Miscarriage mention! Here’s the long awaited second chapter guys! Ao3 here!
The moment the door shut behind them, her hands clacked together- not hard, not loud, and nowhere near enough to break delicate gems so needed for life- and her fingers popped, cracked, even, in a wave of ten joints releasing air. She was nervous, angry, and so jealous, but she kept composed for him. For her- she was still upset, still felt used, and the feeling only rung deeper, now. Hurt more. It wasn’t their fault, and Pearl didn’t mean for this to happen. She couldn’t have known. Garnet wasn’t even looking at her, but she knew Pearl was going to say something before she did, and she turned, arms out in front of her as if to protect herself.
“Don’t,” she practically growled, and yet nearly yelped. It’s unfair, half of her screamed, boiling in anger and rage. All red fury and fire, because her three clutches, they were burned alive- or, maybe boiled is a better term, but it didn’t matter how she worded it. They were cooked, never had a chance no matter how hard she tried to keep the heat down. The other half, all blue jealousy and ice, reminded that it wasn’t Pearl’s fault, and hadn’t been her intention. Their moods had matched, just like with the two clutches who had been frozen and black, too cold to have survived. Five twisted and mangled clutches, before they had agreed to stop trying, because there wasn’t a moment of hope.
Pearl licked her lips nervously, swallowed, and Garnet could see the movement. She felt like she was vibrating, falling apart, but she wasn’t glowing, and she was shocked, but proud of herself for it. They’ve been unfused too much recently for her comfort. She had to stay herself, because they couldn’t handle this alone, and she was struggling, doing so only just. There was a bitter burn in the back of her throat as she swallowed, then forced the acid words out before they can burn her tongue anymore. “You’re carrying.”
The shocked reaction described the moment perfectly, held it in place by a pin. She hadn’t thought Pearl’s sick skin could get any paler, but every ounce of colour has left her face, and she was shaking. Her hands gripped her outfit, tight, and twisting the material. Her sash, specifically. In front of her stomach, protecting, and nervous. Another swallow from the movements of her throat, and she twisted to look away. Grasping for words, and she knew what she was going to say, and had an answered prepared before her words left her lips.
“H-how? I haven’t… There wasn’t…” A deep, shaky breath, and she watched her quiver. Fear, maybe? Was she scared that she’s going to hurt her? Part of her- the distant, red, roaring part- was happy at this revelation, and a quiet good bounded through her skull. The closer, blue, calming part remarked that no, it wasn’t good, mixed with an emotion she couldn’t quite name, but bit her tongue and mind. She agreed that it wasn’t good, as she would never physically hurt Pearl, on purpose. Pearl spoke up again, her words soft, uneasy, scared, and needy, and so many other broken words to match her battle tore body. “Will they make it?”
Her jaw clenched, biting back painful remarks, before she settled on speaking her practised answer. “When we fused, the second time for the tower,” the time you used me, hung unspoken but understood, “our emotions mixed well enough for a viable connection. They’re mine, and… I can’t see far enough to let you know if any hatch.”
She could see two black geodes, small and disgusting, in the future. Every future. At least two, broken and completely twisted and wrong. The clutch size varied, larger and smaller, but at least two twisted geodes always made it, in place of her own colours in some cases. The larger ones could smash the only rubies and sapphires in the clutch, and she gathered there was at least seventeen total developing inside Pearl at that moment. The number was big, and dug at her wrong, because Pearl was too small for that many. Seventeen would make her poof- to use Steven’s term- and she hoped there would be less, because there would be no way that they could handle having her poof, along with seventeen carrierless geodes.
Garnet couldn’t see more than the laying of the clutch, but gathered enough from that for now. There would be geodes, at least two that had been completely decimated by their fusion in the box because of Peridot, but the rest varied. Some of the smaller geodes could be crushed and absorbed by the bigger ones, while some of the bigger ones could stop developing and be absorbed as well. It was a toss up that made her feel almost sick. There was so much variation to the clutch, and she couldn’t help feeling her head swim. Most of them were always pearls, and she wondered, for a moment, if the black and destroyed ones would have been pearls as well.
What could she even begin to say to tell Pearl of the dead geodes? That they had saved their own lives and ended up losing two of the geodes they hadn’t even known existed yet? There was a future she saw, where each and every one of them were black masses, but it was a small possibility, and she tried her best not to think about that one. She couldn’t tell Pearl that all of her efforts over the next few months could be for naught. She could remember the blue part seeing the same fate for all of their clutches and how it had destroyed her halves, and refused to even tell the gem before her that such a fate could have a chance of coming true.
“So… I… I’m carrying your geodes?” Pearl asked hesitantly, her hands gripping at the sash tighter. Oh, yes, she was definitely scared of what Garnet was going to do. She wouldn’t hurt the other, because Pearl was her teammate and her friend, even if she had hurt her. A sigh escaped her, and she nodded weakly. There was no point in trying to get around it, and she felt herself deflating, as if all the nervous and angry energy had been wiped out of her with noticing that Pearl was actually scared of her, terrified even. She had to try to fix this.
“Yes. I can see at least two that don’t make it, but that’s nothing that we can help now.” She watched Pearl sag, choking back a nervous swallow, before her arms wrapped around her stomach, gripping each other. She had doubled over slightly, her eyes cast to the side, and Garnet wondered if Pearl thought that she was disappointed in her. “It’s not your fault. They lost every chance of surviving when we fused again.” She paused for a moment, ran her tongue over her lips nervously, and then sighed. “Pearl, I’m not going to hurt you. You know that, right?”
Pearl looked to her, tears in her eyes, and Garnet felt uneasy then. She wanted to hug her, but was unsure about whether or not it would be the right move. It didn’t feel right to hug the other, because it still stung to know she had used her, and she could only think how wrong it was that she had used her, and they had created life through it. Life that could actually have a chance, unlike every clutch her halves had carried. She straightened up with a swallow, arms still clutched loosely before her stomach. Now that Garnet thought about it, there was even a little bit of a swell to it. “I… I know. I just… I thought it’d be my fault. Pearls aren’t supposed to carry anyways, I can’t imagine that this is going to end well.”
“No, Pearl. It’s not your fault that they don’t make it. Their geode are already corrupted, and we can’t save them.” She watched her nod, and sighed. It had to be hard to know that she couldn’t save those two, but at least the others would have a chance. She was about to say more to comfort the other when the door opened, revealing the small purple gem that they had taken in all those years ago. She found her gaze drawn to Amethyst, and was sure Pearl was looking to her as well.
“Uh… hey guys. What’s up?” They shared an awkward glance, and Garnet found herself swallowing the pain in the back of her throat. Amethyst had to know, and it wouldn’t be right to hide it from her. She was their friend and it would be wrong to leave her out of it all. Pearl looked away first, her hands gripping her shirt tighter, and Garnet sighed before looking back Amethyst. She looked worried and nervous, chewing on her bottom lip like they were going to scold her. They had to tell her.
OOOOOH *+*I waited for it so eagerly! great story and perfect drama Closely following the progress