Love Like You

Chapter 6

Pearl had Warped to a far, far distant place from the Temple, on the other side of the world. Lucious grass, pink flowers, and vividly green trees surrounded the Warp Pad that Pearl was on, the baby blue sky above making a grand cape for the gleaming yellow sun. But Pearl didn't care for any of it. She stepped off the Warp Pad, summoned her spear, and smashed the teleporter in one stroke.

She continued to blast it apart until it was just fine, shiny dust, which Pearl buried under the grass. Pearl wanted there to be no easy way for any of the other Crystal Gems to get to her location, let alone get to it. What she was doing here had to be kept secret. No one, not Garnet, Amethyst, or even Rose could know what she was about to do.

Walking through the jade grass, Pearl tried to muster all her courage and strength. As much as she didn't want to do this, she knew that the time had come for her to realize why she came to Earth in the first place: for Rose. And now Rose was with Greg. And there was nothing Pearl could do about it.

By the time she reached it, Pearl was shaking, tears streaming down her pale cheeks and falling onto the earth below. The Palanquin sat in a pink wreck, moss growing on the bottom of it, its once shiny coat now rusty and broken. But, even through all this, Pearl knew there was something in there none of the other Gems knew about, because Pearl kept it a secret. Entering the Palanquin, her body in tremors and with every step trepidation, she took a deep breath and opened a concealed compartment in the wall next to the giant throne.

Putting a finger to it, it opened instantly, as it was made for Diamonds and their Pearle to open. A round, pink case emerged from it, and then opened its top, revealing a Diamond Communicator.

Pearl knew what she was going to be leaving behind. She knew what she was about to do. But she didn't care. Rose wasn't her Rose anymore, and Pearl never loved the Earth. She missed Homeworld, its order and grandeur, and wanted very much to go back. Holding the Communicatir in her hand, she turned it once for yellow, twice for blue, three for pink, and finally, four for white.

The Diamond Communicator, now an ashen crystal, rose into the air and glowed. Pearl felt herself sweating, every part of her screaming to run, but before she could listen she hear a cold, commanding voice utter four words.

"What is it, Pearl?"