Orange stretched out over the soft white bed in her chambers aboard White's head ship. The pillows that normally littered the bed when she inhabited the space were stacked on one side to allow room for both her and Pearl as they lounged together, her head on Pearl's lap while they talked. Her Pearl's hand ran lightly over her hair, smoothing at fly away pieces while Orange talked, quietly listening and speaking up when it was appropriate of her to, otherwise she was perfectly content to simply listen to her Diamond speak lazily about an event that happened before her time with her.

It was becoming a rare occurrence that they had such downtime together, that did not involve Orange Diamond completing a lesson task given to her by one of the other Diamonds, or even being in the presence of one, or one of her fellow Pearl's. Any time away from them was spent with her Diamond resting in an inactive state, and while it had been alarming to her at first, she had simply become used to and associated it to her Diamond's own unique characteristics.

She was aware her Diamond was special, the exact circumstances of why and what exactly made her different was not privy to her, a result of being a simple Pearl and thus not important enough to know such a thing, but she had been supplied with enough information to know how to meet her Diamond's needs. And while her needs where not too far from any other gem, she realized that her need to replace minerals for her physical form, as well as the time she required to be inactive, set her apart from her peers. Her Diamond was special, and as her Pearl, she would serve her as best she could, while guarding her Diamond's unique traits from any other gem that was not in the older Diamonds' approved gems that already knew about Orange. She knew this uniqueness would not be so welcomed in Homeworld's society, and Pearl could not bare to see it possibly snuffed out.

"Pearl? Pearrrl? Hello, are you listening?"

Pearl blinked as a hand was waved in her face and she laughed, pushing it away, "Yes, Orange. I am."

A wide smile stretched across her face, "you called me Orange again."

"You did request I only call you Orange when it is just us." Pearl reminded her softly.

"Well, Yeah. But you normally don't."

"And it is normally not just us."

"It has been a while since we could just spend time alone, hasn't it?" Orange asked softly, gazing up at her through strands of hair that had fallen onto her face when Pearl had ceased moving her fingers through it.

"It has. But you are a Diamond, and it is expected you will constantly be busy."

"I'll only get busier when I'm a real Diamond."

"I do believe you already are a real diamond, aren't you? You did not go and become a Jasper while I was away getting your supplement, did you?"

Orange laughed, her shoulders shaking with her mirth, "you know what I mean, Pearl!"

"Yes, I do. But I wanted you to laugh."

"You're always trying to make me laugh. Your going to get me in real trouble one of these days."

Pearl grinned, "I don't believe it is my fault if you happen to burst out laughing in the middle of one of Yellow Diamond's discussions."

"Oh, no, because you were totally not making faces at me behind her back."

"You looked like you could use the distraction. If I remember correctly, you said Yellow's discussions can become drier than a peridot's mission report on a gamma kindergarten."

"Oh Star! That's right! But Yellow was so angry, I thought she was going to explode right out of her boots when I couldn't stop laughing. I was so glad you were there, though. Having my ear lectured off wasn't so bad."

Pearl's smile widened, her hand resuming its light brush through her Diamond's hair, "So than how could you do it?"

"Haha, yeah I- what?" The large smile on Orange's face fell slightly as she raised an eyebrow in question at Pearl.

Pearl's hand stopped moving as she turned to look into Orange's eyes, all the amusement draining from her face. "How could you kill me?"

"What? No, no, no!" Orange sat up, turning to look at her pearl in alarm, "Pearl, I didn't-"

"I trusted you! You said I was your friend!" Pearl shouted, and quicker than Orange could react, she was grabbing her by her tunic, the two of them tumbling from the bed together. Orange, in a panic, managed to wrestle Pearl's strangely strong grasp from her clothes and using her legs to propel herself out from under Pearl and scoot away from her on the polished stone floor.

Pearl did not immediantly move after her, remaining in a heap on the floor where they fell and Orange took the moment of motionless to shake her head, tears clouding her eyes as she was hit with a wave of fear and sadness at the blank look she could see on Pearl's normally soft, serene features, "No, Pearl, please! You are my friend, I-"

Pearl, with speed that should have been impossible for her, was moving towards her on her hands and knees, and managed to overtake Orange before she could scurry away out of her reach, climbing on top of her and pinning her down by her shoulders as her knees dug into her arms to hold them at her sides. "You're just like the rest of them! Destroying anything you consider beneath you."

Shaking her head, Orange squeezed her eyes shut as tears poured down her face, a sob racking her body as Pearl's fingers dug harshly into her skin, "I didn't mean to. I never meant to hurt you!"

"And now I'm dead. What about the others? The other pearls? The Diamonds? How long before you break them too?"

"I would never- Pearl, you were my best friend! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry I hurt you!" Orange opened her eyes to meet Pearl's, anger and malice she had never seen twisted her features.

"Maybe..." Pearl released one of her shoulders, but try as she might Orange could not throw her off or grab her arm to stop her as she traced a finger over the gem on her chest, "maybe I should shatter you too, before you hurt anyone else."

"No, don't! Pearl-" Orange's jaw fell open, no words left her lips except the shrill gasp of a strangled scream. She couldn't breath as she felt her Pearl grab at her gem, her nimble fingers and crazy strength coming together to tighten around the raised portions of her gem. Pain radiated from her gem, spreading across her chest and tightening her throat, her limbs were starting to go numb as she applied greater pressure to her gem until fragmented lines cracked across the reflective surface, starting to chip into pieces where the jagged lines crisscrossed over each other.

"Goodbye, Orange Diamond."

"Don't!" Orange found herself screaming out as she forcefully sat up, nearly rolling herself out of the bed in one singular motion. She gasped for air, her lungs burning as tears and sweat ran down her cheeks, her eyes wide as they searched the room, but Pearl was no where in sight. A sob wrenched from her lips before she could even think to stop it, starting her into a string of strangled whimpers and tears, her fingers digging into the sheets beneath her.

"Pearl! Pearl..." her shoulders shook as she cried harder, her hands moved to cover her eyes but all she could see behind her eyelids were those dull, blue-gray eyes that conveyed so much hatred for her, it made her breath hitch in her throat. When she forced her eyes open in an attempt to rid herself of the haunting image, she looked to see the bed, the one she and Pearl had spent so much time talking on, bonding. The one Pearl had pushed her out of and then attempted to shatter her in the most painful way possible. Orange slipped her legs off the side of the bed, launching herself to her feet before stumbling on wobbly legs and falling to her hands and knees. The familiar square bed behind her, the white tiles that showed the reflection of her as she knelt on the floor in tears, and the open wall of windows, the darkened view of the city. All too painfully familiar.

Forcing her sore body to cooperate, she jumped to her feet and bolted for the door, slamming her hand down on the scanner and dashing through the doors as soon as they had slid open wide enough for her to fit through. She didn't stop for the guards on the other side, who yelled for the diamond to wait, or for them to catch up as they gave chase. She turned corner after corner, easily losing the two bulkier gems through her ample knowledge of White's ship's layout, and her body that was running on what must have been obscene levels of adrenaline.

Dashing down another clear hallway that looked vaguely similar to the rest of the halls she had sprinted through, Orange skid to a stop at a door in the middle, hitting the scanner and slipping into the room, leaning heavily against the doors when they shut. Closing her eyes, Orange caught her breath as she listened to the noises beyond the door. After a minute of nothing but silence and no guards yelling her name, orange blinked open her eyes, looking around the room. The light in the room was relatively low, perhaps to conserve the power used, the only real light source came from a row of lights built into the floor near the bottom of the wall, and along where it met the ceiling. The ceiling itself was high, but did not look like it would have nearly enough clearance for someone as tall as the other Diamonds. There were many geometric shaped couches near the wall, fluffed and full and covered in a fine material that she would have expected to be seen more on a Pearl to upgrade her appearance, rather than to decorate a couch.

This was more than likely a waiting room, set aside for any visiting gems of high status to wait in until they were called to meet with their Diamond. Something that was more common to see in one of the Diamond's personal buildings instead of their ships, but considering White never left her's, it must have made sense at the time to have them here. Though it was something Orange had never known White to entertain, but was much more familiar with in Blue's case, having watched many interactions between Blue and her court's gems without them ever knowing. Ignoring the furniture, Orange moved over to the windows, staring blankly out at the sight of the city below. She had never seen this view from White's ship, so this must have been to a line of rooms and observatories Orange was unfamiliar with. The skyline was still dark, where it had been day when she was with White. She could remember that feeling, just barely tapping into her powers, could see the wall of heat and energy that she had formed around herself, but had not felt. She could remember seeing the damage to the floor and the smell of melted and charred stone that burned her nose to breath in. And then she was slipping, the floor coming up at her face before that memory stopped. That was when she had started to dream of Pearl.

A new set of tears slipped from her eyes, her lip quivering and snot starting to plug up her nose as she tried her best not to cry again, only to fail miserably, breaking down into loud, heavy sobs. She cried until she started dry heaving, an unpleasant feeling that made her only cry harder, which only made her throat tighten worse and her stomach to churn. Falling to her knees, she wrapped a arm around her stomach as she leaned her head down against the cool floor, squeezing her eyes shut as she attempted to calm herself down.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Repeat.

When she no longer though her stomach might come up her throat, she blinked open her eyes, staring blearily at the hazy reflection of herself in the polished stone. Her eyes looked dull even in the polished surface that left every visible part of her with an extra shine. Dark circles were under her eyes, ones that had been steadily getting worse since the nightmares started. Right now that made her look almost sick and deranged, with her long hair sticking up in so many places, tangled and matted with sweat at the nape of her neck and around her face. She did not look as pale as she last did when she saw her reflection, but she knew she still wasn't the right color.

Taking an extra moment, Orange pulled herself from her hunched position and righted herself enough to turn over and fall onto her butt. Orange sat, folded in on herself as she sat hugging her knees to her chest, staring out the window. She recognized, in the back of her mind through hazy thoughts that White would be angry with her later, or maybe it was her guards that would be punished for allowing her to slip away, but Orange simply wanted to be alone at the moment.

Ever since she had accidentally shattered Pearl on Pink's station, she had attempted to keep her distance from every gem she normally interacted with, least they too meet the same fate. The only time she forced herself to really be near anyone was when White summoned her to start her lessons, and even then she had asked White's Pearl to remain on the far side of the room away from her, which White acquiescence to, if only so they could begin instead of arguing. Not that she and White argued. She and White had a certain understanding, she and her could talk about anything and everything, unless that everything became anything White was either uncomfortable discussing, couldn't discuss with her, or simply did not want to.

If Orange ever toed a line too much, White would caution her with a tone she recognized before she crossed it. White was open with her, and Orange did not have to try and guess what she could or couldn't talk with her about, she did not make Orange feel like she was performing for one of Pink's parties and jumping through hoops. Orange appreciated the open honestly they had, the level of trust White must have placed in her to talk about things the way they did, and tell her honestly when she couldn't.

But today's lessons, the way White pushed her even when she said she didn't want to continue, the way she implied Orange was failing not only as a Diamond, but Homeworld as well, hurt. It felt like the dynamic they shared, and she had come to love and rely on, had been shifted completely right from under her feet, leaving her to trip and stumble in a new, unrecognized pattern. And when she hadn't been able to exactly find her way, White had pushed her through it again. Had forced her to tap into whatever it was inside her that sparked alive when she was pushed too far. It had felt so wrong, like the tug she remembers feeling had become a taut tether around her that was being pulled from her grasp even as she tried to stop it, a burning that scorched her but left no visible marks for her to count off, only a dull ache in her chest and uncomfortably heated skin.

She trusted White to help her through this, even if it scared her. But, sitting here alone, Orange only felt tired, and questioned why she should be learning this at all. What if it didn't work? What if she never managed to control this...awful power. What if she hurt one of the other Diamonds? It seemed smarter to just lock her away, where she couldn't hurt anyone else. Maybe she could ask to stay in a room like this, so she could at least see the sun rising over Homeworld. Everyone could be safe, and happy, without her.