Fractures

5. Burning Sun

- Pink Diamond fights for her freedom.

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Pink Diamond remained on her back for what seemed like eons. Her ears were ringing, and her mind was dazed. The left side of her face burned and ached.

Finally, she stood. She stared blankly around the room, struggling to process what had just happened. Around her were hundreds of shards, sparkling in what little light remained. It was strangely beautiful.

She touched her face. Where it hurt, her skin was no longer smooth and soft.

White-

White had wanted to-

She'd been going to erase her. Erase all her memories and take away everything that made her who she was. Pink knew, because she'd seen it done before, to her own pearl, who had only done what had been asked of her and suffered because of it.

And she had-

She had...

She had fought, fought to save what little she had left. And somehow, she had gotten free and-

She... She hadn't meant to, she hadn't meant to, she had just lashed out blindly and...

It wasn't her fault that White had been so close.

Unfeeling, she knelt and picked up a shard. It was small and jagged, rough against her fingers. Falling so far had turned the pieces into gravel.

She dropped it and continued to stand there, waiting. The room seemed impossibly vast and empty without White Diamond to fill it.

She soon heard the thunder of distant footsteps. They grew closer, split into two sets, shook the world. A moment longer, and the door was violently forced open.

Blue and Yellow Diamond entered, prepared to fight whatever horrible foe had slipped into White's sanctuary. Instead, they found only their little sister, standing lost amidst a sea of shards.

Silence reigned as they processed what they saw.

"You little fool..." Yellow Diamond whispered. "What have you done."

Pink turned towards them, watched them gasp, watched Blue Diamond's hands fly to her mouth, watched Yellow Diamond's body tense in horror. She knew what they saw. She had seen herself reflected in White's gem, moments before it had shattered completely.

A series of cracks spread out from her left eye, trailing down her cheek. Where they touched, her skin was a dull, sickly gray, the pink leeched right out of it. Faint lines marked the eye itself, and her once bright magenta iris had faded to a pale, ghostly coral. She knew at once that the damage was permanent, and hardly cared.

Yellow and Blue didn't move. They knew what the cracks meant, too.

Pink waited, feeling nothing and everything at once. She met their gazes evenly. She must look like an utter disaster, like she had lost her mind. Maybe she had.

Yellow snapped out of it first, taking a step into the room. She winced when a loud crunch resulted, growing paler. None of them had quite processed that White Diamond was gone yet.

"G-Go to your room," Yellow said, her voice quiet and shaken. "We'll decide what to do with you later." She looked over her shoulder at Blue, spurring her into movement. Blue's hands came away from her face, and she carefully began to gather the shards.

Something in Pink Diamond shifted. Something stirred. Something that had been left rotting inside of her for much too long.

She didn't know what was going to happen. What she did know was that she never wanted to return to that room again.