Author's Note: I went all out on this chapter. I got super extra with the details, and I was cracking up with the folks on Discord while writing it. Without further ado...
Let's dive in:
Blue Diamond maintained an erect posture in her seat, her hands resting elegantly on the armrests as the display finished stabilizing.
Yellow light flooded the bridge, and gradually, the imposing figure of Yellow Diamond took form.
Her silhouette was rigid and angular, as if she were marking her territory even through a transmission.
For a few seconds she said nothing, observing intently, analyzing every subtle gesture from her sister.
Blue Diamond tilted her face slightly with an almost rehearsed composure.
Blue Pearl remained to one side in absolute silence, her eyes lowered and her attention fixed on the transmission.
Finally, Yellow Diamond spoke.
"Blue..." she said, her voice firm, yet less sharp than usual. "It has been cycles since we last received direct reports from you. Your appearances at the councils have been... sparse."
Blue blinked slowly, as if the observation carried no weight at all.
"The Empire has not ground to a halt in my absence. Everything continues to run with precision, as always." It was clear this was not the first time they had gone through this.
Yellow frowned slightly. "That does not answer my question." Yellow wore a look that clearly communicated, Who do you think you're fooling?
A brief silence settled between them—the kind that was not uncomfortable, but certainly tense. Blue let out a soft sigh, leaning forward ever so slightly.
"I have been busy," Blue answered calmly. "Pending matters. Old ones. Things that require... personal attention. You know, the sort of things I've been doing since Era 2."
Yellow crossed her arms. "Personal matters? Era 2?" Yellow repeated, a tinge of disbelief in her voice. "It is unlike you to set aside imperial responsibilities for... feelings. Or am I mistaken?"
Blue offered an almost imperceptible smile. "Curious that you mention it. I thought you, of all Gems, would understand that certain things do not simply vanish just because we choose to ignore them."
Yellow's gaze hardened for an instant before softening again. "I am not here to debate human philosophy, Blue. I am... concerned."
The word lingered in the air. Blue raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised, though she did not entirely show it.
"Concerned?" Blue repeated with a flicker of interest.
"You have been distant," Yellow continued. "Inactive. Delegating more than usual. Even White has noticed your absence."
Blue lowered her gaze for a split second—just long enough so it appeared thoughtful rather than evasive.
I need to calculate my next move. I can't let White control me, she thought with a trace of fear, but she pressed on.
"White always notices everything," Blue said in a neutral tone. "That does not mean she must always intervene."
"It means your state is relevant," Yellow countered. "You are a pillar of the Empire. When one of us becomes destabilized, the entire system suffers for it—just as it did with Pink."
Blue shook her head slowly. "I am not destabilized. Besides..." she added with a touch of hostility, "do not mention Pink." She spat it out with disdain.
"Then explain it to me," Yellow demanded, though her tone was no longer as aggressive following Blue's last remark. "Explain why you have gone so long without issuing direct orders, why your courts are on pause, why you have spent more time outside the core than within it."
Blue interlaced her fingers, gazing at the reflection of space on the display as if the stars were a convenient distraction.
"Because I needed distance."
"From what?" Yellow asked point-blank.
Blue took a moment longer to reply.
"From decisions I did not make. From mistakes we continue to pay for. From... memories that simply will not fade, no matter how many decades pass."
Silence returned, heavier this time. Yellow studied her closely, as if searching for cracks, fractures—anything that would justify a more direct intervention.
"Does this have to do with Earth?" she asked at last.
Blue did not answer right away. Her eyes settled on an indefinite point beyond the screen.
"Earth is... a remnant," she said slowly. "One of the last."
"Of Pink's," Yellow completed.
Blue gave a barely visible nod.
Yellow let out a heavy breath. "Blue, we have discussed this before. The planet is inefficient. It consumes resources, harbors unnecessary life, and symbolizes a deviation that White made clear must not be repeated."
"And yet it remains," Blue replied softly. "Intact. Alive, just as Pink wanted."
"Out of indulgence," Yellow answered. "Out of patience. Not utility."
Blue looked at her directly then. "And do you believe everything must exist solely for utility?"
Yellow set her jaw. "I believe the Empire cannot be built upon nostalgia."
"Perhaps not," Blue conceded. "But neither can it stand solely on orders we cannot defy—or at least, not always."
Yellow shook her head. "You are speaking like Pink."
The sentence struck like a quiet blow. Blue did not flinch, but something in her expression hardened for a second.
"Pink was a Diamond too," she said with restrained firmness. "No matter how convenient it may be for many to forget it." She said it with fury.
Yellow remained silent for a few moments.
"I did not come to reproach you," she said finally. "I came to know if you are still... yourself."
Blue let out a short, almost mournful laugh. "I never stopped being myself."
"Then prove you remain committed," Yellow said. "The matter of the human zoo has resurfaced. There are... discussions."
Blue Pearl glanced up for a second, only to lower her eyes again immediately.
"I figured," Blue answered. "That is why I am en route."
Yellow raised an eyebrow. "En route?"
"To the sector," Blue clarified. "I want to personally inspect the state of the zoo. Evaluate. Decide."
Blue stared into the void. "Whether it still deserves to remain operational over the coming centuries."
"That could be interpreted as interference," Yellow warned.
"Or as responsibility," Blue countered. "It was a creation tied to Pink. It is only logical that I handle it, as someone who took charge of the majority of Pink's Gems."
Yellow studied her intently. "You will not oppose a correction if one is deemed necessary."
Blue met her gaze. "I will not oppose a conversation."
"Blue," Yellow said, her tone growing stern. "White will not have infinite patience."
"No one does," Blue responded calmly. "Which is why we must do things properly."
Another silence formed, less tense and more reflective. Yellow lowered her arms slightly.
"It has been a long time since we spoke like this," she admitted. "Without commands. Without judgment—or at least the most we can manage without White present."
Blue nodded. "Perhaps it was needed."
Yellow hesitated for a beat. "If this is affecting you more than you care to admit..."
"I will manage," Blue interrupted gently. "I always do."
Yellow sighed. "Very well. If you are going to get involved, let us address it directly."
Blue tilted her head. "My thoughts exactly."
"Then tell me," Yellow said. "When?"
Blue glanced at a side console, as if her answer were already prepared. "In three cycles or fewer—depends on my mood. At the human zoo."
Yellow frowned. "That is a touchy mood."
"Precisely," Blue replied.
Yellow held her silence for a few seconds more, then gave a slow nod. "Agreed."
Blue Pearl briefly raised her head, surprised to witness two Diamonds gathering at a single point once again.
"I will be there," Yellow continued. "But do not expect indulgence."
"I have never asked for it," Blue said.
Yellow looked at her one last time. "Take care of yourself, Blue."
The transmission began to fade.
"I always do," she answered, just as Yellow Diamond's image disappeared completely.
The bridge fell quiet, accompanied only by the soft hum of the vessel. Blue Diamond closed her eyes for a brief moment, breathing deeply, before opening them once more to fix her gaze on the empty expanse of space, where Earth awaited—small, fragile, and laden with memories the Empire never learned how to erase.
Blue Diamond observed her Pearl for a few seconds, evaluating her in silence, as if arranging thoughts that had yet to take full shape.
The glow of the screens reflected on her face, cold and serene, though internally her mind refused to stand still.
"Pearl, we go to Earth first, just as you planned," she said at last in a quiet voice. "That will be more than enough before we head to the zoo."
"As you command, my Diamond," Blue Pearl answered without hesitation, sliding her fingers with precision across the control panels to input the new coordinates. Her tone was soft, mechanical, yet efficient.
Blue rested her elbow on the armrest of her seat, bringing a hand to her chin.
"Ah... right," she added, as if suddenly remembering something of minor importance. "From Homeworld, leave three Emeralds, if possible."
Pearl nodded, taking notes rapidly.
"And two Morganites as well," Blue continued with a faint, distracted gesture. "I want something new at my base. I feel... we ought to update ourselves."
There was no reproach or urgency in her words—only a quiet desire for change, the passing whim of a massive, statuesque Gem.
"Understood, my Diamond," Pearl replied, recording every detail on her pad.
Blue paused briefly, watching the void ahead of the ship.
"And an Aquamarine," she added. "Just... because."
Pearl didn't ask. She simply nodded once more.
Both continued working in silence, each absorbed in her role. Yet Blue Diamond's mind was far from the controls and the directives.
Her thoughts drifted back, time and again, to Pink—to what was, to what she failed to do, to what she might have corrected had time been more forgiving.
If Pink were still alive, she thought, she would have tried to mend every mistake—every harsh word, every decision made from a place of authority rather than guidance.
But Pink was not alive. All that remained were fragments, memories, and a planet that refused to perish.
Those were Blue Diamond's thoughts—thoughts she had replayed for millennia, always the same, constantly returning like a tide that never fully recedes. Concepts she relived over and over, as though thinking them could somehow bring her back.
Her sister?
Her daughter?
A romantic interest?
Not even she knew for certain.
She only knew that Pink had been something singular in her existence—something that shattered the rigidity of the Empire and left a void that neither time, nor obedience, nor silence could ever fill.
Blue tightened her fingers slightly against the arm of her throne, feeling that eternal knot in her chest that had never unraveled.
Perhaps, just perhaps, she thought with a bitter ray of hope she dared not display, some higher force—some god she had heard faint rumors of among lesser species—might decide to grant her an answer. Not to erase the past, not to fix it, but at least to understand it.
The vessel glided imperturbably through the void while Blue Diamond remained trapped in the very memory that had kept her company for millennia, waiting—even if in silence—that this time, destiny might have something different in store for her.
End of Chapter 73.