Steven had broken them apart. They had been sure that they were going to die, and the next thing Opal knew, she was two again instead of one and no longer existing. It was hard to think it was not existing, but that was exactly what it was, and the two parts of her had yelled at their boy again, because he couldn’t be here. He had to make it, because they were going to die, and he had to live. The ship was barreling down on them, and he had to leave.
In moments, Garnet was broken and Steven was out cold. Amethyst had been quick to rush forward and scoop up with discarded gems, because it wouldn’t be right for her to let them be crushed. The very idea of such a thing made her hands shake, and she held them close. Pearl jumped before her, spear at the ready, and every part of her coiled to attack. Neither said a word about the emotions they hadn’t blocked because they’d been scared to die, together but still so alone, and part of her had ached at the very idea.
The fight had been short, because it was practically impossible to fight holding two gemstones, and a destabilizer had struck Pearl down in seconds. When she had tried to pick up the other gem to keep it safe, she had been hit too, and Amethyst was inside her gem again. She couldn’t reform fast enough, and she was in a cell when she finally did. Alone. Something was blocking the only viable exit, and she realised the first time she touched it that it was basically a wall to destabilize her gem.
“Oh. Oh no. Oh no, no no no.”
“Pearl? Is that you?”
“Amethyst? Oh, thank goodness! That means they didn’t smash us, so they must have some sort of plan for us. Maybe we can escape, if we can just… Get past this.”
“Can it, P. It’s like the wand she had. There ain’t no getting past it, I’ve already tried. We’re stuck here, and that’s it.” She slunk down against the wall, sitting as close as possible to the sound of the other’s voice. She could practically see the other deflating, from so many years of seeing her disappointed and having memorised every little line on her face through every emotion.
“Oh.” Her heart ached for the other, hearing how much it hurt her to realise that they didn’t have a chance. “Oh, right. I… suppose there’s nothing left then, is there?”
“No. Not really.” Amethyst sighed, letting her eyes drift to the floor.
“Amethyst…” It was nice to hear her name from her lips when she wasn’t scolding her, but the fact that she was sighing it, so sad and hurt, made her heart ache all that much more. “I… Thank you, for not blocking your feelings from me when we fused… I… If we make it through this… Would you maybe like to walk on the beach with me back on Earth? On one of those human dates?”
“That…” She smiled, just a little bit. Even if Pearl couldn’t see it, the notion meant more to herself than anything. “That sounds nice Pearl. You can call it a date.”
The silence hung around after that. Neither knew what to say, not that either cared to try and break the silence. Sapphire could be heard singing throughout the ship, but she was far away, and neither could do anything to help her get to Ruby. They couldn’t even get to each other, only separated by a wall, and so close, but unable to be together.