Stars and Diamonds

Chapter 23: Uncontrolled

"I can't believe you!" Pink yelled, pointing a finger between the two much taller Diamonds, both of which stood in front of her overly cushioned chair, having arrived before her, and thus waiting for her and Orange to get to the station at the far reaches of the system. "You can't just take gems from my court! From my kindergartens!"

"They are threats," Blue said, her tone diplomatic and soothing, trying to calm the raging Pink Diamond before this all got out of hand. "They are just like the one who started the rebellion on your Colony. It's only a matter of time-"

"How dare you make that decision for me!"

"You were doing nothing about it, Pink. It was for your own protection."

"I don't need protecting, and you can't just- just...steal Gems from Earth! You went behind myback, to mycolony, and rounded up my soldiers and did what? Where are those Rose Quartz? What else did you take, in the name of my protection?"

Orange lowered her head, gritting her teeth as Pink continued to verbally assault the other Diamonds, her cheeks growing hot in embarrassment. How could she just drag her here, just so she could watch as she belittled their fellow Diamonds efforts to help her. She was the one who she had witnessed on more than one occasion to her begging for help with her colony, pleading that she just couldn't stop this rebellion. The simple Quartz soldier that outsmarted her at every turn was just too great for her to handle, and they should just leave the colony unfinished and move on. As if that was really an option, for a Diamondto turn tail, as if that wouldn't cause issues back on Homeworld. Now her moth- Pinkhad the audacity to stand here yelling at Yellow and Blue who had only attempted to help her without doing her job for her. What kind of Diamond was she? Was this the person Orange had looked up to for so long?

"Thats enough," Yellow finally cut Pink off, but even though she had been silenced for the moment, Orange still wished to disappear into the shadows, not believing this was happening. How could Pink be so ignorant to everything, and then yell at the ones who cared for her, and put up with her stupid games? "First you whine about wanting a colony, and then you don't want to do the work, and suddenly, oh no, the organics need to be saved! Well Pink, we've done that. We've made a place for your organics, we've aid you in starting your colony, we've even entertained helping stop this ridiculous charade of a rebellion. Enough is enough, Pink. What more do you want?"

"I want you to stay away from my colony!" Pink bared her teeth and stomped a foot, pointing at Yellow while she clenched her other hand into fist, "You have no right-"

"You asked for out help," Blue, ever the calmer presence said, "You have to finish the colony, Pink. Your humans are safe in your zoo. There are no more excuses."

"E-excuses? You think I'm putting off finishing my colony? You think I'm not trying!?"

Pink was once again cut off by Yellow, who took an aggressive step towards Pink, but seemed to restrain herself from doing much more, "You need to grow up, Pink! You wanted this colony, so finish it!" She took a breath and righted herself, crossing her arms over her chest and giving Pink a much more scornful look than she had before, "What kind of example are you setting for Orange?"

That seemed to set something off in Pink, who instead of saying anything simply made a loud 'arg' noise, she turned away from them and began stomping towards the door. As she passed Orange, she grabbed her rather forcefully by the upper arm. "Come on, Orange, we're leaving."

Orange, in a burst of anger, leaned her body back, ignoring the close proximity of her pearl behind her, and as hard as she could, pulled her arm from Pink's grasp, "I don't want to go with you!"

A flare of bright light colored the room as a rush of energy forcefully pushed on everyone inside, oppressive and stifling. Pink, Blue, and Yellow's Pearls slid to their knees, Yellow's Pearl eyes rounded as tears collected in the corners with obvious fear, and Pink's pearl grasped at her chest with a look of panic rounding her eyes. Yellow blinked in surprise of the sudden feeling pressing in on her, taking a step back while Blue gasped, a hand flying over her gem, eyes squeezing shut.

Pink, bewildered by Orange's sudden outburst, turned and was struck by the sudden wave of hot energy that hit her, but she remained unscathed, simply covering her face with her arm and closing her eyes to avoid the warm air that rushed past her. When it passed and the stifling feeling bogging the air down had dissipated, she blinked open her eyes. First, seeing her pearl down on her knees, and then turning fully to look at Orange only to stop in shock, her eyes widening.

The bright aura surround Orange floated around her like a liquid, snapping quick points into the air as she glared at her with the most heated look she had ever seen her give her, and a hand clapped over her mouth when she looked behind Orange.

Orange, in her hazy rage, took a moment to recognize the fear and sadness in Pink's eyes, the unfamiliar sight snapped Orange out of her daze as she realized she wasn't looking at her, but behind her. It hit her like a Topaz's punch in the gut. Pearl.

Orange whipped around, the glowing power around her form fading as she stared unblinking at the little opaque oval on the floor, its pearlescent shine reflected the pink lighting of the room and the remaining flickers of her manifested powers.

Pearl lay in pieces on the marble floor, or more accurately, her gem. Her entire light form had vanished, leaving behind only the broken remains of a once perfect oval-shaped gem.

The three other pearls in the room stared in silent horror at the pieces of their once sister gem, scattered bits settled in an arch from where she had been hit so hard by the blast of energy that it had left pieces of her laying around like crumpled petals of a flower that had been blown away by a harsh wind.

"I..I" Orange breathed out as she turned to look up at the two diamonds standing in front of her, "I didn't...I didn't mean to, I-" a tear slipped from her eye as she looked between their faces. Yellow met her gaze, looking unimpressed with a raised eyebrow, while Blue's eyes were wide and surprised. Turning her head, Pink was staring at her now with an emotion Orange could only describe as horror.

"Orange," Blue called and the little gem turned to her with watery eyes, afraid she was going to be scared of her too. Instead, she bent down with her arms open, and Orange ran to her, being scooped up into her hand and being brought to rest against her chest where she began to cry into her neck.

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Orange sobbed, "I didn't mean it."

Blue placed her chin on top of orange's head, patting her back as she continued to cry, "I know, Orange. I know you didn't mean it."

Yellow made an exasperated sigh, "I told you she didn't need a pearl. Now look."

"Yellow!" Blue scolded in a hushed tone, glaring at her counterpart, "It was an accident."

"Be that as it may, she destroyed a pearl, the one you said that would help her, one that White gave her no less. How do we explain that?"

"Im sorry!" Orange wailed, "I'm sorry."

Blue hushed her, "Calm down, Orange. Its alright, you're not in trouble. She can be replaced."

"She is not getting another Pearl." Yellow grunted, "Especially not until that little temper is under control. Look at the damage." Yellow made a sweeping motion with her hand toward the scattered remains of gem fragments at their feet.

"That's enough, Yellow." Blue gently pulled Orange from her chest where her sobs had been slowly dying, "It's okay, Orange. You just have to be careful."

"I don't know what happened." Orange rubbed at her puffy eyes, making a pitiful sniffling noise as she looked up at her, "I just got angry. You and Yellow were being nice and getting yelled at and I couldn't stand it and then-then..." She hiccuped, holding back another wave of sobs.

"Oh Orange," Blue's eyes shined with her own tears.

"You have to learn to control yourself," Yellow said, stepping closer to them, and Orange cautiously turned to look at her, her frazzled nerves calming some when she saw Yellow's eyes had softened when they turned on her, "Thats a part of being a diamond too."