LOG-140.

  There had been questions. And shouting. And accusations. And then even more questions.

  But in the end, Fawn weren't stupid, and could see an incredible opportunity when they saw one. It was why I'd been given so much priority in the group after all, as a Diamond's Pearl.

  All in all, my gamble appeared to have tentatively paid off, which was relieving enough that my shoulders genuinely felt just a little lighter as I marched into Yellow's palace.

  While my overall strategy was still horrifically loose, the logic behind it made sense. At least to me, and once I explained it to them, to the rest of Fawn. Namely the procurement of soft power, and the procurement of hard power.

  The ultimate goal, of course, was to be able to go back to Earth, and for Earth itself to remain safe.

  Not exactly a simple task, but entirely doable if enough things went right.

  The soft side of things was already in place and actively working, as far as all my various investigations could tell. The lithoplague was a horror story that had spread like a…well, like a plague throughout the Empire, and as far as I could tell Yellow was of the opinion that the entire system was simply cursed and should be ignored at all costs.

  With Blue Diamond currently stuck in a bubble, that eliminated the two most likely Imperial Gems to have any reason of making a decision regarding the system that didn't fall down to "for the love of fuck avoid it."

  Which was good! With a bit of luck and a lot of effort on my part, the Empire likely wouldn't even look at Pink's failed colony ever again, and no sane Imperial Gem would ever willingly go there.

  But insurance was, in my mind, mandatory. And that was where the hard power came in.

  Getting Fawn involved had been a significant risk, but if any rebel faction could be trusted with that kind of information, it was them. Stories of The Renegade Pearl still circulated throughout even the lowest channels of the organisation, and my confirmation that Vanilla was alive and had effectively been Pink Diamond's defacto enforcer the entire time?

  Well, mixed opinions, of course. Given the nature of Pearls and all that. But there were more positive reactions than negative ones, and that was important. The Crystal Gems had been the inspiration to all modern insurgent forces. The original rebels. The first Gems to rise up against the Empire's oppression. The trailblazers.

  The hidden Diamond in charge of said trailblazers was also one of the most important factors, when it came down to it.

  Rebels couldn't reproduce. They couldn't make new Gems. Not without effectively parasitizing on the Empire's Diamond essence reserves, something that, due to its very nature, was horrifically dangerous at the best of times. More often than not, recruits came from either captured and rehabilitated loyalists, or Gems fleeing the Empire and getting lucky enough to be picked up by friends rather than enemies.

  But with the existence and reality of the infamous Rose Quartz actually being Pink Diamond, a new future was placed in front of Fawn, one where Gem civilization could, at least in theory, continue beneath a less tyrannical grip.

  It was the ultimate motivator, having a future.

  Suffice to say, Earth had eyes on it from all directions now, and as I walked through the gilded halls of the palace, I knew that there were countless ships preparing to make the journey to the legendary Crystal System, setting course from various shadowports and hidden asteroid fields, with a few groups even emerging from their isolation in deep space.

  The blockade would need to be run, but specific (and more importantly trusted) elements of Flight had been contacted to facilitate that. White Glint herself, the rebel faction's nominal 'leader' supposedly had experience in getting right past Imperial patrols without being detected, so her skills would be put to use in getting countless Gems where they needed to go, without tipping off the enemy as to what they were up to.

  In addition, I'd provided recordings of myself, sent to the captains of the first fleets that would reach the system after the inter-galactic trip, once more for insurance's sake.

  Sure, waving a donut at the camera and asking everyone how they were doing before announcing that I'd made a few new friends felt a bit…silly, but the last thing we needed was the Crystal Gems assuming that the veritable armada descending on Earth was an Imperial invasion fleet, rather than the grand alliance of freedom fighting flotillas that it truly was.

  How that would shake out would be up to the Crystal Gems to figure out, and required an uncomfortable amount of faith on my end. But the math checked out. Getting others involved and actively sending rebel forces to use Earth as effectively a planet-wide shadow colony was mandatory, in case the deception I'd caught the entire Empire up in fell apart.

  Because if the wrong person went there, and the lie broke apart and the lithoplague was revealed to be a fabrication...Earth had no true defence aside from the Gems willing to fight for it.

  The more rebel Gems and infrastructure, the more parties interested in keeping Earth safe. The more parties interested in keeping Earth safe, the safer Earth was.

  And by using a rogue Pink Diamond as a potential rallying point for the various visitors the planet would be getting soon, we could form a faction that, in theory at least (I was using that term a lot, I realised), could actually contest the Empire's control of the world, and perhaps even other worlds, if given time.

  A lot of Fawn's leadership were already bandying around the codename Face, for whenever the new group ended up forming. An exceedingly optimistic stance from the generally paranoid network of Pearls, to say the very least.

  All in all, good things. Which inevitably led to the final argument. Namely my departure from Yellow Diamond's side.

  It was getting too dangerous. Never before had there been this much chaos in the Authority, which meant it was the perfect time for me to make an exit, before things stabilised and someone started poking through the inevitable datatrail I'd left throughout the entire Empire in my attempts to disrupt anything and everything I could.

  Fawn disagreed, but they acknowledged two things. The first being that trying to keep someone with my level of knowledge into a role against my will was a frankly terrible idea, and that I could serve just as important a role playing ambassador between the various factions that would be rubbing shoulders on Earth. Having a dedicated Fawn operative who knew Pink Diamond was invaluable to them, and they were willing to admit that.

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  But there was still so much that could be done, and so we reached a reasonable compromise.

  One last visit. One last task. Get into Yellow Diamond's chambers, assume control of her workstation, and copy every last piece of information on it before transmitting that information to a nearby receiver relay multiple Fawn cells had painstakingly spent the past few months setting up for just this kind of scenario.

  Homeworld security was tough to get around, but the Pearls were good at their jobs, so all I needed to do was get the data, and send it off. Then I could just go to any Warp pad, meet a contact at one of the many starports littering Homeworld, grab a ride on a freighter with a fabricated identification glyph, and finally be fucking out of here.

  That last thought continued to jumble in and around my mind as I finally made my way through the grand doors and entered the by now painfully familiar chamber, immediately noting that I'd apparently been lucky enough to-

  Unbidden, a snort escaped my nose. Yeah, luck. Like I'd leave Yellow Diamond conveniently being out of her office to mere luck. No, the golden warlord was currently undergoing an extraction session, presumably with her bubbled counterpart in tow, however that might work.

  So it was with a determined expression on my face that I jumped the distance from the ground to Yellow's throne, before settling atop one of the armrests, stepping on the appropriate glyph that would bring up her veritable wall of datascreens.

  The subsequent act of treason was…kind of underwhelming, all things considered. Sure, the content itself was important, but the action itself was effectively the equivalent of sending an email.

  Final task complete, I powered down the throne and allowed myself to fall backwards off of the armrest, flipping right side up seconds before hitting the ground and beginning to make my way back towards the doors.

  It was as I heard the unmistakable muttering of the Gem I'd been all but chained to for the past few months (well, closer to a year now, actually) that I had to repress the urge to tense up, instead plastering a perfect smile on my face as I emerged from Yellow's chambers to lock eyes with the Diamond herself.

  "Greetings your Radiance!"

  Did I sound ever so slightly chipper than normal? Maybe. But the tone actually managed to pull a small smile from my far larger counterpart, drawing her attention away from the golden bubble carefully grasped in her hand.

  "Viridian…back from Blue One, then. Good, good. I could use your help with some datawork, things have been…hectic."

  Nodding agreeably, I continued to proceed at an industrious pace, heading towards the doors that would lead out into the greater hallway beyond.

  "Of course my Diamond! I'll be right with you, I just need to settle a small matter involving a dispute between two guards near the entrance, if that's alright? The matter is well beneath your notice, but needs to be resolved regardless."

  The lie slipped between my lips as easily as breathing, and though there was a visible gleam of irritation in the Diamond's expression at yet another thing going wrong somehow, she nodded in acceptance, waving me off and turning to stare at the bubble again as I moved towards the door, its internal sensors detecting my presence and beginning to open as my gemstone was recognised.

  Good old Yellow, anything could be permitted, so long as it was in service to making the workload that much smaller-

  I froze as the doors opened just enough to reveal a pair of painfully white eyes staring back at me, a face not too dissimilar from my own trapped in a perfect smile urging every single part of my lightform to either flee, fight, or bow down and beg for mercy.

  The bleached Gem seemingly regarded me for a long moment, before calling out, a voice that couldn't possibly have belonged to the mouth it was coming from filling the air, even as the sound of heavy, monolithic footsteps echoed from further down the hallway.

  "Hello Sunshine, it's been a bit. I see you've gotten a new Pearl."

  Fight. Flight. Bow.

  My arms snapped up into a perfect salute as I stepped out of the wrong Gem's way, all but screaming out a warning, my tone flawless, the shrill that wanted to enter my voice carefully taken out back and shot before it fucked the rest of me over.

  "My Diamond! The luminous White Diamond appears to have arrived for a visit!"

  The warning wasn't needed, Yellow had frozen just like I had the second the puppet taking the shape of a Pearl had spoken, glancing up with wide eyes as the lithe ghost floated just enough to enter the room before taking her place next to me, arms spread wide in comparison to my own Diamond salute.

  Nonetheless, I stared forward, stock still just like the white Pearl as light filled the doorway, legs the size of small buildings briefly filling my vision and a cape that twinkled with the presence of countless stars trapped within it doing its level best to draw my gaze.

  I stubbornly kept said gaze locked in place as motherfucking White Diamond walked past me and the Pearl she'd reduced to little more than her mouthpiece, the sound of Yellow straightening and turning to face her filling my ears in the ensuing silence that followed.

  "...White? You…you've left your head…"

  There was an almost wondrous note to the Gem's voice, one that quickly went quiet with the clacking of a jaw shutting tight at the reproachful tone that followed in response to it.

  "Indeed, a consequence of your little tantrum. Did you get it out of your system? You really should release poor Blue, a Diamond shouldn't be reduced to such a state."

  If I had a functional spine, it would have straightened painfully at the gobsmacked silence. The conversational equivalent of that tingly feeling you get, right before lightning strikes.

  "...Tantrum? You think…you think this is a tantrum?!-"

  "Quiet."

  Just stay still. Just stay still. You are a Pearl. No one cares about Pearls. Just look pretty. Just stay still.

  "You have overreached, Sunshine. Honestly, taking Blue captive? Dominating her colonies? Usurping her Authority? Is it truly any real wonder that I've had to come out and tell you better-"

  Part of me wanted to wince terrible as Yellow snapped back a response, but I could all but feel the Pearl next to me stripping apart my lightform, as if trying to figure out what exactly I was made of.

  "Tell me better!? No! No, White. I've had enough of this…this foolishness! I have been trapped working away at keeping our Empire afloat for thousands of years. Blue has been less than useless, stuck grieving Pink. You've been hiding away in your head! And Pink-"

  "Sunshine."

  "-don't call me that! I am Yellow Diamond. I am the only Diamond that has been doing her job! And I deserve to be treated as such!"

  Just look pretty just look pretty just look pretty.

  "Sunshine."

  Silence. Maybe I could just sprint? Close the doors behind me and make a break for it? No, that would never work. The Pearl next to me would grab me before I could.

  "Let Blue go, now."

  "But-!"

  "Now."

  …

  "...No."

  Oh Stars. Oh God. Jesus. Buddha. Odin. Zeus. Whoever can get me out of here please do something, anything please-

  "...Very well, I tried to make it easy for you."

  There was a sound. A scream, presumably as the colour of gold was reduced to a horrible, pale white. Then the pop of a bubble, and the light tinking sound of a gemstone being set down on the ground.

  It was followed by that same sound, almost as if in reverse, and the moment it ended I could hear Yellow again, taking in heaving breaths, and judging by the way her voice sounded literally lower in the room than it did before…

  The Diamond had fallen to her knees, her counterpart presumably standing over her. Not that I could tell, seeing as I wasn't going to do something so stupid as to look with my own eyes.

  "This has been silly. Once Blue reforms, you'll apologise to her. You'll cease this notion of overriding her Authority and taking control of her Court. And as a gift…hm, you'll transfer Yellow One to her control for the next ten centuries. That ought to serve as a good lesson."

  Okay, okay. All was well. Just needed to keep pretending to be a piece of furniture until she left and-

  "And as for this interesting little Gem…green Pearl, face me."

  Oh Stars please no.

  While my turn was graceful, with a serene expression plastered across my face, all I could hear inside the confines of my own head was the everlasting stream of profanities I wanted to hurl at anything and everything.

  But I couldn't, because now I'd locked eyes with likely the closest thing I'd ever encounter that could be considered a living god.

  "Ah, the replacement. Poor thing, forced into a role you were never designed for. Cruel of my Sunshine, to keep you here…and another indication of how she's lost sight of what is proper for a Diamond to do."

  The urge to vomit was overwhelming, as those glowing orbs stared at me. Suppressing that feeling was, largely in part, only possible due to the fact that I didn't have the capacity to puke my stomach bile out.

  "Don't worry, I'll be sure to take good care of you."

  Her eyes lit up with a far more intense glow, and in that singular instant, I did the only thing I could.

  I kept up my salute, acknowledged the act with a small smile, and ensured my mask didn't falter even a little bit as the pure beam of light engulfed my form, the shades of green visible in the corners of my vision beginning to desaturate, my entire body being bleached from the inside out.

  There was nothing I could do now, besides hope that I'd find some way out of this later, eventually.

  And so I stared at the Diamond, her own expression almost seeming to soften a little as I maintained absolute, uncompromising perfection.

  Smiling. Serene. Helpless.

  The perfect slave. The perfect doll. The perfect Pearl.

  Even as my entire world finally turned completely white.