Altschemerz

Pearl put a clip in her short pale hair, then hastily removed it. She didn’t feel right in black. She didn’t even own black, save a few shirts. She tried to pull down on the short dress she had borrowed from Peridot. She had way too much leg for it and she felt inappropriate. She began to dig through her dresser for tights.
“Erm… Pearl?” Peridot edged in the doorway. She was fidgety and couldn’t manage to look Pearl in the eyes.
“Hey Peri! Almost ready to go?” Pearl swiveled around with a pasted smile on her face.
“I… I just want to say I'm sorry… I know you guys were… close. If there's anything-”
“It’s okay,” Pearl interrupted. Peridot was squirming in the doorway. She was never good at emotional interaction. And the circumstances just made it worse. Pearl was embarrassed for confiding in her sister but she had had little choice.
A silence hung suspended in the air for a moment before Pearl shattered the uncomfortable tension, saying something about needing to get ready. She closed the door and sank to the floor, only barely refraining from tears.
It was going to be a long day.

“This is totally inappropriate,” gasped Ruby as she quickly pulled away and grabbed for her bra. Sapphire sighed and fell back.
“You're right…”
They both sat for a moment, pondering the scenario they were in. Ruby reconnected and looked at Sapphire’s stunning blue eyes. You would never guess she was legally blind in the right one. She was simply stunning. Ruby leaned in to steal another passionate kiss. They embraced lips as though they were always meant to be together, even in the worst of situations.
“It’s… just our way of coping,” reasoned Sapphire.
“Mmm, I suppose you're right, my Laughy Sapphy,” responded a purring Ruby as she ran her hands down Sapphire’s spine. They pulled together again, lips barely touching when suddenly Sapphire pulled away and diverted her attention to the door.
“Someone’s coming.” The two scrambled to put their clothes back on. Ruby had a smaller tight black dress that was giving her curves the justice they deserved. Sapphire instead sported a long, dark dress with a flowing skirt. Ruby wrestled a while with her insane curls before Sapphire came over giggling and convinced her it was a lost cause.
As predicted, a knock came to the door.
“You guys better not be fucking again,” mused a bored Amethyst.
Sapphire opened the door, “Hey, roomie. You almost ready?”
“I’ve been ready for hours, Jesus Christ. Let’s just get this over with.”
Ruby rolled her eyes at Amethyst’s insensitivity. It didn’t surprise her that Amethyst was unable to find some emotional respect even for something as serious as this, but she had hoped for a moment. She was too optimistic.

The crew met Pearl and Peridot on the steps in front of the church. It was an admittedly rag tag group of girls. You couldn’t expect much more from a couple of teenagers. They just stood a moment not really sure what to say, until Sapphire broke the silence.
“Are we ready then?”
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Amethyst scoffed, not as rowdy and playful as her usual manner though. She was unable to look up from the ground.
Sapphire, Ruby, Amethyst, and Pearl walked into the ornate church and found themselves in front of Rose’s peaceful face. The five of them were reunited at last.
Sort of.