mistake, pulling it deeper as it began to spread and burn, sharp and incessant, flinching with a cry of alarm. Instinctively she tried to expel it, remove it from her body where it came in a single, clean, tense move, but it rebounded, making her eyes water as the Beryl's thick hand sealed her mouth shut, trapping the chemical inside.

"MmmHHH!!!" Her cry was muffled and she pulled at her restraints as the liquid ate away inside, writhing, thrashing as she tried to get it out. But her movements only served to spread it further, her panicked gasps pulling it into her lungs, spreading the fire throughout her chest. If she could wail now at the pain, scream it away from here she would, but there was no escape, howling inside as she forced to suffer, feeling every second of agony as she was held there. The Beryl watched, and waited.

And it burnt,

And it burnt,

and it burnt.

Eventually she released her, leaving her to gasp and vomit as she tried to get rid of the terrible chemical that had been eating her alive, still tracking painful lines as it dribbled down her chin. She lay there, feeling perfectly wretched, choking out agonising, deep, form wracking coughs and uncontrollable floods of tears. Everything was raw inside. Everything was wrong. She shook, and sobbed.

The Beryl observed impassionately as she was reduced to this blubbering mess.

"I told you to shut up."

Chapter Text

"Was Pearl the only one down here?" Bismuth leant over, watching Garnet intently.

She hesitated. "The only living gem. I discovered some fragments." She summoned up a pair of bubbles with a mucky array of gem fragments within, and rather a lot of gem dust, and more likely than not, normal dust and dirt too.

"Stars. Are they, uh previous victims?"

"We don't know." She set the bubbles down, unspoken at their damage, "But this one..." She held it up, turning it so the white traces within caught in the light. She didn't need to say any more.

Obsidian dove into the room, tucking herself down and still as possible as the corruption roared and chased up behind her, letting out a growl as it crashed into the doorway and made the room shake. Again and again it tried to get in, the enormous spiked head pushing against the small entrance, then followed by a claw, squeezed in and batting around as it tried to draw out its prey. It let out another roar, thrusting its head into the doorway, its mismatched white gem clear on the center of its head. Before Obsidian had a chance to consider grabbing it, it had gone, pulled away to continue its destructive path up the ship, it's large stature crushing the tight hallways open.

Waiting a moment to be sure it wouldn't return, Obsidian grabbed the destabiliser, and followed, sneaking along behind until she got to the control room.

She ducked inside, sealing it behind her, bringing up the cameras and quickly tracked it to the entranceway, scrabbling and clawing at the tiny tunnel that provided access to the vessel. It was trapped, howling at the exit, throwing itself around in an attempt to break through this too. Its tail whistled through the air as it flailed, carving broad curves in the wall as it struck. Those sharp spikes could easily take off someone's head. That wasn't all. The creature was covered in marbled brown and green scales, a tough shell that would turn a pointed blade, Obsidians eye picking out all the details she could. It was a tricky kill but that didn't matter: she would still take this thing down, make it pay for what it did to her friend. Obsidian drew an axe, and settled down to study, watching and searching for its weak spots.

She didn't expect to get so close, but it had laid down, sniffing and whining at the tunnel, allowing her to creep up unseen, her first strike severing the tail in a single clean sweep. The creature leapt up with a roar, sending the gem across the room with a vengeful swipe, and pounced after, catching thin air as Obsidian ducked underneath, drawing the destabiliser. She jabbed it deep into the open wound, clinging on and sending wave after wave of electric shocks through the howling creature until it pulled apart, the two gemstones tumbling to the floor in the silence it left behind.

Obsidian let out a cry, raw victory and anger flooding through her but she wasn't done. She pulled up her axe again, sweeping above her head and brought it crashing down on the squarish pale green gem first, shattering it into pieces, then smashing those pieces even further with blow after blow until it was barely recognisable amongst the dirt. Panting, she kicked the fragments to one side and turned her fury onto the remaining white gem.

Pearl.

The axe came down with a crunch, drawing a curse as the impact withheld, rebounding up her arms and sending the gem skittering to one side. She quickly came in with another blow, still resolved to take this belligerent pearl apart, but it remain resolutely intact, the metal bands that had been holding the gem together now protecting it. After letting off steam with several more attempts at crushing it into oblivion, she scooped it up. She would need to try something else.

She'd placed the pearl on the table as she paced, giving herself time to think. The stabilising field was back up, keeping the beast from reforming as she decided what to do with her. The simplest course of action was to simply carve her up again, grind every last inch of that gem into dust, but it wasn't enough. It was too clean, too easy, and she wanted Pearl to feel every second of her fury. She picked the gem up, idly pulling at one of the fragments that made it, but it held fast all fused in place.

With a yell she launched it against the wall, sending it flying through the air to smack into it with a satisfying clang. Hopeful investigation proved it had done no more damage than before, the metal once again taking the worst of the damage. Her fingers rubbed over the bands thoughtfully. Maybe she should take those off first.

Her eyes landed on the microwave.

Oh. Or not. She broke into an evil smile.

This was perfect. This would destroy her.

She lobbed the gem inside.

It whirred into life, lighting up. It didn't take long for the sparks to fly, dancing purple snaps of plasma as they jumped from one piece of metal to the next, discolouring the pearl underneath with darkened streaks as they passed. The surface of the pearl began to lose its luster, fragments shifting as it started to suffer in the heat. It kept going, flashes coming more and more as the energy built up, bolting new cracks into the pearl with every strike, the surface smoking and hissing under the stress as hints of nacre started to boil out, prising cracks open even further. Obsidian almost skipped in delight. Oh how she must burn and crumble, trapped inside the gem!

The machine began to smoke, feedback from the adverse occupant heating the unit itself, and the first flickers of flame came into being, licking around the gem. Scorch marks appeared inside and out, the surface of the machine charring away, yet it barely registered to Obsidian. This pearl could be reduced to slag for all she cared, and she upped the power even more to be sure of it, the structure of the microwave started to distort under the increased load, flames licking the surfaces around it as they grew.

Eventually the roof dipped, and the gem inside shining with a molten white glow, Obsidian still watching with rapt delight at this final encore. The Pearl was trapped, stuck inside her gem with nowhere left to escape, wholly at the mercy of the flames, and when it was done not even her friends would be able to find her, sealed away in a molten metal tomb.

The glow got brighter, and Obsidian only had a second to realise it was coming from the gem itself before Pearl erupted in her corruption, tearing up and out into existence with a furious desperate roar, the sharp edge of the microwave catching Obsidian against the wall with a single, gem-shattering crack.

Peridot watched the newly formed Pearl thrash and whine, wild, blind and in pain, trashing the room as it tried to get the unwelcome hunk of metal away from its head, the desperate back and forth pounding any fragments of the gem that had been Obsidian into smaller and smaller shards. But she wasn't focused on that.

"Hey Peri, did you find anything?"

Tears and silence gripped her. It was worse than she could have dreamed. Pearl: the amount of damage her gem took... she didn't know if they could bring her back from this.

She waved vaguely in the direction of the bubbles. "Those... they were the scientists." Bismuth tensed up with a glare as Peridot explained. "She got them when she corrupted. Most of them."

"Ah, that's our Pearl!" Bismuth's jubilation fell flat, Peridot and Garnet contemplating the shattered gems.

"But the damage to Pearl is a lot worse than we thought. I- eugh," Peridot glanced at the bubbles again. "We'll be lucky if we can even recover this much of her."

Bismuth cursed. "Garnet, you'd better not be thinking about bringing these good for nothing hunks of scrap back because I swear-"

Garnet held up a hand. "No." Bismuth eased, one less thing to worry about. "I'll take them down to the Temple and put them to rest there. It is highly unlikely we could bring them back from this state anyway. Probably for the best."

"Yeah." After a moment Bismuth followed Garnet. "You know the forge is probably a better..." their voices trailed off into the distance, leaving Peridot alone with the corrupt gem on her screen. She'd gone through so much to still be stuck here in this place of nightmares. And now Peridot worried about how they were going to recover her fragmented gem, how they were going to fix her. Pearl roared, the desperate sound echoing up the ship.

"I know," Peridot whispered. "We'll find a way to get you out of here," she promised, "somehow."

Chapter Text

Pearl tried to push herself to one side, knocked flying by the crashing force of the beast, momentum cut abruptly short by her chains, and rebounded back to the floor where she lay, half hanging, reeling from the blow. The corruption was reeling too, shaking its head and backing up, trying to get sense back into itself for another shot. Pearl barely made it to her feet when it crashed clean into her midriff, smashing her into the wall and lighting a fiery ball of pain in the middle of her back. Stars danced in front of her eyes and she wilted onto the creature. She could hear it snarling and snapping below, imagining its teeth digging into her legs. If it grabbed hold and pulled... She was still attached to these chains, and she didn't think the wall would yield first.

Lying on the white mane, she realised the creatures gem wasn't far off, and stretched out to reach it. If she could pull it out... But she couldn't reach far enough, her fingertips barely able to make it to the spikes that protected it, her body still stuck. She slipped as the creature shifted its grasp on her, hands instinctively curling into the fur, clinging on.

This creature would trample her gem into nothing if she fell. For a second she considered it, a way out from a life of torture and agony, doomed to have her body broken and her mind with it. It would be no small sense of relief. But... she couldn't. Garnet, Amethyst, Steven; she had to hold on, had to keep fighting. But this wasn't a fight she could win.

She had to get out of here.

She became acutely aware of the creature beneath her, a simple quartz corrupted into a powerful, wild thing. Could she...? Pearl hesitated, unsure if she could, unsure if she should, memories of every single corrupted gem she'd fought come to mind. She had known so many of them, and they never showed any recognition in return, caught as angry wild things. But they had been healed, restored to their normal selves, more or less, by the efforts of Steven and the rest of the Crystal Gems. Her stomach flipped as she wondered if they'd even be able to recognise her, her gem in this state already. But her back and arms burned as the creature tried to pull her down, squeezing her against the wall. She didn't have much choice.

I'm sorry.

She tightened her hold, focusing all her energy against the corruption, against the barrier that held her form, and pushed, seeking out the mind beneath her and trying to pull their forms together, glowing a bright sparking white. Every inch of her ached and protested with the effort, and the creature protested too, whining at the new intrusion, trying to pull away.

No! She held on. She could feel the creature's mind, angry and fearful, roaring at her in the dark. I'm sorry! I know this is wrong but I need this, I need your help!

"What are you doing?" The Beryl's bark sent everything skyward, the creature rearing up, bellowing out its anger as it pawed at the wall. "Stop that at once!"

She clung on. Her arms were burning, and she could feel the resistance against her slowly building up as her energy drained, edging ever closer to the point she would be forced back into herself, right back to square one with all her efforts wasted.

The creatures mind began to solidify, forcing her out.

No! Please! she begged, I just want to get out of here!

I just want to go home.

It changed, the resistance faded and turned as something reached out and pulled from within, pulling their forms together. After days and days of agony Pearl could feel her pains washing away as they knitted together, growing into something bigger and stronger than themselves. And they were so much stronger! Pearl revelled in the power between them, always amazed at the multiplied strength of fusion as they stretched and changed, reaching their full combined potential. This might just work.

It kept going. Pearl gasped as it pinched and stretched, sending triggers of pain through her as she distorted once more. She tried to hold on against it but it was there at the back of her mind, a force manifest and creeping that pulled her further, twisting her form out of itself as it sunk into her core, dragging her mind away from itself.

Wait! She clung on, trying to remind herself of her as the corruption enveloped her, blurring away her memories, her thoughts. It was too quick, too soon! I need to-

Hold on.

She tried, clinging to the precious memories, but every time she turned her attention on one, another slipped away into uncertainty, the prowling fog that invaded the edges of her consciousness. This was wrong: she thought she'd have some time, before this, before the corruption stole her mind but she was slipping already, losing the fight from an already battered and weary body. In a flash of desperation she tried to pull away, become herself again, and almost got it, stretching out the creature for a few seconds of gasping freedom, but she snapped back down, held fast once again, her form weighted into the very existence of another.

No! I need...

I need-

She tried again, but only pain followed pain, the desperation of days growing and screaming within her, joining the echoes of another in the storm. Howling. She could barely feel herself amongst the cold, her energy depleted, and Pearl could do no more as her thoughts flickered away from her in the wild song.

...

The scientists were cheering across the screens, watching Pearl get smashed into the wall.

"Look, look! It's gonna pull her head off."

"I dunno, teeth like that it'll probably take the leg off first."

"Oh, that's gotta hurt."

"I don't think she can feel it."

"Pity," scoffed the Beryl. "You know, with all that talk I thought she'd last longer."

"Prasey's certainly smashing it out the field."

"Prasiolite! Prasiolite! Prasiol- what the-?!" Beryl thumped the wall. "Hey, what are you doing? Stop that at once!"

Up in the control room, Obsidian had a much better view, and saw as the form of Pearl began to glow, and shift. "Hey, it looks like she's finally trying to dissipate."

"I know," Beryl whined, "Where's the fun in that? Hey!" She thumped the door again. "Cut it out!"

Obsidian's curt reply caught in her throat as the glow spread, reaching out from Pearl and rippling into the corruption as they blurred together. "Fusion!" she squeaked. "They're fusing!" This wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to happen. She fumbled over the controls to get a better look. "Beryl! They're fusing!"

"They can do that?"

"They're doing that!"

"What do I-?"

It was going to ruin everything! "Get in there!" Obsidian shrieked. They were fusing, the creature growing and expanding to fill the double height room, extra limbs testingly stretching and falling away into vestigial nubs as the energy went inwards, bulking up into an enormous echo of the creature that had been there before. Every second they stayed together put the entire experiment at risk. "Stop them!" Blue eyes opened at the cry, familiar features softening the beasts head and focusing with a piercing glare through the screen.

But the creature continued to stretch and grow, the face distorting into a grimace as fresh spikes and new limbs stretched out, hands lengthening into long sharp claws at the front, and at the back too, twisting together there to form a tail. The body grew and tightened, sealing off into several interconnected segments and the head stretched out even further, becoming beaked and alien, the eyes shifting, splitting and merging to become segmented bulbous masses that protruded on either side of the head.

The creature shrieked, the form flickering and shrinking again, a stretching screaming mass lurching out its head, a half formed figure trying to pull away. It barely lasted a few seconds before it snapped back with a roar, landing and falling quiet as the last few changes ran their course: the mane sparkled and fused into a dense collection of spikes, the transformation cascading down the sides of the creature, cracking and changing the surface into a shimmering protective layer of scales.

There was a short yell and a thunk! as Beryl's sword bounced off its hind. It looked around. The gem froze in her tracks. It contemplated her for a moment, the tail drawing up over its back as it scuttled around to face this new intrusion, the extra forelimbs floating long thin claws through the air, twiddling slightly in anticipation of action, head twitching side to side as it watched.

Beryl readied her broadsword again, and charged, parrying swiping lashes, forced to duck each time the spiked tail came swinging round. A nearby leg of the thing kicked out, sending her tumbling across the room with a curse. With four legs, and the arms, and the tail it had nearly every angle covered, bar one. Beryl darted towards the creature, determined to position herself under the belly, but every time she got near it ducked, sweeping low to seal off her access. She took another few swipes at it, drawing only superficial marks across the scales and backed away again.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," she growled at it. The creature let out an angry shriek. "Hard way it is." She shifted her hands on her weapon and, with a quick flick, the two halves of the blade pulled apart to reveal a whirling ball of energy within that sent sparking arcs of electricity up and down its length. Its presence drew an instant response, the corruption hissing and shrieking, catching Beryl off guard with a sweep of its claws and knocking her back. It kept going, wailing and clobbering the gem with blow after blow, forcing her back, barely able to keep the destabiliser held up, let alone use it.

A few frantic moves parried, one, two, three! and she was in, the tines making contact, shocking painful lines across the arm of the creature. It reared with a head splitting shriek, and thumped Beryl in the chest, sending her flying through the air.

She caught and half tumbled through the doorway to land sprawled on the floor the other side, the fabric of hallway shaken as the corruption came thundering after colliding with the wall between them, but it held, for now.

When a few exploratory swipes failed to yield its prey, the creature threw itself against the wall again, and again, until the doorway crumbled and fell away and it could squeeze itself partway through, stretching to the limit of its reach to try and get to this threat. Beryl ducked away once again, lining up the shot and diving in in an attempt to finish the job.

But she had miscalculated, overstretching, and the claw came up and under, sharp claws raking her form and sending the weapon high into the air. She tried to lurch out of the way, but the sharp reaching claws tightened around her into a cage, pulling her down and back in a short sharp move, right into the path of the falling blade. She let out a scream as the blade pierced her form, sending lightning coursing through her, shuddering and spasming as she tried to reach up to deactivate the weapon that pinned her. A loud shuddering crack snapped her attention elsewhere, eyes widening as the last few resisting segments of the wall above her shifted and gave way, toppling down to land with a sickening crunch.

The corruption charged out with a roar at its freedom, trampling over the fallen debris and searching for its opposition, flipping chunks of rubble with its beak to hound out its prey, tilting its head as it found glittering slivers of the gem, shattered beryl scattered underneath it all.

It dug around a bit, drawing out smaller and smaller fragments and roared, finally satisfied that the danger from this gem was no more. But it didn't move on just yet, slowly pacing up and down, sniffing around.

Obsidian leant forward, searching for it again as it disappeared from view, flinching as it reappeared in the corner of the screen, stretching up the wall, still sniffing around and edging ever closer to the camera.

She could still see the shattered fragments of her friend in the background.

This thing, thought Obsidian, would regret ever trying to exist.

It turned its head, beady composite eyes coming into view, and for a moment Obsidian thought she had heard. Then it launched, roaring, straight at the camera, making Obsidian tumble backwards with a yell.

The screen went black.

Chapter Text

"You're making a mistake: the war is over," Pearl insisted. "Just check with Homeworld and you can see for yourself. It's a new Era: gems are free, the Earth is free! You don't have to do this!"

"This?" Pearl gasped as the Obsidian poked at the wound from the first strike, the edges still burning in the open air. "Oh no, it's quite necessary." A tape measure came out, flickering through the edge of her view and down her body, fingers still poking and prodding, drawing another reaction as she pulled it apart a little, tears springing to Pearl's eyes.

"What do you want?"

The Obsidian paused, and straightened up. "We want to see you dissipate."

"You know that should have already happened by now." The looks on their faces confirmed her fears. "Why can't I dissipate? What have you done to me?!"

"Just a little test. Like we said before, we want to see if you can... overcome this little barrier of ours."

"But why? Why are you doing this?"

"Just imagine, you're out on the battlefield, fighting: you pick up an injury but you oops! you can't retreat to your gem. If you can't retreat to your gem, you can't pop back out five minutes later to stab the opposition in the back with a surprise attack. Plus your colleagues would have to use more effort to recover you, and of course, as a bonus you get to suffer every second of whatever injury you took instead of running away like a coward." The gem was grinning. "It would give Homeworld the fight in a matter of weeks. Now we've got most the technology sorted, we just need to test that it's strong enough."

"Which is where you come in. We've got a full itinerary of scaled measures that should normally initiate a form release, we just want to see which ones will or not." The knife came into view, dark against the room, thick and crystalline, the sharp biting edges glinting in the light. "Starting with a few more of these."

"No!" Pearl pulled against the restraints. "You don't have to do this! The war's over! Please, you have to believe me!"

"And why would we believe a rebel?" They held the knife up, waiting for a response that didn't come, and Pearl let out a cry as it took the another bite out of her form.

Pearl's mind flickered in and out a while, distancing itself from its broken body as much as she could, but they noticed that too, sharp jolts of the destabliser bringing her crashing back into reality again and again.

It was another such jolt that brought her back, the Obsidian looming over her, watching her tears fall, jolted and unnerved. She crouched, so close, and wiped them away, the touch drawing a tense gasp out her subject.

"You don't know how to cope with it do you? You poor little thing. It all hurts too much." Pearl flinched as her hand cupped around her face, wrapping her in a strange gentle warmth. The fingers drifted up and down, making her shudder as she stroked her face, fingertips playing in her hair, unable to get away. "It'll be a shame to see such a pretty gem fall apart, but... needs must."

Pearl gulped down some air, nerves pounding as the weight lifted. "You won't break me."

Obsidian chuckled. "Oh you'll break," she assured her, "but only in the ways we want you to."

She considered Pearl for a moment. "You know you can be rid of all this if you dissipated. Release your form and go back to that charming," she flicked Pearl's gem, sending a sharp shuddering bolt of pain through Pearls head, "little gem of yours."

"I can't," Pearl growled.

"Sure you can, such a resourceful gem like yourself. To have survived for so long in the rebellion, you have to have picked up a few tricks up, built a bit of resilience." She glanced up and down the tearstained gem disdainfully. "Something more resilient than whatever this mess is anyway."

Obsidian wasn't the only one who was frustrated. Pearl hated that they had gotten to her so easily, the nerve wrangling constance of pain throwing her for a loop: she could barely focus beyond it, and hour after hour she was coming to understand why humans had words such as agony, and the now enviable organic ability to pass out and escape from it all. "Why do you keep doing this? It works. I can't dissipate. You've had your fun now why can't you just let me go?!"

"I'm afraid the experiment doesn't work like that dear. You dissipate, then we can talk about letting you go."

"I told you I can't-!" Tears welled in her eyes as Pearl tried to pull herself out once more, half restrained yelps escaping from her as her wounds protested.

"Oh, there is a way through, you just got to find it."

Pearl let out a cry of pure frustration.

Obsidian sighed. "I suppose I could help you,"

For a moment Pearl thought she'd misheard, then the gem repeated the offer, glancing towards the walls. "-get out of this. If you ask nicely of course."

Pearl blinked. She could get the others, help bubble away the crazy gem and the corruption too, close down whatever other experiments they had going on here.
"Yes."

"What was that?"

"Yes. Let me out of here."

A backhand snapped across her face, cracking across her nose and making her eyes water. "I said ask nicely." Pearl's look of confusion drew another huff. "Say please. Did nobody ever teach you any manners?"

Pearl hesitated, uncertain at the strange request. But it was small price to pay.

"Please." It came out half whispered, and she repeated herself, desperate to be heard. "Please!"

"See? That wasn't so hard."

The knife landed, another rent in her form, tearing her apart in all the wrong ways, the cold betrayal another knife striking so much deeper within. Pearl cried out in surprise. Tricked, and no trick. Of course they wouldn't just let her go, and she cursed that she had allowed herself to believe it, even for a moment. The sharp intrusion resonated through her once more, tendrils of shooting pain branching out, in every second wishing it would take her beyond being, release her back to the safety of her gem.

But she was still here, broken and whole, trapped in a body that brought her only sickening pain. Her mind reeled. They were tearing her apart piece by piece, yet each in the pain it was the closest she could get to releasing her form. That was what they wanted wasn't it? Perhaps if they went far enough, the rest of her would follow, that blessed release and every inch of her yearned for it. She just wanted to be away from it all.

"Remember, you only have to ask..."

She would give her a way out, she only had to ask.

Tears streaked her cheeks, dirty and desperate. Pearl closed her eyes as though she could block out the waiting knife, depart herself from what she was about to do, a deep shame flooding through her, chest heaving in nervous gasps.

"Please..."

The knife came down again.

Chapter Text

The entrance was easy to miss at a glance, barely more than a shadow from the top of the canyon, hidden by loose rocks and growing brambles. On the ground though the tunnel seemed clear, and she ducked inside in the silence, listening out for danger ahead.

Dancing drop canyon. Neena had paled when pressed for information about her last sighting of Pearl. Human memory was not always the most reliable, and she'd explained how she had told her about this place, that they thought it might have a trapped corruption, or wild creature from the strange howling that had been coming from it. "We weren't sure if it was real or not, but she said she'd take a look. I didn't realise she went straight up there." She had been devastated when she discovered Pearl had been missing; with their usual meet-ups planned in advance they'd thought the radio silence normal, and it wasn't until Pearl had failed to turn up to their next engagement that they had realised something was wrong.

"It had stopped," she went on to say, "for a while, but lately it's gotten worse, all sorts of strange noises coming down from there." Words that did not bode well for Pearl. It was a three hour hike out to the canyon (for a human), but a lopsided warp pad deposited Garnet nearby, and she quickly made her way down, already running through terrible possibilities as to what might have kept Pearl caught here.

Pearl trapped behind rocks...

Pearl abandoned in her Pearl, the plaything of the corrupt gem...

Pearl caught in corruption herself, unseen and stuck in this place...

Pearl in pieces, her shattered gem strewn across the floor...

Sharp fragments glittered just inside, but Garnet held back, a swift punch caving in the doorframe to seal open her way out before she went any further. She crouched. The fragments were dark and, though traces of white flickered through them, that had laid in the gem itself. She carefully scooped them to one side. Further investigation found a control room, the endless buttons inviting exploration in an attempt to reactivate this place, but a shrieking howl, the unmistakable cry of a corrupt gem pulled her attention away.

She descended, dodging fallen metalwork where the ceiling had been forced through, crushed upwards and distorted out of shape by some enormous creature. It had made much of the upper levels inaccessible, forced to follow the tunnels into the depths of the ship.

She found her in one of the corridors, a distorted pale stick-like creature skittering away at one of the walls.

"Pearl."

Her head turned towards the sound, rotating around on it's long articulated joints to land eyes on Garnet, but they were blocked, blinded and covered by a hunk of metal that sat right over her head, hanging on almost helmet-like. Garnet couldn't see her gem, but the style was too unmistakable to be anyone else, hints of greens, and peach, and blue darting her form.

"Pearl, it's me, it's Garnet. I'm here."

Pearl let out a low cry, half climbing the wall as she turned in the tight space, head weaving from side to side as she slowly approached. Garnet stepped forward too, her foot accidentally clattering into a piece of debris, making Pearl flinch, and back away hissing. "Easy there, it's okay, it's going to be okay, I'm here, we've got you," she reassured her, reaching out.

She wasn't sure how much Pearl understood, but from what she had seen of Steven's semi-successful attempts to heal the Centipeetle (the Nephrite), it was as much about the tone of voice as opposed to what she said. The creature rocked back and forth, and let out a shriek. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." Pearl twisted to one side, claws scraping down the nearby wall, the sound sending shivers down Garnets back, followed by another cold flush as she saw the numerous other claw marks that littered the hallway.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here and all fixed up soon enough," she promised. Pearl hissed again, forcing Garnet to stop in her tracks as the sharply hooked forelimbs swiped the space between them. "Pearl..." But her reassurances fell flat, the corruption becoming even more agitated before her.

Think Garnet, think! What else did Steven do? That song! The gem recognised it. Garnet began to half hum familiar tunes, hoping to draw some response, some familiarity between them, trying to some small memory that could anchor her lost friend. The tune grew around them, echoing into itself as it bounded up and down, and the creature hesitated, trying to decide what to make of it.

"Come on, that's it, you know this one." Garnet edged closer, "that's why the people of this world, believe in: Garnet, Amethyst, and..." She waited, hoping for some flash of understanding, the last missing piece of the puzzle. She tried again. "And Pearl..."

"Pearl..."

The creature roared, and leapt, forcing Garnet to dive out of the way as it came flying through where she stood. Time for plan b. It had been a slim hope anyway, years and years of trying to reconnect with old friends in their corruption all telling the experience of memories lost, torn away whilst in their corrupted state, once proud gems reduced to little more than wild creatures. But those same years of experience kicked Garnet into autopilot, filing away the personal bond with business, and just like that this was another corrupt gem to be taken down and safely bubbled away.

Gauntlets summoned, Garnet stood her ground at the next charge, blocking and knocking away the trampling limbs, sending it stumbling down the corridor. It turned again, and this time Garnet got a solid punch in, slamming it against the wall so hard that it bounced, sending it tumbling down the hall. It staggered a bit, but righted itself, still present and undefeated, letting out an unpleasant shriek at its treatment, before turning and charging once more.

Garnet had moved too, searching out another way to bring this creature down and edging down the hallway, digging in and readying herself for the charge. She ducked, dodging the swiping claws, and grabbed hold, swinging the creature up and over with a cry, sending her flying straight onto a protruding metal post. The creature let out a desperate shriek as it was impaled, stuck mid-air, its legs wiggling as it tried to free itself without success.

Garnet waited for her to dissipate, ready to catch her gem as it fell.

And waited.

And waited, with growing dread as Pearl remained intact, shrieking and howling in obvious discomfort at the injury. Something was clearly, terribly wrong.

No... Pearl. "I- I'm sorry!" Her words only brought another shriek, and claws came lashing out towards her.

Garnet froze, swimming in possibilities. She needed to go get the others, but... Pearl shrieked again, a long and howling whine. She couldn't just leave her here like this. Timing her move carefully Garnet darted in and pulled Pearl away, clean off the wall to throw her down the corridor, and she let out fresh cries at the treatment, already trying to clamber up, heaving and roaring her anger and pain as she lashed out, desperately trying to find the gem that did this to her.

Garnet turned, and ran.

Chapter Text

Pearl's nerves jumped at the shadows, the echoes of torture waiting at the edge of her mind, but nothing came, the slightest whisper in the distance an echo of air, not the unwelcome approach of her captors yet again. They'd left her alone more and more now, watching, waiting to see if her gem would fall apart again, but the only thing that had was Pearl.

She had thought her friends would find her, release her from all of this but they hadn't. Hour after hour she'd waited, promising herself they'd come, yet she was still here. With every desperate attempt at escape cut down from her, she only had her friends, and they weren't weren't here. They should have been here by now.

They...

They weren't coming. Pain tied into knots within her, gasping torment at an eternity of this, left abandoned and forgotten, the world passing on by.

They didn't know she was here. They weren't coming. Pearl's mind tumbled over again and again, rolling around possibilities, that every turn the Crystal Gems made took them away from this place, narrowly not finding her, trapped so close and far away. Or worse still, they did, and they didn't recognise her, passed off as just another disfigured creature to be put out its misery, no matter how much she tried to convince them, unheard in her desperate mute pleas. She shook and shivered, choking back shuddering gasps as the pall of fear buried her again.

"Y'know," Beryl commented, watching Pearl dissolve into tears once more on the screen, "sometimes I think we're too good at our own job."

Chapter Text

Ruby sat in the corner of the control room as Peridot took over, bossing Bismuth here and there to open various panels so she could have a rummage round. Ruby barely noticed as she herself was scooped up and placed to one side, so lost was she in the shimmering facets of Sapphire's gem.

It should have been her. She was the one who was supposed to be looking after Sapphire- it had always been her thing, to be the strong tough Ruby, that physical strength her strength. And now it had happened, the one thing she'd changed history with by preventing so many years ago. Sure Sapphire could see the future, but she never wanted her getting hurt for it!

"Hey," Bismuth came and joined her. "How's it going?"

Ruby stayed silent, showing Bismuth the inert gem.

"Huh. Is it me, or is she taking longer than usual??"

Ruby tensed up. "She should have been back by now." Tears sprung up in her eyes. "It's my fault, I should have-"

"Hey, hey! No, it isn't. You've done everything you could and more. If Sapphire needs to take a little longer then she'll take a little longer: I'm sure she wants to be back as much as you, and besides, she'll be real proud of you, going and getting me like she asked, instead of trying to go after Pearl again on your own."

"I was trying to help her. I didn't know why she separated."

"Future vision thing most like."

"But she got hurt."

"Hey, she knew what she was getting into, just she knew that she would be kept safe by you, even like this." Bismuth closed Ruby's hands around the gem.

"But you were right! It was too dangerous, we should have never come here by ourselves!"

"You were trying to help Pearl, bubble her away. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Except she didn't." Ruby repeated. "Pearl didn't poof."

"Did you actually do enough to destabilise her?" Peridot piped in, leaning back from the console and waving a hand through the air. "I know how it is: you think you've got a corrupt gem on the ropes and bam, it's knocked you down and run away again. They-"

"Hgnnngh aarrgh!" Ruby yelled, Peridot flinching into silence from the roar of flames that erupted from her at her outburst.

"Of course we had! And! And more. But she didn't poof. She should have poofed." Ruby traced over Sapphire's gem again. "Sapphire didn't either, not until we got outside..."

There was a moment's silence, and Bismuth and Peridot shared a look.

"Curious," Peridot observed. "It could be some form of stabilising field, stopping them from accessing their gems, in or out." Peridot was trying to peer at Sapphire's gem, itching to get her hands on it. Ruby hid it away, pulling it out of reach of the green gem.

"Is that even possible?" asked Bismuth.

"Well yeah. I mean it's not your usual piece of tech but that'd be just the sort of thing these guys would come up with. Sounds like it's got a pretty decent range too."

"Enough to cover the ship?"

Peridot waved at the screen. "Clearly."

"But," Ruby stuttered, glancing down at the gem in her hands, "that means-"

"Go," Bismuth encouraged her, "get her back." Ruby hopped up, gave one last nod to Bismuth and, clutching the gem, raced out the door.

She was outside and partway down the canyon when it began to glow, lifting into the air and reforming into welcome sight of Sapphire, who fell back down to land smiling in Ruby's arms, right where she belonged.

"Sapphy!"

"Ruby!" They spun around, hugged, and even shared a kiss, nuzzling together until Ruby finally stepped back with a huff.

"What is it?"

Ruby pouted and crossed her arms. "I'm mad at you."

"Oh? Why?"

"Why?! You got yourself hurt, and you poofed! I waited, and waited and waited but you were taking so long I-I..." Ruby's voice cracked a little, "I thought you weren't going to come back!"

"I wanted to: I was trying to return but I couldn't. I'm sorry Ruby that I left you alone like that, but please remember: I wanted to see you safe too." A gentle kiss, right on the forehead cooled the tearful gem. She couldn't be mad at her forever. "I'm here now." Ruby looked up, and melted once again under that little smile. "Come on, we'll need to help the others."

Their hands interlinked, and with barely a thought their forms shifted and fused together, settling into a familiar figure.

Garnet was back.

Chapter Text

Something was wrong. Reforming was usually a neat ordered affair, not a messy scrabbling around trying to remember how many limbs you were supposed to have, trying to hold everything together even as it escaped you. It wasn't supposed to hurt. She wasn't supposed to feel like she was dragged and forced through a tunnel of broken glass to return to existence, yet she had to: she had to be there, because she had been so lost inside, falling apart.

When she finally emerged in the cool air, it was all she could do to cling onto herself as hands pulled her down, strapping her struggling back to the place she'd tried so hard to escape from, sore limbs forced back down in her protests, denying her her freedom yet again.

"Welcome back." Pearl blinked as the Beryl swam into view, yanking a gasp from Pearl as she tightened the restraints. She shuddered and groaned, biting back against the waves of pain, bile rising in her throat. And her gem, Stars! Her gem hurt more than she thought it could, but she'd made it back: not shattered as she had feared, fresh memories of her mind, tumbling apart in desperately seeking segments, sending chills down Pearl's back.

She was back, she was here, she was whole again.

Yet... Something was wrong. The straps cut into her wrists and body in ways they hadn't before, sitting uncomfortably against her skin. Doubt cut into her too, a sudden fear that something was missing, some part of herself torn away, or left behind. She looked up at the Beryl, eyes drifting with cold fear as she realised the Obsidian was here too, smiling, watching her from her other side.

She spoke. "So how do you feel?" Pearl pulled against the restraints, a short-lived defiance as pain resonated across her, and her head swam. Her gem. Her gem...

"W- what have you done to me?"

"Well, you were in a pretty poor state so, we fixed you up."

"Your gem was falling apart, all those little pieces..." Air whistled through Beryl's teeth in feigned concern. "I think we got them all." Pearls hand jerked up, tears coming again. "We had to improvise a bit to keep everything in place, but it worked. You're back! That said, the process has certainly left its mark."

"W-" words faltered on Pearl's tongue.

"This form," Obsidian laughed, mocking, "you've made quite the mess of it."

"After all the effort we put into saving you."

Pearl had paled, frozen.

"Here," Beryl savoured the words, hefting a mirror up, "take a look."

Pearl let out a gasping cry as she saw herself, a wail of despair and horror ripped out from deep within her. Her form was disfigured, limbs half screwed in askew, offset and unwieldy, oversized or twisted: her leg rode high on the hip, bulky and stretched where it tried to double up on itself, the phantom limbs fused together into inoperable mass. Her clothes were flat-coloured and blocky, barely functional coverings of the thick scar-like ridges that scattered across her, the parts of herself struggling to hold together against each other, forced in their places.

And her gem, her gem was all wrong, cracked, mismatched, and crudely fused back together, jagged edges sticking out all around. Thick metal bands wrapped around that too, extra seals to hold this atrocity together, the metal digging into her form where it ran, alien and unwelcome.

This is what they'd made her into. She let out another cry, shaking and wailing, barely registering the barking laughter coming from the gems at her distress, lost in the horror of herself.

Chapter Text

Her existence was pain.

Everything hurt, deep and throbbing at the heart of her form, the mismatched parts of herself aching where they'd been forced together, jolts of pain shuddering through her when she made the slightest movement.

They'd left her to her torment, securing that mirror above her, to remind her and mock her, forcing her to witness the mess of her own body, and gem, in full view, every second of weakness, every aspect of her disfigurement on full display. She closed her eyes, the action squeezing out yet more tears.

She felt as though she was falling apart, desperate echoes of missing parts at the back of her mind, a feared desire to cling on to everything of herself pervading her very being, desperate not to let them drift away. Yet at the same time she was trapped in this wrong form, everything about her crushed and held together in unbearable ways, the sharp parts of herself digging into each other in burning, nerve ripping bundles as they squabbled their simultaneous existence so much that she wanted nothing more than to tear them apart and be gone from here. It was maddening. It was terrifying.

What was she? Cracked, shattered, then mashed back together again, a forced fusion of herself, clustered and wrong. It shouldn't be possible, she should have been beyond this days ago. But somehow they had made it work, cobbling enough of her consciousness back together to feel, to function,

To hurt.

"What? Don't you appreciate all the work we have done?" The scientists had revelled in her shock and horror, her every tear and sob feeding their delight.

"Ueurgh, if you're that upset about it we can always do a do-over." The sobs had died in her throat, a fresh wave of terror welling up. "You know... take you apart and put it all back again."

"N-no..."

"and again."

"and again."

Their voices echoed around her head, merging in and out with each other, and her own desperate pleas, becoming increasingly fragmented in her panic. "I wonder how long it'd take to lose her mind?"

She was screaming, her voices echoing around each other, her own shattered chorus frozen inside. No! "No!"

"Well," they were both leaning over her, tight and oppressive, "I suppose there's no need to rush." The knife was back, dancing around her fingers. "We've got all the time in the world to find out."

Chapter Text

She wondered if they'd gotten bored of tormenting her, dashing her against their barrier with a destabilizer and riddling her with knife holes in alternating measures. She was tending towards that too, barely withholding a huff as they threatened old pains. If nothing else, the familiarity was helping her grow accustomed to this new routine.

"We thought we would change things up a little today." It was another day? She had had no way of tracking time down here beyond vague guesses at faint traces of shifting air, the possible breaths of the planet as it turned through day and night. "Beryl took a trip to the human town." Pearl clattered against the restraints with a grunt.

"You leave them alone. Do what you want to me, but leave them alone."

"Oh please, humans are no fun. Far too organic. Waaay too squishy." Sidi shuddered. "But their toys are rather interesting. Look!" She lifted a familiar rectangular metal box into view, before dumping it to one side. "It heats organic matter!" Electronic beeping confirmed its identity as a microwave, the bizarre homeliness of the whirring sound bringing a pang of longing for her family.

Her homesickness evaporated with the steam and a yelp as a cup of hot water was lobbed over her, smarting and singeing her where it landed, leaving rough dark marks underneath. She bit back her tears, building herself against their next new torment, the next stake in their experiment.

'Toys'

Right.

"Pearl, Pearl, Pearl!" Obsidian skittered into the room, bouncing around her, waving and pointing back at Beryl, who came in bearing a brown-grey metallic lump. "Look what we found!"

Pearl eyed it balefully. "It's a rock(!)"

Beryl smirked, teeth creeping across her face into a full-blown grin. "Oh, I'd say it's a little more active than that. Check this out." She tossed the lump from one hand to the other, revealing her gem, turned a darkening green.

Obsidian squealed. "It's so pretty!"

"Tingly too." Beryl held up the rock again, comparing it to Pearl. "I wonder how long your form will hold out against it..." Pearl tensed as she felt the weight of the rock settle on her belly.

At first, nothing happened, Pearl subjected to nothing but the distinctly uncomfortable feeling of being intensely, unblinkingly watched. She was about to deliver a scathing comment when a sharp spark flickered through her midriff, pulling and tensing the whole area, forcing air out of her in an involuntary gasp.

"Ooh! See!"

It happened again, spiking pains that shot through her at random intervals, emerging from the stone that lay there. She paled. Active. She could feel the radiation seeping into her form, hot digging claws where it lay, accompanied by the larger bolts that danced out and struck her unawares, creeping and launching themselves throughout her body and trying to pull it apart. She reared, trying to dislodge the culprit, get it away with no success, its bottom edge already melding into her. Pearl bit back a warble of worry, trying to buck and shift again but it all held fast, clinging on and burning away.

"She's sparking look, they're just skittering away. Oh! There's another one! So pretty!" the Obsidian clapped and oohed and ahhed as Pearl shuddered and spasmed.

"I could watch this all day."

Her next gasp turned into a strangled cry as it struck stronger, twisted inside, her form turning every which way for an agonising flicker that made her eyes water and left her exhausted and panting. The 'sparks' kept coming, leaving her no rest.

"Did you see that?! Did you see that!?!" Obsidian was hopping up and down again, bouncing off Beryl's arm. "She glitched! She glitched! This is the closest we've gotten her to destabilising yet!"

"It's still a very local effect though, doesn't mean the rest of her will go."

"Oh please, it's been on there for barely a few minutes. Imagine what it can do over, say, an hour or two."

Pearl bucked again, fighting her restraints. If she wasn't careful they would cut into her further, cause even more damage, but she tried anyway, desperate to get away from this new torment.

"It certainly livens up your form." Obsidian had a right giggle at that.

"Well the view is- Ow!" Beryl flinched back, hands flying to her face as a blueish spark appeared there. "Geesh. Yikes. Oh that is not cool."

Obsidian looked concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, I just-" Beryl was blinking heavily, and massaging her eyes.

"Oh. You getting the white spots too?" Obsidian waved at her face.

Pearl stayed quiet, resisting the urge to speak out, draw attention to herself. Why would they care if she was suffering the same thing? It was like snow, appearing and disappearing across her sight, and not a good sign at all.

Beryl nodded with an indistinct grumble. "Come on, we can watch from upstairs." Pearl shuddered as she glitched again, her body torn into nothings and squeezed against the invisible barrier that held her still.

As soon as they had left, Pearl redoubled her efforts in getting the stone off, with no success. All it did was wear her out further, and she could already feel the snaking spark nicking slivers of her strength each time they flickered through her.

She glitched again.

What would it do to her gem? Most Gems were resilient to this sort of thing, space travels and the very environment they were born in giving them a natural resilience to the phenomenon as Beryl had so aptly demonstrated, turning Maxixe. But Pearls were one of the few gems to be part organic, and she feared it would infect and damage her there, distorting and deforming the very fabric of what she was.

She glitched again. She could swear it was getting stronger, the increasing pool of burning around the stone was doing nothing to assuage her fears. She tensed, frowning, feeling, focusing all her attention around where it lay. Something was wrong.

A chill dropped through her. It had moved. She didn't know how but the rock had spread further through her form, the flow of radiation penetrating her more deeply than before, and more regularly too, dragging out glitches in increasing frequency. Another one, more intense than before and lasting several seconds dragged a cry of alarm from her as the stone shifted again, this time acutely aware and unable to stop it as it dropped, sinking into her, her form closing up around the foreign object with an eye-watering snap.

"No...!" It had settled within her, stuck, a full 360 of burning pain centered around it, the sparks now rippling sharp agony throughout her from source to strike. But that wasn't all. Gem forms mimicked the organic, and the very essence of the rock itself now slipped away in poison, tainting her body as it passed through, weakening her form even further. She cried out, thrashing again in her desire to reach in, grab it and pull it out, be rid of this poison, but she couldn't even get close, and her limbs cramped painfully as the poison got to work, drawing a cry and leaving her sobbing.

She shivered, cold and clammy, the creeping poison and radiation creeping through her, trying to take her apart, the urge to vomit to be rid of it overwhelming. She tried that too, giving in to her instinct, engaging in this gross base human reaction just to try and eject this foreign object, this feeling within her again and again, but it had stayed resolutely put, fixed inside.

The effort manifested itself in more cold sweat and aching limbs, rough and wearing as it sapped away, the pervading malessence draining her, chipping away at her increasingly indistinct form the longer it stayed, and it stayed, the gems never showing any interest in relieving her of this burden.

In the fog of it all Pearl held on, trying what she could to keep her mind focused around it, restricting the creep of the poison where she could, adapting, the uphill effort of shifting at all making the slight slivers of relief a poor pay-off. Yet it helped her attempt to regain some semblance of normality, another poker face against their machinations, her hopes relying on the fact that if they thought it wasn't doing anything else they would take it away.

It was hard work, the effort taking so much of the little strength Pearl still had, but it worked. They got bored, their minds turning to the next possibilities, and revisiting old ones, finally done with this little toy.

But they never took it out.

It was left, wearing her away.

Pearl clung on.

Chapter Text

She needed rest.

Every injury sapped away another part of her energy, her concentration, her resolve, building upon each other to a stack of fatigue that weighed heavily upon her, souring her already fraught mood. Her inability to reform wasn't helping, and neither was being stuck in this dim room, the lack of light deliberately starving her of a natural source of replenishment. Not it would do much. Apparently either the side effect of their barrier was slower healing (a lot slower), or they had, in their efforts, actually made so much damage that her body was struggling sorely to repair it. Both were as likely as the other, and both scenarios drew her to the same conclusion, that she needed rest, the opportunity to recharge and heal. Even Pearl could see, although it wasn't a gem thing and certainly not hers, that now more than ever she needed sleep.

The scientists had other plans.

Every time she thought she had settled beyond her aching self, half dozing towards sleep they'd come in and zap her into alertfulness with the destabiliser, or the sharp edge of a knife, or something else, sometimes even just a slap round the face: anything to send a jolt of pain across her nerves and drag her back to uncomfortable consciousness ready for them to continue their experiments.

She wanted to scream at them still, berate them for the sheer ego and uselessness of their efforts, but fatigue weighed heavy on her, and confusion jumped and scattered her focus with the lack of rest. The scientists made no little mockery of her for that either, goading her into half slurred protests as her mind barely clung on to the world.

"Alright, alright Sidi, you'd better give her a breather or she'll fizzle out before we even get to the good bits."

"Aww." Sidi pouted, giving Pearl another half-hearted jab. "Eh, I suppose you're right though. It's no fun when they don't even have the energy to cry." She leant over Pearl. "Don't you worry; we will be back to pick this up later. Can't let you miss out on all the fun!" Pearl groaned as, once again, the gem 'casually' patted her injuries, fingers slapping against inflamed edges of open wounds with stinging precision. "Ta-ra!" Then she was gone, Pearl throwing silent curses after her, her head still swimming.

Left alone for now, she knew she needed rest more than anything, to make the most of this small reprieve. But, even as she tried to settle once more her body ached and her mind raced, knowing that they would return. They would always return, and each time they would tear her back into this cycle of exhausting pain, over and over and over again, never letting her relax, never allowing her a single moments peace, their constant presence always threatening at the back of her mind even in their absence. This was her life now, endless pain and suffering, trapped here in this place. And there was nothing she could do about it.

So why bother?

It came with it a sort of clarity, a releasing embrace at the twilight of exhaustion. She didn't have to stay here, caught up with everything they were doing. Yes it hurt, but pain was just pain, and while it still existed and caught at her, she knew it would just be what it was, and all she had to do was let it.

It was tricky, making peace with it, her body still demanding action every time they struck, but finally she fell quiet, the stabbing bite or the nerve-shocking charges echoing through her form unhindered and unacknowledged. And this was right, for she knew that for whatever they did to her body, in time she would be able to reform anyway, wash it all away again like it was never there at all. She just had to be patient. The thought welled within her, solid and sure, a comforting presence in itself that bolstered her resolve. She might have even managed a smile.

They would not have the satisfaction of breaking her anymore.

Chapter Text

Pearl couldn't stop coughing, deep, bellowing, chesty coughs that racked through her again and again, leaving her gasping and aching as her body tried to shift the damage inside. She'd barely have a minute or two of laying there exhausted and washed out until everything inside would start to itch, and she'd be going again, eyes watering and muscles burning, seizing up around the sheer effort of it as it felt like she was being torn inside out.

"You're sounding a bit rough there."

She started, not having heard the gem enter, and immediately her chest seized up, tightening around her throat as she fought against the urge yet again. It was a short fight, and she quickly dissolved into another fit of coughs, hacking herself all the way from deep chest racking hoikers into feeble choking puffs, spluttering out before her.

As her hearing returned, for a moment she thought the other gem was coughing too, the sound echoing around the room, but she quickly realised it was laughter, cutting hot right through her.

"Ahh, look at you," Pearl dropped her eyes: thanks to the mirror hanging over her she knew all too well what state she was in. "You're pathetic." Tears. Pearl didn't think a few words would ever pull that from her, but after everything else she couldn't help it, frustration and pain welling through. "But you know that don't you?" The Beryl reached down, loosing off the weight around her head, giving Pearl space to look around, her neck aching and complaining about the movement. Pearl coughed again, struggling out a handful to try and quell the incessant pulling inside. She slumped back into the table.

"Shouldn't have tried to pull that stupid stunt back there. I don't know what you were expecting: We're surrounded by four million tons of rock out here, no-one was ever going to hear you. Except us of course, and you should know by now that annoying us is not a good idea."

Pearl's reply caught into another cough, hoarse and feeble.

"Not a good idea at all. So, have you learnt your lesson yet?" Pearl stayed quiet, waiting, hoping the gem would leave her be, but she grabbed her throat, forcing Pearl to look at her. "I asked you a question. Or maybe you want another round? I think we have some more of that concoction, or we can try resculpting..."

"No!" said Pearl. At least she tried to, nothing coming out besides a faint puff of air, a cold drop of terror falling through her as she tried again and again to speak, raw and whispered away against the damage to her throat.

The Beryl tried to hold a poker face, but a manic glint appeared in her eyes, and her grip tightened. "Oh? What was that?"

"!"

Pearl struggled, trying to shake her head, desperately trying to tell, beg this gem 'no more!' but she held her back, feigning ignorance as Pearl continued to protest, trying harder and harder to be heard until she was shouting at the top of her sore lungs to get even the faintest whisper out.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

Pearl pulled against the restraints, in a single unheard scream, before dissolving into another fit of coughs, crying and spluttering, still trying to gasp and beg in between for reprieve.

"Oh? Oh! You can't speak!" Beryl finally came to the feigned conclusion as Pearl gasped and shuddered herself into tearstained silence. "Such a shame that, means I can no longer enjoy your... incessant whingeing. A distinct improvement. I've heard too many gems crow about how their Pearl has the best singing voice, but I prefer the silent ones. Best sort of Pearl in my opinion; seen and not heard."

Pearl tensed up again with a clatter.

"Relax. I don't need to do anything else, we've got you right were we want you, finally."

"-" Pearl glowered at the Beryl.

"No way out either. Your little attempt was a complete waste of time. We're in the middle of nowhere, buried on all sides by nearly four million tonnes of rock, and right now, even if your friends did somehow manage to find this place, I could close that door and they'd walk right past and never know you were here. They won't find this place, not even if you were to shout the loudest siren ever heard."

Lies. They were coming, they had to be! Amethyst, Garnet. Garnet... She had to know.

"Truth is, you're stuck here with us, for as long as we want, for whatever we want, and you'd better start getting used to it." Pearl bucked again, but a fist came ramming into her chest, pinning her back down and sending her into another panicked barrel of coughing, the bruising force of the impact exacerbating her agony.

"Uh uh. No more games or tricks now. We're done with that. Next time you try, you'll be lucky to be coming back at all." Pearl froze. "That's right. You just need to lie there and remember to behave like a proper little Pearl, doing everything we tell you to, because we can always, always make it worse for you if you don't." The threat was clear, hanging over her head. With the ache of her gem, and the pain of every single thing they had inflicted on her rising to mind, Pearl could believe it.

Pearl nodded, singly and firmly before she'd even realised what she had done.

"Good."

And that was it. In a few simple words they had her, they'd won, her heart given over in surrender before she'd had a chance to say no. Pearl desperately tried to draw up a protest yet again, recover her fight, and face, thrashing against the table and the restraints that held even firmer than ever, but her useless efforts simply drew another laugh from her captor.

The Beryl left Pearl to her struggling, which quickly wilted away. She was right, everything she had tried had so effortlessly been halted, and turned against her, monumental effort cut off with barely any from them. They had all the cards, and Pearl shook, her mind burning and roiling, burying her in the crushing realisation that she would never get out of this.

Chapter Text

Pearl's mind skipped about, drifting in and out in is attentions in a desperate attempt to escape the torture, yet every second snapped it back, only losing the in between, running again and again into this same nightmare, amplified by hazy shadows.

Back and forth...

Knives biting into her form, the sharp edge pulling her apart...

Mocking words and heavy fists rattling around her head...

The pervading ache of her limbs as they writhed against the shock of the destabiliser, permanently pinned and trapped against this table...

The creeping poison that danced and bit against her...

The shriek of the saw that tore her apart...

Then she was out, broken and unbuckled restraints falling away, the open door beckoning her into the darkness beyond. Somewhere out there was the exit away from all of this. Pearl stumbled, her legs protesting their inaction, and the rest of her body almost followed as it throbbed too, glowing in a patchwork of stars where they'd rent through into her form itself, shuddering under the mish-mash of her gem. She paused to take a breath and brace herself against the pain, then take another step, slowly working her way down the table before pushing herself off. She wobbled, but her balance held long enough to stagger across to the door, slumping against the wall and shifting, propping herself up against the solid surface and sliding along against it to escape out of that room.

Corridor. It was dark and uninteresting, devoid of direction, and any indication of what way to go. Her head swam, limbs threatening to fall out from under her as a wave of nausea rushed through. She struggled to recall the directions she'd been pulled through down here, first the careful exploration, then the harsh dragging as the scientists had pulled her to her nightmare. She barely remembered that too, hazy and sore then as now.

Pearl scoffed. She had thought she had hurt a lot then, but... well, she'd had a different perspective on that since.

But the memory served: the scientists had taken her across the ship, whereas she had come down, and Pearl thought she should be able to cut back to the entrance on a diagonal, which was that way. Her hopes grew as she was proved right, slowly making her way back up the ship, working her way along in shorter and shorter bursts as her already shaky limbs and head grew in complaint, leaving her dizzy and exhausted at every step.

She was caught at the edge of an opening, several corridors leading away from this wide room, vast space to cross to get to the ones she thought would lead her away, or at least the ones she thought would lead the right way. She wasn't sure anymore; It felt like she'd been going forever, lost in the maze of this ship and her head swam as her gem shifted and ached, sending the vessel reeling around her. No, no! She'd gotten so far, she couldn't give up now, and she gathered herself, holding tight, winding herself up for the tottering leaps across to the other side. She could still escape. Pearl took a deep breath, and her gem shifted and her world with it as her legs gave out beneath her, collapsing in a heap on the floor, her mind spinning away.

She tumbled across nothing to find herself back on the table, gasping and burning, her throat filled with endless fire as her mind stretched and begged away. She trashed, lashing out at the pain until her efforts expended her and she finally descended back into the thoughtless haze.

Corruption came for her, stalking and hunting her, smoke in the shadows as it crawled and prowled around her mind. It was omniscient, encompassing and oppressive, half seen shapes fading in and out of view. She was insignificant to the raw emotion that threatened to pull her away again, the anger that loomed from another within and threatened to drown her once more, its claws slipping around her and pulling her back into the dark.

Colours came and went, a kaleidescope of emotion in a runaway car, brief snatches of a sense of something else, something she couldn't keep hold of, couldn't understand of anything but the anger, a glimpse in the haze. And it was gone.

Burning. It was burning, everything in danger, fire, burning signs calling forth the wild within her. She had to survive.

Fight.

Pain, fight.

Fear.

The fog eased.

Pearl thought she heard her name, drawing her her out. More words, fading in and out.

"Could you at least try to hold your form for more than five seconds?!" The imperious voice cut through, a vague sense of familiarity from it and Pearl clung on, her vision hazy. She felt her knees slowly collapse into the floor, lowered and partly held up by an enormous weight around her head, half hanging off it like a bizarre puppet, frozen as her bundle of nerves wrapped herself in confusion. What were they doing to her now? She had no idea, she barely wanted to know, more tears coming.

"Pearl!" Something collided with her from behind, reaching limbs thumping around her sides. The impact resonated through her in a tight shock and she was gone, retreated back to the safety of her gem.

Chapter Text

The hunt was on for the stabiliser, the strange device that had kept Pearl trapped there. Whilst the scientists logs showed their recent experiments in (far too much) detail, much less was to be found about that, in fact even Peridot had been unable to discern it's location. So it was down to Bismuth and Garnet, trailing through the ship manually to try and identify the missing link.

Not too far off, Pearl, in her corrupted form, howled. Through a bit of cat and mouse they had gradually managed to corral her into different parts of the ship so they could search in peace. Or at least search without the treat of being sliced to pieces. Bismuth was sure she'd been taking notes from her own work, the forelimbs on Pearl's form as sharp and dangerous as the best of her blades. Some of the patterning was similar too. She'd gotten far too good a look during the last move, and Bismuth didn't fancy being anywhere near the receiving end again.

She studied the room, pulling another panel off the wall. Nothing. She kept working her way around.

A loud shriek came from outside, Bismuth pausing as Pearl changed tone, long howls turned to shortening yelps and warning shrieks.

"Hey," it wasn't far to the blockade, and she found Pearl pacing and stalking the other side, literally running up the walls in her agitation. "It's okay." Bismuth tried comforting her, but she kept going, almost thrashing from side to side. "What's gotten into you?"

A loud boom echoed through the ship, for a second Bismuth thought they were under attack, then the walls began to shake, heavier and heavier, almost forcing Bismuth off balance. Metal creaked and groaned under the stress, girders and braces scraping against each other, giving up their hold with cracks and bangs. The barrier between them shook too, Bismuth going wide-eyed as it creaked and shifted, threatening with every second to come down upon her.

The world steadied, the last few rumbles of the quake passing through, and Bismuth breathed a sigh of relief as the barrier held.

Then a girder slipped out and hit her square in the face.

She went flying up the corridor, thrown clear as the rest of the blockade came down, rattling all around her, shortly followed by Pearl coming running straight up over the top of her and back up the ship.

"Ow."

Bismuth moved to get up, finding piles of metal and stone scattered all over herself, but before she could shift them the tunnel moved around her, her vision slipping and swimming around.

Right. The headache, a blinding ball of pain that settled behind the bridge of her nose, which itself felt as though it had been relocated to the back of her head. If it wasn't for the stabiliser she might have poofed, sent back to her gem, but as it was she had the biggest anvil of a headache, throbbing away hammer and tongs as she laid there. She groaned, doubly so as metal clattered across the floor when she swiped it away, the sound rattling across her head. At least the rubble felt nice and quiet and relaxing, the only improvement to the ambience required for good rest would be some lava, just to bubble away in its warmth nearby.

"Bismuth,"

She wasn't sure when she'd taken a nap, but suddenly Garnet was there, clearing the rubble from around her, the noise echoing through her head once again.

"Euugh, pipe down G I have one hell of a headache." Bismuth felt herself be pulled up anyway to face Garnet, blinking away as she squinted into her overly bright visor.

"Bismuth focus." Bismuth frowned as the hazy forms of no less than three Garnets floated round in front of her.

"Uhh..." It suddenly occurred to her that Garnet had been saying something else, her look of concern only growing, before switching down to investigate her gem. "Hey!" Bismuth's protest was held aside as Garnet checked.

"You're not cracked, just concussed."

"Yay?"

"We should get you healed."

"Nooo, it's fine, I'm fine, I can handle it. It's just a little-" Bismuth slumped back down to the floor from her efforts to get up, wobbling around slightly as her head filled with a faint rushing sound, Garnet giving her a very pointed look. She held something up.

Bismuth blinked and squinted at the hazy trio of pink bottles Garnet held in her hands. "Wait, what are you-"

"I saw myself healing you with the fountain water."

"No, no, we should save that for P-eugh!" Bismuth spluttered as the whole bottle was thrown in her face, dripping down her front. "Oh, that's cold!"

"That's fixed."

It was. "Hey, I told you I could handle it."

"Yeah, you always say that."

"Hey!"

Just at that moment Peridot's voice piped through the speakers, tinny and urgent. "We have a problem!"

Chapter Text

"We've got a problem."

"So do we," Bismuth quipped. "Pearl got out in that little earthquake."

"I know, but never mind that: these idiot clod scientists only went and parked their ship right on top of an entire fault line!"

"Meaning?"

"This place is about to become rubble soup. That earthquake was just the warm-up. I'm reading a huge build-up of energy upstream of the fault just ready to be unleashed this way, and with the upper caverns already collapsed on us, this place won't survive another hit. If we don't want to get buried down here forever then have to get out of here! Now!"

Bismuth and Garnet turned to each other. "Pearl!"

Gatnet recovered first. "We need to get her out."

"What do we do?"

"Tear it apart. Anything we can get our hands on. You too Peridot!"

"This is a bad idea." Peridot protested. "We've got half an hour tops before this thing hits."

"Understood. Better get started."

The comms fizzled out, Peridot already getting to work.
Bismuth grabbed Garnet before she could disappear. "Plan b?"

There was a pause, then Garnet's hand landed on Bismuth's as the blacksmith shifted it to a pick. "We just need her gem."

They laid into the ship around them with zealous over-enthusiasm, smashing up everything they could reach before moving on. It still wasn't fast enough, even sprinting from one place to the next in a desperate smash and grab until the first groans and tremors filtered through the structure, sending them racing back up towards the control room. Garnet skidded to a halt, grabbing Bismuth too.

"Get Peridot and get out of here."

"What about Pearl?" Pearl was blocking the exit, trying desperately to get out, still resolutely intact.

Garnet stepped back, her gauntlets up. "I've got it." She grabbed the back of Pearl and pulled her away, sending her flying heavily into the wall behind.

Bismuth bundled up Peridot and made a dash for it, ignoring her yelps, diving past the flailing corruption and into the way out, sprinting the rest of the way as fast as she could go. Garnet followed them, ducking under Pearl as soon as she could.

"Wait!" Peridot brought Bismuth skidding to a halt near the end of the tunnel, pointing to what appeared to be solid rock. "In there!" Unquestioningly, Bismuth punched the wall with all her strength, caving the cubby into itself and revealing a beeping and flashing complex of wires behind. Bismuth smashed it in again, and again, and again, just to be sure.

"Garnet! We need to go!" Rocks were beginning to fall outside as the shaking intensified again, threatening to bring it all down around their heads.

Garnet knew they needed to leave, but Pearl remained, still trying to push through the tiny exit, her head barely fitting the space, let alone the rest of her.

"Pearl," Garnet tried to take her gem out again, grabbing hold and hauling at the hunk of metal, attempting to pull and twist it off. She could feel Pearl pulling back, almost dragging her back into the ship with her strength. This wasn't working, and Garnet's attempts to swing at the corruption's body proved useless as they fell short. The walls began to crack and crumble around them.

"Garnet!"

Peridot's cry made it absolutely clear: they were out of time. "I'm sorry." The corruption stilled, and Garnet wondered for a moment whether she understood. She couldn't bring herself to let go, but she knew what had to be done, and the pain it would bring her friend.

Pearl shrieked, flattened as an enormous slab came down, crushing her into the floor, and she poofed, sending Garnet staggering back in surprise, but a welcome surprise.

And not so welcome: The ship was rapidly disappearing under thundering stone, and the rest of the tunnel was about to follow, whether Garnet was there or not. With the stabiliser no longer functioning, getting crushed and shattered by the falling rocks was an even bigger danger than before. Garnet turned, and ran as fast as she could in the small space, dodging spitting stones and falling streams of debris, sheltering under the metal hunk in her hands to avoid the worst of it.

Outside was even worse, having to withstand a rain of rocks that pinged off her whilst scrambling over shifting stone, the combined onslaught threatening to knock her down and bury her still as they slipped under her feet. Then the metal in her hands lifted, pulling her up through the air and away from it all, tumbling over the edge of the cliff to safety at the foot of a tired Peridot, Bismuth dragging them both away from the edge for good measure.

Exhausted the world finally settled around them, the distant crack and rumble of falling stone the only echoes of the mammoth seismic event that had passed just before.

They were safe.

Garnet picked herself up, hands clutched tight around the precious hunk of metal, and turned it over, breath held at which future she might see, every terrifying possibility running simultaneous in her mind.

And there she was, jumbled white fragments stuck together, wrapped in metal that was stuck welded to the shell of the microwave. Echoes of the stars above glistened in Pearl's gem, finally free in the open air. Peridot and Bismuth quietly joined her.

"Come on," Garnet called softly, lifting the whole thing into a bubble and holding it close. "Let's take you home."

Chapter Text

She was being followed, every step echoing back to the corrupted beast that had been Pearl, skittering and scrambling after her, the slightest noise of her own movement attracting her fury once again. She'd tracked Garnet through the ship, the sharp claws constantly hovering at the back of Garnet's mind as she hunted her down.

Garnet dove into a nearby room, ducking far into the corner and freezing still, listening, waiting and hoping for her to pass on by. The corridor filled with the thundering sound as the creature arrived. It paused, slowing as it turned one way and the next, trying to decide where to go. Garnet held her breath, as the nose of the creature pushed into the room, sniffing one way then the next...

It withdrew, and moved on. Garnet released a tense woosh of air, relieved that it had worked.

Bang! The room resonated as Pearl slammed back into the doorway, buckling it in a little, but it held as she thrashed and shrieked, forcing her claws through the small space and thrashing around in an attempt to get her prey. Garnet pressed herself against the wall, trying to remain still in the face of this violent cacophony, hoping the claws wouldn't flick her way.

They couldn't, the angles being just about wrong (though they had gotten far too close), and eventually Pearl withdrew a little, perched in the doorway, waiting, listening to see if she had finished her prey. She didn't show any signs of moving anytime soon. Tiptoeing, careful to stay quiet, Garnet scooped up a loose bit of debris, launching it over Pearl's head and down the corridor.

She'd mis-judged it, the hunk bouncing off her 'helmet' first, but it still had the desired effect, sending Pearl shrieking off after it, barrelling down the corridor in pursuit of her vengeance.

Garnet quickly got out of there, heading the opposite way. She'd find another way out. She had to get out of this ship, get the news to the others. A loud shriek echoed behind her, hurrying her along.

An even louder shriek followed.

Stars! She was coming this way, the trick foiled. The hunt on once again, Garnet ran, hurtling through corridor after corridor, trying to work her way back up the ship. But the creature was smart, blocking her off time and time again, keeping her caught down below, playing its tune.

She ducked into another corridor, and stopped, her exits caught against her. Every single section battered open like this had a route through to somewhere, but this was a room, all three walls crowding around her.

A dead end.

Buried in nerves of approaching danger, Garnet had a sudden brief appreciation of the more literal origin of that human phrase. Deprived of alternatives, with the corruption getting closer, she hid, hands curling around another loose piece of debris ready for a fight.

It didn't come.

The creature slowed, and stopped outside, its cries shifting to a low chuntering warning, as it edged in and out at the doorway. It was sniffing again, and withdrew with another cry, loud metallic shrieks sending shivers running through the heart of Garnet as her friend clawed against the walls and floors, before cantering away up the ship.

Garnet couldn't believe it had gone, but these tunnels had settled quiet, a little bit of peace. Blue light flooded the room as she took a look around. It was a mess, distorted hunks of metal strewn all over the place. A faint acrid smell caught at the edge of her senses, and she pulled a twisted sheet of metal away, hoping she might find whatever had repelled the corruption.

She never got close. There on the opposite side were fixed thick straps of reinforced metal and hide shackles, heavy and firm enough to restrain a human, or even a gem. She dropped the former table abruptly, flickering and shifting within herself as the terrible possibilities filtered into place, thick chemical seepings stinging at her eyes.

Pearl...

Garnet backed out of the room, and ran.

Chapter Text

It was good to see Pearl back. They'd gone, with Amethyst, pretty much straight to Homeworld, interrupting a rather put-out Yellow Diamond for this emergency case.

"Please, I'm working through all the fragments in good time. If I stopped for every two bit gem that got themselves shattered by jumping on something they shouldn't I'd never get anything- oh." She'd peered down at the hunk of metal. "What a mess!"

"It's Pearl."

"Steven doesn't know yet." Garnet explained. "You're the only one that can help."

Yellow Diamond took a closer look, biting back a curt comment. "What happened?"

She'd actually gone quiet when they explained what they'd found, pursed lips and folded arms hiding her discomfort. "We thought it had been destroyed," Yellow Diamond insisted, "when they didn't evacuate. All the others have long since been disbanded of course, I-"

"Can you fix her?" Amethyst spoke for all of them, pale and shaky but still holding on better than the others. She'd be angry later, of course, that they hadn't told her sooner, but that was a problem for then. For now...

"I will try."

It had been hard, seeing those fragments of her gem scattered across the tabletop, finally released from their cage and taken apart. It felt so unnatural, but even this was better than what Pearl had been, fused, clustered, corrupted, tortured...

Slowly her gem came together, lines fading a little as it settled in healing water, hope filling them as the first echo of her form was drawn into being, only to be dashed away as it disappeared again, as soon as it was released from the Diamond's guidance. They kept trying, and their fears only grew after each failed attempt, that there wasn't enough of her left to bring back.

"It's not enough to have the gem together, she has to want to reform. There's only so much I can do."

Garnet had started trying to think of what she would tell Steven should the worst come to pass, days plagued with terrible envisionings of what might happen, of what their world would be like if they had failed, if it turned out to be that they had been too late.

But piece by piece Pearl pulled through, the first few hints of herself coming and going like smoke time and time again until they had managed to convey a sense that she was safe once more.

She was back, home and safe, far away from the torment she'd endured. Yet she still lived on a knife edge, the tiniest thing able to trigger her into dissipating again, a fragile echo at the edge of her form. They'd had to dance around her like cotton candy, their desperate desires to smother her with love and affection curtailed, their enthusiasm too easily sending her the wrong way, tripping emotion over the trigger point. Calm had become their watchword, but that hadn't stopped the seagulls squawking.

"Should I chase them away?"

"No, it's fine Amethyst," Pearl assured her. It was easier when she was expecting them after all, but Pearl couldn't help a tone of ire from entering her voice. She'd tired quickly of their nervous watching, always expecting her to- she shot a glare towards Amethyst, who quickly looked away- always expecting her to poof apart at the slightest touch. Sure, she was a little sensitive on the dissipating front right now, but she had control of that, and the endless waiting around tired quickly. Perhaps she could help with the barbecue...

She reached over to get up.

"Pearl, no. You need to rest. Remember what Yellow Diamond said."

Pearl almost groaned out loud but Garnet was right. She needed to rest, she needed her form to settle, stop proofing away into her gem at the slightest provocation before Yellow Diamond would finish fixing her, yet that promise of removing the scars she had been left with remained infuriatingly out of reach. These markings, remnant stains that kept broadcasting her misfortune to the world, were as bad as the stress, drawing pity from all sides. She didn't want that. She'd just been unlucky, and everyone knowing that she'd gotten herself corrupted long after the war, long after so many of the corrupt gems had been healed was another nail in the coffin she didn't want to bear right now. There were enough questions about her absence that she didn't want to answer; she didn't need this as well. Yet she couldn't avoid it.

How easy it would have been to pass off her disappearance with a 'woopsy! I accidently got stuck in an old trap but I'm fine now!' if she had looked like her good old self, but she didn't, and now everyone could see something was wrong and that put her one edge more than ever. Pearl had tried to argue her case back on Homeworld, begging to be fixed fully, insisting she would be able to hold the changes well enough herself, wanting, needing them to move on: how could she with these reminders still strewn all over her? But Yellow Diamond had put her foot down, and That, was a very big foot.

So here she was, back in Beach City, recuperating. They'd set up a sun lounger out on the beach and her on it in order to restore her energy, hoping it would bring stability (dissipating in any form costs energy, the time required between to replenish and replace what was lost. Pearl had been in and out of her gem like a yo-yo, especially at the beginning: the efforts from Yellow Diamond to maintain and restore Pearl's form had even taken enough of her to demand a rest herself.) Around her her friends kept watch, waiting on her hand and foot, jumping and warding off any possible interruptions to her convalescence and keeping her here still, giving Pearl far too much time to stew in what happened.

Pearl turned and sat up off the sunbed.

"Pearl,"

"I know. If I stay here another second I'm going to go mad."

"Two weeks."

"I know." Two Earth weeks was all (all?!) Yellow Diamond had asked. If Pearl could hold her form that long... If only. Frustration writhed within her. She knew, she KNEW that! she thundered, the well of anger rising in her core. How could she not?!

"Hgnngh!" Pearl clung on to the lounger, plastic creaking where her fingers dug in, holding on as her body glowed, threatening to twist and explode on itself. This. This was what she was fighting against now. For so long she had wanted to escape from that place, and now she could, she couldn't stop running, disappearing back to her gem at the drop of a hat. The slightest thing could send her over the edge; squawking gulls, the bang of a door, a sneeze (Greg had, at least, apologised). It was infuriating. Yet she couldn't, couldn't let herself get, be angry, because all that would happen is she'd be sent right back to square one.

Calm. She had to... calm. She was here, she was safe. She was home.

She opened her eyes, her friends gathered round her, worry clear on their faces, ready to help, but she kept them at bay, holding up a hand. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Pearl forced a smile. "It's gonna take a lot more than a little wobble like that to make me-"

The loud peep of a horn jumped across the beach and Pearl was gone, her form slipped away from her in an instant. Garnet caught her gem before it landed, almost falling into the sand at full reach. The previously cheerful chatter around them had fallen silent.

"Five days. She's getting better... right?"

Garnet suppressed a sigh. Amethyst was right. She was getting better, but not quickly enough, this fresh set-back merely another herald for a few rough days ahead, a visceral ping-pong protest in and out of her gem at this catch-22 Pearl was now stuck in. She hugged the gem close, wishing she could comfort her so easily in real life.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually Pearl." Garnet scooped up the beach towel, bundling it into a pile and placed Pearl's pearl delicately on top, gently nestled in its folds. The whole thing went back on the seat, positioned to catch the most of the sun. Garnet dusted off an invisible speck of sand from its surface.

Pearl would get the hang of it eventually, and in the meantime, they'd be here for her, watching over her, keeping her safe, helping her however they could for as long as she needed.

They would get through this.

Together.

Chapter Text

"You can't avoid it forever, you need to talk about what happened."

"I can't. You know that." Pearl paced across the room.

"Pearl-"

"Haven't you ever kept something from someone to protect them?" Garnet stayed silent at Pearl's words. "It's the same, except right now that's me. And you know that." Pearl turned away. "No," the word hung heavy between them, "I don't want to talk about it. But right now I couldn't even if I did."

"I understand." Garnet could see the tension rise from her friend's shoulders. "Just promise me you will when you can. At least try."

She couldn't see anything but the back of Pearl's head for a moment as she stood there, indiscernible thoughts running through her mind. Then she left, gone through the door leaving Garnet behind without another word.

Garnet looked down at her gems, glistening red and blue in the light, Pearl's words fresh in her mind.

'Haven't you ever kept something from someone to protect them?'

Garnet was running, running from the corruption, running from that room, running to try and get that table out her head, glowing as her cohesion slipped under the images, all the possibilities it brought to mind. She had to get out of here, get the others, get-

Pearl appeared in front of her in her distraction, cutting her off again with a roar. Sharp claws snapped out straight towards her, forcing Garnet to twist and separate, her two component parts knocked backwards by the blow.

Ruby tumbled to her feet, skidding to a halt already looking around, getting her bearings. Pearl had turned her attention on Sapphire, stalking closer to the small gem that was still trying to get up.

"Hey!" Pearl's head swung round at Ruby's shout. "You leave my Sapphy alone!" It worked, Pearl coming charging straight towards Ruby instead. At the last moment Ruby dove forward, letting the claws sweep clean over her head as the corruption crashed into the wall, shrieking at the impact. Ruby kept going all the way to Sapphire's side, turning ready to fight. Their hands linked, squeezing together in unspoken agreement. Ruby waited for the blissful floating sensation of their fusion, the extension of their love. But nothing changed.

They remained.

"- need to go, now!" Sapphire's words and a small tug pulled Ruby back into the present, and action, dragging her along to make the most of their small head-start.
It was awkward to run holding hands, but they clung onto each other, Ruby overtaking Sapphire to lead the way, burning her way up the ship, still dodging and jinking around the movements of the creature. But turn after turn Ruby could feel Sapphire getting heavier, slower, starting to drag against the floor.

"Ruby," she gasped, "Ruby wait! In here." They dove into the quiet of another room, finally stopping. "Ruby, listen: You need to go, get Bismuth. She can help."

"We-"

"You. Pearl's too smart, she's got the entrance blocked off, we'd never get through together, but one of us can."

"Saph-"

"I can draw her off so you can get out. You're faster than me, you stand a better chance of getting through."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. Please, we need Bismuth."

Ruby grabbed hold of her, her protests cut short as Sapphire winced, clutching at her side. Ruby moved her hand away, drawing a sharp breath as she saw the bright white gash she'd been trying to cover.

"You're hurt!" Ruby could see the strike in her minds eye, reaching claws snapping through them as they'd unfused. She'd thought they'd missed, she'd thought-!

"It's not as bad as it looks." Sapphire insisted, her grimace pulling a different picture.

"Sapphire..." It looked bad. It looked... "You didn't poof."

"It doesn't matter," a hint of desperation entered Sapphire's voice. "You need to go-"

Ruby gathered Sapphire's hand- she was shaking. "I'm not leaving you."

"You have to. You can move faster than me; right now you're the only one who can get past Pearl. We need to get Bismuth, we need to get the others or we'll all be stuck down here. Pearl too. You need to go."

"You'll be stuck down here if I go."

"I'll be fine, I'd only slow you down."

"I can't leave you alone like this. What- what if you were hurt again? What if you were shattered?! You can't protect yourself like this, not against that!" Ruby tapered off into a tearful squeak, getting more frantic. "I- I can carry you, take you to the fountain. If I can just get you outside-"

"Ruby please," Sapphire begged, "it's too risky, I'll only slow you down: if Pearl catches you-"

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Without waiting for an answer Ruby scooped her up in her arms, that familiar blaze behind her eyes, and they were off, running straight up the ship. Sapphire's eyes watered as she was bounced around, despite Ruby's best efforts.

She could hear Pearl roaring as they approached, getting ready for a fight, but Ruby didn't let up, charging straight towards the corruption. It took a swipe and Ruby dodged, stepping smartly around the claws and diving underneath, sliding straight between her legs, Sapphire and all, all the way into the exit.

She kept going, pelting down that final corridor and towards the light even as Pearl roared after them. They finally burst out into the open air, skidding down the scree before she put on the gas again, making a beeline towards the warp pad, her mind only on one thing.

"Wait, Ruby! I-" Sapphire tried to warn her, feeling the strange weight lift from around her, holding on for barely a few seconds before she dissapated, the force punching into Ruby with a gut-wrenching gasp.

Ruby stumbled, arms clutching round now-empty air. "Sapphy!" She could see her gem falling, toppling slow motion towards the rocks below, momentum taking them both onwards as she desperately stretched out to try and make the distance and catch her, rescue her again.

She landed hard against the slate, her ribs complaining against the impact but she paid no notice, eyes shut, her cupped hands closed just as tight, unsure if she'd done it.

The cool gem pressed against her palms, and a quick peek confirmed Sapphire was safe, and uncracked, the blue gem glistening in her care. Ruby let out a sigh of relief, cradling her close as she climbed to her knees.

"I've got you."

Chapter Text

No wonder they hadn't found this place. The entrance was almost buried behind the scree at the bottom of the chasm, a jagged rent in the ground with its own overgrown brambles crawling out the walls. What she could see of the doorway itself was clearly gem in origin: no humans had figured out how to excavate so cleanly, at least, not until recent years. But this wasn't recent, blotchy lichens settling into the mantel, blending into the rock around.

Pearl started clearing the blockage away. It didn't take her long to get inside, her gem lighting the way down the long stone corridor, tracing the damp along the walls. She paused at the opening, mouth dropping open a little as she realised what she was looking at: a gem ship. How it had got down here she had no idea, but if it was stuck here and there was still a gem stuck inside, they would need to help them. They had worked so hard to recover all the corrupted gems over the years. It was only right: no gem needed to suffer like that anymore.

She hesitated a moment, wondering if she should fetch the others, then curiosity drew her forward. She could at least find out how many gems were here, get a sense of the layout maybe. It was strange; she hadn't seen a ship like this before. She wondered what it was, hands tracing over the old stone walls, patched here and there with metal supports. Cold air made her shudder, followed by a loud grinding thunk! as the door cut the entrance off behind her.

She pulled at the solid lump and cursed as it refused to budge. The panel beside it was dead too, as seemed most of the rest of this place. She levelled a barrage of blasts from her spear at the whole thing, but that had no effect either, not even leaving the slightest scorchmarks on the door.

A loud roar resonated up from deeper within the ship, the cry of a corrupted gem. A corrupted gem she was now trapped with. Lovely. She'd forgotten about the reason she'd come. With a sigh she pulled out her mobile, her spirits taking a dent as it entirely failed to find any signal.

That's okay, she reminded herself, there was probably another way out or, if she found the control room, she could restore power and get this door open again, or possibly find a way to patch into the gem tech and boost her signal to call for backup. Annoyingly the door to what was probably the control room was also firmly shut, devoid of any apparent power. Pearl sighed. She knew ships like this: there was probably some way of restoring power from the engines, but that meant a trek even further into the dark depths of the ship.

She'd gotten engrossed in the wiring behind a likely panel when it jumped her, the corruption knocking her clean out the way even for the little she'd dodged. She cursed. She should have dealt with the creature first. She pulled her spear before she'd barely stopped rolling, turning ready to fight and got off a few shots, flashes in the darkness. But in this tight space the corrupt gem had the advantage, barreling through her again and again and knocking her stunned to the floor.

Pearl watched, half focused as the green corruption reared its enormous stocky paws above her, threatening to crush her then and there. Then she was sliding, hands at her shoulders pulling her out the way, new gems at her side.

She half scrabbled to her feet with her rescuers, one diving out ahead, swinging a large sword, large snapping flashes that sent the corruption back with a shriek. Pulled together in the opportunity, they made their escape, half dragged off up the ship. She kept up with their running until they hauled her into a nearby room, the corruption heading on by as the door closed behind them.

Pearl stood panting at the exertion, realising she could actually see the other two gems in the half-light now produced by the ship. It must've been restarted by its occupants (a Golden Beryl, and Striped Obsidian by the looks of them). She wondered where they came from.

"Thank you, by the way, for the very timely rescue. I thought I was done for back there!" Pearl explained. She turned to find the Beryl snarling in her face, picking her up and ramming her against the wall.

"What did you do to her?!"

What? Pearl gasped at the impact, head swimming, the heavy hands pulling against her jacket as she held her there, twisting it tight. "Who?"

"Praseolite."

Green quartz. The corrupted gem! "She's corrupted," Pearl blurted out.

" 'Corrupted' ?"

"What trick is this?" the Beryl demanded as Praseolite roared in the background yet again.

"It's not, I-"

"Undo it!"

"Okay! We can fix it, we just need to-AH!" Pearl was rammed back into the wall again.

"Now!"

"Ow! It doesn't work like that," Pearl huffed. "If you calm down and put me down I can help you get her poofed and back to Little Homeworld."

" 'Little' Homeworld?" The grasp loosened a little, enough for Pearl to find her feet again, though she couldn't get away as the gems talked in hushed voices.

"They could have lost control of the fragments."

Pearl could barely catch the back-and-forth between the two gems, pretending not to listen in as she hung onto every word, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Come on, stop playing around: we'll have plenty of time to interrogate her later."

It was bare warning enough to shuck her jacket and escape from their grasp, darting out the way as they tried to drag her across the room, arms up over her face to protect against the first attack. The heavy fist of the Beryl still clobbered into the side of her, rattling her head, and a second shot disrupted her attempts to withdraw a spear. Pearl darted in to deliver a sharp counter-punch to her attacker, a cold bite at her back sending her swinging around to the Obsidian, having to fend off the next swipe of the axe, ducking to one side. Stepping back only caught the large prongs in the small of her back, the sharp pricks stinging before the destabiliser decanted waves of electricity through her, sending her gem abuzz and threatening to pull her apart.

But she didn't, a tight weight against her form, against everything, holding her in place, leaving her shaking and fuzzy even after the device stopped discharging. She could barely move, barely feel herself through the painful afterglow, her senses sent skyward, rattling around everywhere but home. She might even have been on her knees as the two gems hauled her up like a sack of potatoes, and dumped her across the table, lifting and manipulating her into position.

"What- what are you doing? Hey!" Pearl protested, slowly coming back to herself, realising she'd been attached to the table, thick cuffs around her wrists and ankles holding her there. "Let me go!"

"You're one of the rebels, the Crystal Gems." Pearl stiffened up, the unnerved well growing within her.

"You know, I didn't think they had Pearls."

"There was one: I heard stories- always skulking around with Rose Quartz."

"But you didn't see her."

"You saw the star. It's her, here!" The Obsidian seemed excited by the prospect.

"Alone. Rare thing for a Pearl to be sent out like that. Did they have you spying?"

Pearl started as she realised she'd been asked a question.

"Think very carefully before you try anything else." Behind her the Obsidian mimed squishing a fly, pointing at Pearl.

"No, I was just looking for the corrupt gem. Look I don't know what this is but I didn't mean to intrude- I hadn't realised there was anyone else here. I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding, if we could just talk-"

"What happened to Praseolite?"

"And how do we fix it?" The two bounced off each other in the the well practised form of people who spent their lives together, flitting around each other flawlessly without a second glance.

"I already told you: she corrupted. Now let me go," Pearl fought to keep her voice steady, calm, even as her mind raced, "and I can explain."

The Beryl scoffed. "We're not in the habit of letting enemies escape."

Enemies? Oh. It dawned on her, the confusion, the 'rebel', their hostility... "Ohhhh!" Pearl almost laughed, despite her precarious position. "You don't know." Their looks of confusion was answer enough. How long had they been down here? "This is all a big misunderstanding, a mistake. Look: the war is over. Has been for many years."

"Ah, the Diamonds finally took control of this planet then."

"Not exactly." They looked scandalised at such a suggestion, almost murderous and Pearl hurried to explain. "After Pink Diamond was 'shattered', White, Blue and Yellow launched an attack against Earth, trying to take out any gems remaining. Except it didn't work, and just took out their minds, and bodies, turning those caught in the blast into mindless beasts- corrupted, like your friend back there. You must have missed the retreat signal." Pearl frowned. "I'm guessing you two were bubbled away."

"Praseolite was tasked with keeping the ship functional whilst we waited."

Pearl nodded. "For years Earth was left as it was, the few Crystal Gems that had survived looking after the corrupted gems, protecting, catching and bubbling them away when we couldn't heal them. After years and years of grieving Homeworld returned to Earth, and seeing what had happened, realised their mistake and realised what they did, and what they were doing was wrong. They changed, making peace with the Crystal Gems, renouncing their warlike ways and healing the corrupted creatures. In Era Three we're allowed to live and do as we choose, free to love and live, and explore all the wonderful organic things that exist beyond ourselves. It's a new era, one of peace and freedom." She rattled the restraints to emphasise her point. "If you still think I'm lying then go find out for yourselves. Send a message out, search the communication channels; you'll see it's true."

" 'Era three' ?"

The Beryl looked even more confused. "Eras?"

"You've been down here for far longer than you know. Things change. Things have changed. We don't need to fight anymore." Pearl watched as they seemed to consider it.

"A cute story. Passable propaganda."

"Entirely unbelievable though, the Diamonds would never lose."

"And Praseolite would have revived us at the threat of any such attack."

Pearl let out a groan.

"Nice try though."

"I'm telling the truth! All you need to do is check-"

"Sssh!"

Pearl gaped, a fire of disbelief flaring through her. They'd shushed her, they'd actually shushed her!

"We don't need to listen to you. It doesn't matter anyway. Now that you're here, we have everything we need."

"What?"

"We've been waiting for someone to stumble along here for some time now, someone who could help us with our experiments."

"But-AH!" The Beryl gave Pearl another jolt from the destabiliser, sending her reeling.

"Perhaps you don't fully appreciate your situation yet, so allow me to explain. We are highly distinguished scientists, working at the cutting edge of technology."

"We came to Earth tasked with developing new technologies, finding ways to turn the war, send the fight in the Diamonds favour."

"Any means necessary."

"An honour bestowed upon us. Of course we were thrilled, and got straight to work, planning, constructing, testing as fast as we could."

"We made a device to suppress our enemies, leave them weak and vulnerable out on the battlefield. We tried to test it here, but our methods could only tell us so much."

"We needed someone else to try it out, an independent party to truly explore the limits of our device."

"We needed-"

"-you!"

"-a test subject."

"No-" Pearl protested, but she couldn't get anywhere.

"A perfect enemy put to perfect use. I'm sure we'll be able to gain a great deal of information from you."

"Wait, you want to make me talk about a war that's already over? Fine, I'll tell you everything, because IT DOESN'T MATTER. I already told-"

"Oh, no, no, I didn't mean- ha! No- noooo." She waved at Pearl. "Your body. We're going to find out what sort of damage it can sustain. Whether you dissipate or not." The Beryl hummed and tapped against the table, working her way along to a horrified Pearl. "Though I suppose you're right: it's not the only thing we're testing, not really." She smiled, viscous golden eyes boring into Pearl. "I wonder what your limits are? How long before you crack?"

"How long before she screams."

Pearl's eyes widened.

"Oh yes." The Beryl waved a hand. "Ahh, see, with experiments like this, we were hardly get any volunteers, so we set up this little trap, hoping for a rebel to wander by, and we got you."

"You don't need to do this: the war is over!"

"It's never over, not for science. And now you can have the honour of serving that cause further."

"That worthless little gem of yours can finally be of some value."

"This is a mistake:" Pearl insisted. "Let me go and I can prove it to you, show you-!" Pearl pulled against the restraints. They held fast. She tried to change tack. "You can't do this, we're on the same side! If they find out, your precious Diamonds are going to be furious with you! You've got to understand: We're on the same side!"

"We are?"

The gems shared a look.

"Ah. Well, about that... See the thing is..."

"It doesn't really matter." The words hit Pearl like a punch to the gut, ripping her hopes of convincing them away.

"We never really needed a rebel, per-se."

"Just a gem. Whatever poor soul happened to wander in." She barely gave a look to Pearls horrified face. "Funnily enough the same Diamonds gave us free reign to do as we see fit, so long as we got the results."

"What we're doing here is too important to be left to chance. A rebel would make good use of otherwise wasted gems. A Homeworld gem would at least see the value of what we're doing here: our experiments will save thousands more gems from your attacks..."

"Shattering..."

"Corruption. They'd be proud to serve the Diamonds in this way. Both ways we get what we want."

"And we always get what we want."

"This is insane!"

"It's our job."

"You can't do this!"

"I think you'll find we can, and we do. You might be broken, brainwashed and brought astray by the rebellion but we are loyal, true gems dedicated to our task and our Diamonds," the Obsidian produced a knife from somewhere, twisting it round in her hands, "regardless of what tricks and lies you try to feed us."

"Enough stalling. We've got a lot of tests to get through."

"Wait!" Pearl cried.

"Ha! No chance: I've been waiting for years."

Pearl tried to resist, struggling as they pulled more straps across her, pinning her in place, strapping her down until she could barely move.

"It's ready."

"We've finally got our subject," the Obsidian trilled, ignoring Pearl's protests entirely.

"Not just any subject, a Pearl.”

“The Pearl.”

“This is going to be fun.”

Chapter Text

Pearl paced up and down, nerves building within her.

"Pearl, it's Steven; he'll understand."

"But can't we just say I was jumped by a corruption or something? I don't want him to think I'm, I'm-" Pearl inhaled sharply, arms wrapping round herself in a now familiar gesture as she tried to cling onto her form, tears in her eyes as she struggled against the waves of emotion that now threatened to tear her apart. She let out a bitter laugh. She'd been doing better, sustaining her form for longer, but chances were that Steven would walk through the door and she wouldn't even be able to manage a hello before she was sent back to her gem.

"Pearl," Garnet was there, much closer, holding out an arm. Pearl shivered, holding onto herself. "Pearl, come on, you can do this. You know it'll be much better once you do."

Pearl had been worrying about it on and off for weeks, in and out of her gem as she was. She didn't want him fussing and worrying about her: she was fine now, she was back, she was okay! Yet the truth was she was still so out of sorts that the slightest wrong move would reveal just how bad a state she was in, however much she smiled and tried to gloss over it. She laughed again. Just look at her! She was already in a state just from the idea of this, tears running down her cheeks. They came even harder. She didn't want him to see her like this. She didn't want to not see him either.

"Pearl, hold on," Pearl tensed at Garnet's words, trying to, even as everything about her wanted to go. "You've got this." A brush against her arm snapped her attention up, a half glitch shuddering through her form at the shock. Risky. But she held on, and Garnet was there, waiting, holding out a hand still.

Right. The thing. Pearl gulped, more nerves running through her, tightening everything up inside so much she thought she might explode. But she couldn't. No, she hastily corrected herself, she shouldn't. But it still took all her resolve to unclench a single hand and pull it away from herself, sending it across what felt like an endless void, an empty ocean of space so far away from herself to latch onto Garnet, warm hands with the cool firmness of a gem immediately laying comfort over hers.

She was safe. She was here. She was whole.

"There you go."

Pearl exhaled, and nodded, not trusting herself to speak, instead wiping the traces of tears away, brushing herself down, trying to ignore the pangs of discomfort as her hands traced over new stripes, or the thinner ridges that still appeared across her body. She could at least shift the spikes away for now, a temporary measure until she could have them taken away entirely and be returned to the form she should be. She looked over herself, twisting to check her elbows were clear, and that she had everything covered.

"Jacket."

Oh, right. She concentrated again, her familiar jacket settling into view over her shoulders with a glow. That was another thing she'd have to ask Yellow Diamond for. She let out a 'hmmm', distraction more than anything else. Her gaze settled on the mirror, itching to do more, pull away every bump and blemish, but Garnet flipped the whole thing round before she could try to start. Probably for the best. Pearl had worn herself through more than once trying desperately to pull everything back to normal, and the clock was ticking even for the little shapeshifting she'd done.

"Alright. Let's get this over with."

The door clicked, she turned, and he was there.

"Pearl!" His voice carried soft across the living room, half hurrying towards her. Had he grown again? "It's good to see you." He stopped, hovering in the middle, his usual enthusiasm tamed back for her, waiting, arms open.

She met the rest of the way and wrapped him in a hug. It was good to see him too, but the words caught in a fresh ball in her chest, and she squeezed him even tighter, hoping he would understand. He gave her a squeeze back.

"I missed you," he said, "so much." Pearl felt like she might break into tears then and there, every inch of relief barreling into her from him. "I- I'm glad you're back." She held on. He'd been away too, off all across the states for months before, and she felt like she might never let him go again, worried he might disappear again.

They were home, everything right and away from that place, some sense of normality beckoning once again.

She barely caught his whisper, buried in her shoulder. "You're safe."

Safe.

The pieces slid into place; the constant requests to see her, the clasping arms holding on long after a normal hug was done. He didn't want to let go either, he didn't want to lose her. A pang of guilt hit her like a brick wall, and she wanted to tell him she didn't want to worry him, to scare him so, but she didn't have a chance, she couldn't- she didn't- Her tongue caught over itself as it all caught up with her.

Suddenly it was all there, everything she'd been through welling up and out her in a rush, everything that happened, just how close they had been to losing her, just how close she came, again and again, to never coming back flooding out in wave after wave of tears and fears and grief, crying out in wordless emotion as she finally let go. She hiccupped and shook, trying to stop, trying to pull, hold herself together and explain, but Steven held her, hand running over her back, reassured her.

"Shh, it's okay, let it out."

She wanted to say, to tell him it was okay, everything was okay but it choked up into a sob, again and again, and kept rushing out in wave and wave of ugly unstoppable tears, propped, half draped onto his shoulder. She didn't notice his tears either, or the pink glow at the back of her where he held her as she shook, and they stayed there, holding on, Steven consoling her until she had expended herself into quiet exhaustion, this well of emotion finally run free.

"I'm sorry, I-" Pearl started, still sniffling, but Steven stopped her.

"It's okay," he assured her. "It's going to be okay."