Blue Pearl knew it was foolish to feel sorrow for the dozens of rubies unfortunately assigned to Blue Diamond this cycle. She passed the horrible order very quickly and in the quiet second that she and Aquamarine are alone together, they share a terrified gaze. Blue Diamond has shattered hundreds of gems before. It is the Diamond's right and their authority is never to be questioned, but…functional gems who have done no wrong?

It isn't as though rubies are contributing that much to their empire. They are loud, rowdy and smell of smoke, but they are alive.

A good many of them won't even be a decade old. Fresh new gems from kindergartners, who have ambitions and dreams to serve their empire. Blue Pearl had greatly envied their excitement, something that faded the older and older she got. The excitement to serve always ended by the very hands of the empire they had been so willing to serve.

Blue Pearl had learned to stop crying. All pearls must at some point. There are few masters who tolerate tears, especially from a gem who should not be capable of the thought necessary to recognize grief. So the heavy ball of grief that is knotting underneath her gem is neatly tucked away for later – this is not the time or place.

After the rubies had been…handled. Blue Diamond informs the court of the planet she will be retiring to; there isn't any mention the rebels or the fusion, and by the solemn air surrounding her; no one dares ask.

The ship is swift and thankfully, the journey is without problem. Blue Diamond is even more reclusive than normal. Blue Pearl doesn't think much of it. Her Diamond is often quiet.

They arrive at the planet Saagar during the planet's rest cycle. After helping Blue Diamond into her giant lounge and giving a quiet song, Blue Pearl is allowed to be alone for the next six hours of this rotation.

She is provided modest quarters to sit and meditate. She used to have a screen, one even fancier than the one aquamarines received. She had been allowed to watch videos and the Homeworld media reports. Then the renegade Pearl spawned and her granted freedom was taken away.

It wasn't as though the freedom she or any other pearl had been granted had been equal to that of any regular gem. Regular regulations and censorships applied to all gems, but said restrictions were even harsher on pearls. As a Diamond's pearl, she was granted access to more, but even that hadn't been enough.

Now it would never be enough. The master less pearl had sparked a rampant fear among the aristocratic crowd. If that pearl could lose every diamond-fearing program ingrained into her very being, then it could happen to any pearl.

Other than the screen being taken away reprogram diagnosis, cleansing scours and the sanction from other pearls had become routine. Reprogram diagnosis wasn't that bad. Biweekly trips to the pearl programmer did take time out of her day devoted to caring for her Diamond, but because she was of the highest quality and caliber there were rarely any major modifications in her gemetics that needed adjustment. The other pearls though, older models or insubordinate pearls, could experience great amounts of physical pain if their initial program deviated from current and prevalent thought-process programming.

The isolation she could deal with too. As a Diamond's pearl, she was rarely ever given enough time during the many parties the aristocracy class threw to spend time with the dozens of pearls lined along the wall. Her Diamond had used to let her participate in such foolery. She had been young, not even a century out of the factory, and the ability to allow the tiniest of smiles and communicate again in their nearly silent tongue had brought her joy. Too much joy. Blue Pearl's smiles were deemed only for her Diamond and no one else. She now stood at her master's right, quiet and alone.

The only other pearl she really interacted with had been Yellow Diamond's pearl and she wasn't the best company. Blue Pearl personally thought that Yellow Pearl might have been what the renegade pearl had been like before she defected (not that she would ever openly admit that).

The scouring was by far the worst. Healer gems had proposed early on during the cycles after the renegade pearl had first appeared that perhaps it had been a physical manifestation of a digital virus. The medical department of Homeworld had been using variations of healing serums and liquids to build viruses and plagues that corrupted gems from the inside out. Since pearls were individually built and programmed to befit their unique master, they strangely enough had a resistance against the many geo-weapons designed. A sample of a non-resistant pearl formula had been produced and White Diamond had admitted that several of her pearls had been exposed to it. The corruption process must not have worked properly because the only thing corrupted had happened to be the pearl's programming.

The pearls exposed originally had been shattered; any pearls that had been subsequently exposed and all other pearls were subjected to scouring. Scalding advanced-healing goop applied to every inch of their gem. Every 46 active/rest cycles, their physical forms disrupted and every 30 cycles, they were cleaned. The poofing she could take after the first one hundred or so times, she started to get used to it.

But the cleaning might be the most invasive experience she has had yet to know – and among a touchy-feely high-class with no qualms against slipping their hands under skirts or tunics to caress warm gems, that was truly a statement to be made.

Because no gem knew exactly how the virus was spread, or how exactly the effects of corruption would affect the pearls it came into contact with, every precaution was taken.

Every inch of her physical form was assessed. The grey skin that connected her teeth, the sensitive inside of her mouth, and any cavities she had shapeshifted for her master's pleasure and service. Though the gems were completely covered in sanitation uniforms, their naked skin covered with gloves and their eyes hidden, she could not shake her distress.

In the moments that she's left alone like this, her Diamond's calming nature absent, she could still feel the several small hands inside and out.

The rest cycle is gone too soon. She spent most of it staring vacantly out at the ocean. The planet's singular kindergarten was a mountain on the horizon, smog and muck pumping steadily out and turning the pristine blue ocean to a startling shade of indigo. It would not be long before Saagar's oceans were drained of their life and reduced to a toxic sludge capable of producing gems across the galaxy. There would only be a small percentage of the ocean left to remain blue: Blue Diamond's palace and the many feats of architecture erected in the name of the empire.

The palace itself is only partially constructed. The main temple is done, but the towering statue of Blue Diamond had yet to be completed. When Blue Diamond is at the palace, the work being handled is increased ten-fold. No one wants to be caught slacking by their Diamond.

The last time they had been visiting Saagar had been over a decade ago and forty-six gems had been shattered during their trip. Blue Pearl was hopeful that perhaps this trip, Blue Diamond would be as subdued during their flight for however long they planned to stay.

That hope crumbled to dust when she stepped into Blue Diamond's personal room. Blue Diamond was laying delicately on her giant chaise, staring out at the ocean, in one of her giant fists was a cracked gem that's scattering glittering powder on the floor. As soon as Blue Pearl walked forward, Blue Diamond shifted and sat up.

"I will be needing a new Azurite." She shrugged, letting the broken gem drop to the floor with a sickening clang. "Wipe my hands."

Blue Pearl skittered past the gem and the powder and quickly summoned a long length of fabric to clean the brittle dust on her Diamond's palms.

"Y-yes, my Diamond." Blue Pearl whispered, doing her best to hide her face from her master's powerful, inquiring gaze. Blue Pearl can feel it burn on her naked shoulders. When a trailing fingertip traces the tops of her back, she does everything in her power not flinch.

"She was in charge of the kindergarten. I will need another gem to temporarily take her place while I put in a request for another technician." Blue Diamond sighed, her icy breath stinging.

"Yes, my Diamond." Blue Pearl quickly finished cleaning her Diamond's hands and quickly summoned the cleaning crew.

"Oh, look, she's trying to reform." Blue Diamond said blankly, sounding bored. Blue Pearl watched on in horror as the misshapen lump of a gem began to glow dimly, only lifting a few inches off the ground before dropping back down. After it's third attempt to rise, a large shard flew off, skidding across the smooth floor. "This is pathetic, the crew will be here by the time this thing has taken it's hideous form. Crush it."

Blue Pearl froze, unconsciously taking in several harried breaths before composing herself. "M-m-my Diamond?'

"Crush what's left." Blue Diamond said simply, dragging a finger dangerously close to Pearl's clavicle. "With what's left it shouldn't be too hard. Use your foot."

Blue Pearl tiptoed delicately toward the glowing rock, clasping her hands together to calm her growing nerves. Blue Diamond has draped her hand on her shoulders and watched on with glowing eyes.

Blue Pearl has never, ever in her life been allowed to touch another's gem. Her Diamond and other pearls were the only exceptions. It was an intimacy that she often took part in with her Diamond.

Touching gems was bizarre, sparking strange feelings that pulsed through her entire being and left her numb and listless, but dangerously alive at the same time. There had been one time that her Diamond had pressed too hard, lost perhaps in her own strange feelings, and the pain had been excruciatingly agonizing. She hadn't meant to release her physical form, but the pain had surged through her form the same way the nameless pleasure had.

Blue Pearl imagined that being shattered was the pinnacle of that pain, leaving you without mind or body – just the open expanse of their gem, where pain and thought could be abandoned. She did not want to inflict pain upon anybody, but watching the gem struggle harder and harder to form, she knew that she couldn't leave Azurite to be stuck in an endless loop of that agony.

Tears dripped down her nose, landing on the pile of shards under foot, little whimpers broke past her mask as she rhythmically slammed her long foot over and over into what had bee Azurite.

"Pearl, don't cry." Blue Diamond's burning gaze suddenly lessened to gentle glow and she was scooped into Blue Diamond's arms. "Don't cry, you did as I asked, like a good pearl is supposed to do."

By the time the cleaning crew had arrived, Blue Diamond and her faithful pearl had exited, leaving behind only a gorgeously sparkling floor.

A/N: I need more Steven Universe, I'm starved for episodes and slowly torturing innocent Pearls because of it. Thanks for your patience, this little story won't be too long so after college let's up on the mental and physical pummeling, I should definitely have time to finish it properly.

Thanks for the favorites, follows and reviews! And hopefully we get some episodes soon!