Bleached | Steven Universe

Pearl: Rescue

Yellow's face was hard. "Put him down."

        White only grinned wider. "Him? Don't you mean Pink, dear?"

        "No." Yellow reeled in surprise when Blue spoke. The sullen Diamond stepped forward. "His name is Steven. He is not Pink Diamond. He never was."

        It was at that moment Amethyst darted forward, pulled another whip from her Gem and lassoed White's feet. For a moment, the Diamond looked startled, and then she laughed in amusement.

        As if in response, Garnet leaped towards her, gauntlets enlarging, and delivered a powerful blow to the Diamond's thigh. Pearl followed in quick succession with a flurry of bursts from her trident.

        White Diamond didn't fall, but she looked anxious. She glanced at the smaller Diamonds as if in a request for help.

        Instead, Yellow struck her with a burst of electricity, and Blue Diamond conjured a blue orb. White cried out in shock and overbalanced, stumbling back a few steps.

        By her feet, Amethyst conjured a wrecking ball and lashed at her ankles. Garnet darted after her, dissipating her gauntlets and firing a stream of ice at the floor. Gritting her teeth, Pearl brandished her spear. Just get to Steven.

        White's eyes were aglow, her face pinched with anger, and it looked she was just about to attack when she was slammed with the blue orb and she stumbled back, slipping on the ice. Pearl glimpsed a flash of pink as something fell from her hands.

        "STEVEN!" Pearl shrieked.

        "PINK!" White screeched.

        Adrenaline burned through her body and Pearl took a running start, vaulting herself into the air and arcing towards White. She tossed her spear over her head and stretched out her arms—

        There was a solid thump! as White batted them both away. Pearl was sent flailing through the air and slammed into a wall, body bursting with numbing pain.

        She dropped to the floor. She could dimly register Amethyst and Garnet calling her name, but when she cracked open her eyes, she could see him, sprawled just a few paces away. With a last, desperate burst of energy, she pushed herself forward and stumbled the last few steps to the boy. When her legs gave out she fell beside him and wrapped him in her aching arms.

        Another hellish shriek rang out and Pearl screwed her eyes shut, panicked tears burning. She had Steven but she couldn't move. Her body throbbed and she had no energy left. She could feel her arms gradually loosening around Steven.

        "Garnet. . ." her voice was a whisper, an echo. "Amethyst — please. . ."

        And as if she had flipped a switch, everything became silent. The ground stopped shaking. For a split second, there was a sense of calm.

        "I'm back, baby."

        The voice seemed like a fabrication. It seemed to tremble, fade away, and when Pearl looked up, her eyes widened.

        "And how did you get here?" Sugilite grinned, menacing eyes locked on White Diamond. "Did someone leave your cage open?"

        The largest Diamond was too shocked to even react. By the time she finally opened her mouth, Sugilite shut it again with a devastating wind-up punch. Given, she was shorter than the largest Diamond, but her arms were long.

        Yellow and Blue surged forward to overwhelm White — she looked like she was struggling with something deeper than physical exertion. Once she was down, Sugilite marched over to Pearl, ground quaking with every stomp.

        "C'mon, let's go," she grumbled, and for perhaps the first time in a hundred years, Pearl smiled up at the rough-edged fusion.

        "Thank you," she said weakly.

        Sugilite frowned and turned away. Pearl could have sworn she saw the fusion's cheeks darken. "Whatever, let's just get outta here."