LOG-053.

  Her hand gently brushed against one of the metallic green walls, even as Rose continued to slowly step deeper into the newly revealed chamber, feet digging into the ground to keep her descent controlled as she steadily made her way down the long slope.

  "...Has this been here the whole time?" Well, clearly. The Kindergarten must have been controlled from somewhere after all. The station for it being underground should have been obvious, in hindsight.

  She'd simply never been privy to the minute details of the colony, unfortunately.

  Sighing softly, the Gem let her hand fall away from the wall's warm surface before raising it up to her mouth once more, eyes narrowing slightly as her surroundings began to transition from near total darkness to a rather well lit area, for a place so deep below the earth.

  "Harlequin?! Are you...there...?"

  Clank.

  She blinked as what seemed to be a strangely dressed holo Pearl set down what appeared to be a segmented part of...what might have been some kind of drill? The holographic construct instead turning to face her with bright green eyes.

  Rose hesitated as the translucent servitor stared back at her, before letting out a bemused smile.

  "Uhm...hello? Is...are you Pearl's?"

  Her smile fell like a rock as the hologram shifted, eyes brightening as its arms rose up, intertwining until they made a horrific gesture she'd hoped to never see again.

  "I..."

  Yet no matter what she could say, reality didn't abruptly change to reflect her wishes. Instead, the holo Pearl remained in its new pose, limbs contorted into a picture perfect Diamond salute.

  Then, just as the sheer level of implications that particular action represented began to press in on her mind, a new voice echoed from somewhere further inside the chamber.

  "Hello, Rose."

  Turning, the first thing she saw was the Gem's eyes. A distinctly luminous green. Not quite Viridian's shade, but nowhere near blue enough to resemble Pearl's either. Rose's own eyes continued to widen as the fusion stepped forward, her vision roving over the new Gem's lightform.

  She hadn't seen a proper jester's outfit in...almost a century now. The green figure's ensemble certainly brought back fascinating memories, to say the very least. It reminded her of back during the times she'd occasionally made an effort to interact with various royals and other leaders, alongside their retinues of advisers. Usually to ward them away from areas within their territories actively infested with Corrupted Gems.

  The jesters had always been fascinating to converse with, though the one now in front of her felt fascinating in a distinctly altogether more terrifying way.

  Worse was the fact that this particular variant (part of her wondered just what had inspired her lightform's design, and why) was performing the exact same gesture as the Holo Pearl across from Rose, her eyes tracking the leader of the Crystal Gems with an almost alarming degree of precision.

  "...Harlequin! I..."

  She hated how weak and strangled her voice sounded. Hated how the smile she tried to put on trembled and faltered in the face of the fusion's unceasing stare.

  And almost as if noticing that hate, or perhaps her hesitation, the other Gem faltered in turn, glancing down at her hands and quickly lowering them to instead spread her hands out placatingly.

  "My apologies, my...Rose." The fusion twitched, stare briefly turning into a scathing glare, though she didn't really feel like it was being directed at her specifically. Instead, Harlequin's hand rose up, fingers worriedly tapping against the side of her head.

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  "Enough, both of you! Get a hold of yourselves...!"

  Whispering tangent apparently finished, her vision flicked back to Rose, the big Pearl awkwardly lowering her hand.

  "S-sorry. I'm...still quite new to this. My components have been trying to keep secrets. From each other. From me. Though I've been making progress getting them to open up. Bit by bit."

  Then her eyes widened in turn as she apparently took in her counterpart's discomfort, the tall Gem (Stars, she could actually look her in the eyes!) quickly stepping forward. Rose almost made to flinch back, only to pause as the fusion took her hands into her own, a reassuring, if slightly brittle smile on her face.

  "It's alright! It's...It's just us down here for now. And Viridian won't talk! Neither will I."

  Gulping, Rose glanced down at her hands, fingers intertwined with Harlequin's own.

  "Pearl ah...Pearl told you?"

  The fusion visibly hesitated, a conflicted expression colouring her features as she ducked her head.

  "I...yes. It took a bit of doing. Your previous order kept her from revealing your origins and...well there were a few hiccups. Nearly defused twice, but I kept them together. Needed to. Still need to. I'm not done. Not yet."

  ...What?

  Before she could even try to question that particular set of statements, she was being pulled along by the large Pearl, the other Gem talking quickly.

  "Pearl-your Pearl, she knew important details. Your true existence, obviously. And-and Viridan also knew information I needed. About how we could deal with the problem on our hands. But they were both hiding it. From me. From each other. Just...being needlessly secretive! Because they're both stupid. I...I had to do something! So I did and-well we can worry about that later. What's more relevant is the Cluster. Come here, look at this."

  And then they were suddenly in front of some kind of terminal, the fusion gesturing to a large, vaguely round yet jagged looking shape with a hand, the other limb still clasped around Rose's arm.

  "Coordinates and-and general size. There's millions of them, Rose. Millions of Gem shards all being forced together into a worse and worse congregation. Rebel and Imperial alike. Most of our shattered friends are down there. Lost. S-suffering. Worse than those initial experiments Viridian and Amethyst dealt with. But we can help them. We just need to-"

  ...Millions? No. No but-how could they have-they'd buried them-

  The green Gem paused, glancing to the side as a choked gasp filled the air.

  It was just as the first tears were beginning to fall, as the sheer scale and horrible, soul breakingly true meaning of what Rose was looking at finally began to really dawn upon her, that she felt a pair of thin arms wrap around her form.

  They spent the next few moments like that in a tense silence. Rose's body shuddering while Harlequin held on to her in a tight embrace, occasionally patting the pink Gem on the back.

  And then...

  "I know...I know it's...terrible. But we need to act. Need to fix it. While it's still dormant. Before they wake up, Rose."

  The fusion shuddered, and it was only then that Rose realised that, in her own idiotic, worthless selfishness, she'd somehow completely missed the fact the other Gem was crying as well, silent tears streaming down her light green cheeks. And yet that somehow didn't stop the impossibly determined, focused expression from forming on her face.

  Nor did it stop Rose from slowly becoming more and more captivated as Harlequin grabbed hold of her, eyes narrowing as she brought the rebel leader closer.

  "There's other problems as well, but this is the biggest one. I've been working on a drill. You've seen some of the components already, I think. We can repurpose the Roaming Eye as a hull if needed, though some basic shield systems from your old ship would definitely make things...safer. But most importantly, we'll need..."

  Then the fusion noticed the slight blush on her counterpart's face, and flushed herself, entire form seeming to glow for a moment as that same conflicted expression returned.

  For just a second, Rose feared she was going to split apart, back into her components. And yet, the glow was forced down, the fusion turning angry.

  "Urgh! Get a hold of yourself! Now isn't the damned time for your infatuation!"

  That...almost sounded like Viridian. If significantly more forceful. Then the anger subsided, briefly replaced by shame before Harlequin shook her head rapidly, and it was only then that Rose noticed the bells attached to her hat, the little things jingling gently with the motion.

  "Rose? Rose, pay attention."

  Blinking at the snapped finger in front of her, she did her best to force down the hint of embarassment she felt, instead nodding quickly.

  "R-right. What...what were you saying?"

  Harlequin's eyes glowed, before she rolled them in visible exasperation. "No wonder you're falling for Greg if that's all it takes. Hmph. Now, what I was saying is...is that we need Pink."

  Any thought of responding the previous comment died. Her mouth opened, only to shut as a green hand clapped over it, the fusion staring down at her own limb in shock before shaking her head.

  "Just-just listen to me Rose. The Cluster-they're all looking for direction. Trying to remake their lightforms, even though most of their gemstones are gone. They...they need direction. The Crystal Gems will listen to Rose Quartz. But the Imperial fragments? Our best shot is that they're coherent enough to recognize the authority of a Diamond...hopefully."

  Harlequin sighed, expression darkening.

  "I know you don't like it-believe me, I know. But if we're going to handle this we're going to have to deal with doing things we aren't usually comfortable doing, understand?"

  "Mmph."

  Blinking, the fusion removed her hand from Rose's mouth, awkwardly wiping it off on one of her cuffs.

  "What was that?"

  Smacking her lips, the hidden Diamond let loose a watery giggle.

  "I...I really wasn't expecting my evening to begin like this."

  Harlequin's response was a blank stare for a moment, before the fusion's stony expression finally cracked, the large Pearl joining the Diamond in her slightly hysterical giggling.