Chapter Text
Soon Pearl’s life was filled with things happening.
There was always something to do. She trained with Amethyst, weapon after weapon after weapon. She grew steadily better with each, feeling strong and steady when she held them in her hands.
She practiced summoning her own weapon, in the ways that all the other Gems had taught her. All of them still failed to work, which was horribly frustrating. Yet somehow it could be relaxing, too. Garnet's method especially. It was peaceful.
The Crystal Gems began taking her on missions. At first, she just watched the fights with Gem monsters, learning and admiring the warriors’ techniques. Then she was allowed to join in the fights herself, and while she was shaky and slow compared to the others, she was still something. Still useful, even just a little bit.
On their missions, they warped to new, fascinating places. After the battles are finished, artefacts secured, Rose— and Garnet— always gave Pearl a chance to explore. Even stuffy Amethyst came along sometimes. There were such amazing places to see. A flat, stretched out land of orange dirt, filled with creatures in the most bizarre of shapes. Long necks, or dizzying stripes, or prehensile nose— those ones were even bigger than Rose! A place so cold that the ocean had frozen over completely, and all the animals came in pure white so as to blend in. Forests so thick with trees and vines that Pearl could barely move through them, where the air was filled with humidity, and the hoots and songs of creatures unseen. Rivers of roaring water, mountains of bubbling lava, canyons of vibrant red. There was so much.
Pearl saw… other things, too. Magnificent buildings, magical Temples. Many damaged. All abandoned.
They fascinated her. Pearl desperately wanted to learn more, and many times, she nearly asked, but each time, something stopped her.
There was a heaviness to these places. Occasionally Amethyst would stop in front of one, and just stare at the ruins, speechless. Garnet would walk past them without sparing them a glance. Even Rose, who was otherwise always overflowing with enthusiasm, went stony and silent around them, sometimes.
Pearl wanted to know, but she wasn’t sure if she’d like what she learned.
There were other things to learn about, though. Pearl learned about the Earth, its animals and its plants. She learned about magic— how to make her gem glow and project images, how to activate warp pads.
Then she asked about how the warp pads worked, where did the streams go, how were they powered? She wondered how birds flew, how did volcanoes keep hot, what were stars were made of, how far away were they, how could interstellar travel be accomplished?
The questions went on and on and on. The Crystal Gems did their best to answer them all, but sometimes even they didn’t know. Rose began returning from those missions still too dangerous for Pearl to go on with scrolls, scripts and texts to read. Pearl poured over them, learning all that they could teach her.
She and Rose visited with the humans a fair amount, as well. And when Rose and the others were busy, Pearl would sometimes go alone.
The humans were confusing— but entreatingly so. Pearl never quite knew what to expect with them. Rose helped explain, but so did Oota Dabun. Her explanations were always straightforward and clear. Pearl appreciated that. Rose was wonderful, but she had a habit of getting sidetracked, slipping into poetry, or going off on a tangent and getting completely distracted from the original subject.
But if Pearl noticed some human activity which made no sense, Oota would simply and plainly explain what it was, then teach her how to do it herself. “We always need more hands,” she would say.
(‘She’, not ‘they’. That was something Pearl had learned about humans. There were two main types: women and men. While women used ‘she’ and ‘her’ like Gems did, men used ‘he’ and ‘him’. There were other humans who apparently used both pronouns, or others entirely, but already this system had seemed needlessly complicated to Pearl, who had trouble distinguishing any of these apparently important but subtle identity markers).
So Pearl learned human things, too, from Oota Dabun. How to carve, to stitch, to weave, to start fires, to track animals, to ride horses, to catch fish, to tell when a storm was approaching. Though she still found eating unpleasant, Pearl nonetheless learned how to prepare food. Once she was shown how, she could cut roots and vegetables with a speed that left human onlookers gasping in awe.
That was a nice feeling. Nothing she did could impress her fellow Gems quite like that.
oOoOo
Amethyst was staring at a rock.
It was a good rock, all things considered. Nothing fancy, but good. Solid. A nice size for a satisfying throw. Kinda smooth, but still with some edges. Grey. That was a good rock colour.
“Stop that,” said Garnet.
“What?” said Amethyst. “I’m not doing anything!”
“You’re tapping your foot.”
Amethyst looked down. Sure enough, she was. She hadn’t noticed. “So? I can tap my foot. I’m a free Gem.”
“Hm.”
There was a stretch of silence, punctuated only by the sound of foot tapping.
“You’re upset,” Garnet said.
“Huh? No. I’m just bored. When’s Rose getting back? And Pearl,” she added, belatedly.
“You could have gone with them,” Garnet said.
“Pfft? To watch humans?” Amethyst snorted. “I’ll stay here, thanks.”
Garnet stared at her with an inscrutable expression. She said, “You don’t like Pearl.”
“Wh—what? Yes I do! Or, I mean, I don’t dislike her. She’s fine.”
And she was. Really. Definitely not a Homeworld spy, like Amethyst had originally been afraid of. And not some mindless drone, either. She was actually pretty smart. Learned quickly. Might even make a decent fighter someday, if she kept training.
The endless parade of questions was annoying, though. Who’d of thought that a Pearl could be such a chatter mouth?
“She’s fine,” Amethyst repeated.
“Then don’t act so grumpy around her,” said Garnet.
“I don’t.”
Garnet crossed her arms. Amethyst sighed heavily.
“Look. I do like Pearl, really. It’s just.” Amethyst scuffed her foot against the cave floor. “Why does Rose have to spend all her time with her?”
“She’s young. New. She has a lot to learn. Rose is excited to teach her.”
“Yeah, obviously. But she’s not some baby bird. She’s a Gem. She doesn’t need constant supervision.”
Rose doesn’t need to be with her all the time.
Garnet came to stand at Amethyst’s side, leaning against the cave wall. “You want her to spend time with you, instead.”
Amethyst opened her mouth to make sharp retort, but nothing came out. Garnet was right. She did.
She remembered how it had been, before. After they’d first ran off, after they’d first chose to rebel. Before Garnet, before Bismuth, or Biggs, or any of the others. Just the two of them, giddy with freedom, exploring Earth and all it had to offer.
“We were so busy during the war,” said Amethyst. “I thought that after it was over, we’d finally have time for each other. But we’re still busy— with building, and clean up, and catching those corrupted freaks—”
Garnet laid a hand on her friend’s head— the only part of her that she could easily reach. “Tell Rose how you feel.”
“I can’t.” Amethyst stared down at the rock. “It’s petty. Stupid.”
“If it was stupid, it wouldn’t bother you so much.” Garnet gave Amethyst a hearty pat on the head. “Talk to her. It’ll help.”
“You think?”
“I know.”
Amethyst rain her hand through her hair. “Fine. But I’ll need a time when Pearl’s not around.”
“Leave that to me,” said Garnet. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to her about.”
oOoOo
Pearl sat and shifted, trying to find a comfortable position on the grass, which was starting to turn a scratchy yellow in the long summer heat. Eventually she gave up, and resolved to ignore the itchiness. She looked at Garnet, sitting across from her. “What did you want to show me?” she asked. “Is this about weapon summoning?”
“Nope,” Garnet said. She was smiling. That was unusual. Garnet didn’t smile a lot. “I wanted to ask you a question, actually.”
“Ah… okay.”
“You know about different Gem types,” Garnet said. That was more of a statement than a question, but Pearl nodded anyway. She had a lot of programmed knowledge about Gem models. She knew about Diamonds, of course, and Quartzes, but also Turquoises, Topazes, Pyrites, Morganites, Onyxes… Pearl was about to start reciting what she knew when Garnet said, “Do you recognise me?”
“Er… no,” Pearl confessed. She blushed.
That was another thing that had been nagging at her. Pearl hadn’t been able to place Garnet, or her exact purpose. Not that purpose seemed to matter very much, after all. Nonetheless, the not knowing bothered her. Automatically Pearl’s hand reached up to her forehead, tracing the misshapen, oblong edges of her gem.
Garnet took Pearl’s hand to stop her, and gently pulled it back down. “It’s alright,” she said. “I don’t expect you to know what I am.” She smiled even wider. “I’m a fusion.”
“A fusion?” Pearl said. She wracked her mind for information, but nothing came up.
Garnet held out her hands, palms up. There was a gem in her right hand… and another on her left. Two.
Pearl frowned. She’d noticed Garnet’s gem positioning, known it was in her palm, but somehow she’d never noticed that Garnet had had two of them. She hadn’t even known that was possible.
Two. Pearl thought about that, and thought about the word ‘fusion’, what it meant. Multiple things, combined into one.
“Perhaps I’d better demonstrate,” said Garnet, and there was amusement in her voice. She took off her glasses and winked.
She then promptly dissolved into white light.
Pearl would have panicked, but she didn’t have time. Instead she stared, open mouthed, as the light resolved into two smaller ones, one red, one blue. The two lights focused, condensed, and turned into Gems. They smiled at her.
“Hello,” said Ruby and Sapphire, together.
oOoOo
Amethyst stood on a vein of the Crystal Heart, staring up into the soft pink light above. She took a deep breath then shouted, “Rose!”
“Amethyst?” came Rose’s reply, a little distracted.
“Can I come up?”
“Of course!”
Amethyst gripped the vein and scrambled up it, emerging a moment later into a field of clouds. Rose stood not far away, surrounded by a floating flock of… birds?
No, not birds. Weird, leafy bulbs in colours of green, brown, and rusty red. They orbited Rose like little planets, while the mighty Gem held another one in her hand. That particular one may have been real, but it was always hard to tell in this place.
“What are these?” Amethyst asked.
“Onions!”
“Onions.”
“Yes, a vegetable, see here.” Rose pulled Amethyst close to look. “When you pull away these dry leaves, you find the juicy part inside. It’s very bitter raw— it only becomes sweet when cooked.”
“Neat,” said Amethyst, who could never help but be endeared by Rose’s newest horticultural obsessions.
“But that isn’t even the best part!” Rose dug her nails into the onion’s flesh, then shoved it into Amethyst’s face.
Amethyst peered closer, trying to find what Rose wanted to show her— but then backed away quickly as a sharp stinging filled her eyes. “Woah! Ow!”
“It makes you cry!” cried Rose gleefully. “It makes you cry, and humans still eat it!”
“Well. That’s something,” Amethyst said, because there wasn’t much else that could be said in the face of humans’ unflinching weirdness. “Useful, though.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“Well, like, if you’re ever having trouble with the healing tears…”
“Oh! Oh, very clever, Amethyst!”
Amethyst beamed under the praise. Even now, the smallest of Rose’s compliments still filled her with warmth. She would have happily kept on the conversation about onions, just to keep that warmth alight. But…
Amethyst pulled away, pushing some of the floating vegetables aside. “Rose,” she said. “What do you think of Pearl?”
“Pearl? Why do you ask?”
Amethyst shrugged.
“Oh, well— she’s certainly something, isn’t she?” said Rose. “Very bright, very sweet. Always searching for new things to learn. She’s been picking up combat quickly— you’ve been teaching her well.” A dark cloud passed across her bright face. “We could have used more like her in the war…”
Amethyst’s hands curled into fists. She knew the dangers of ‘what ifs’, and refused to delve into them just then. “Is that… all?”
“All?” Rose looked quite puzzled.
“I mean… do you…” Amethyst floundered, as she so often did, with things like this. There were never the right words. “Do you like her?”
“Of course I do!”
Amethyst scowled. “I mean— the way Ruby and Sapphire do.” Wait— no, that wasn’t right. “The way… you and I…”
Rose’s eyes turned soft. “Amethyst… what’s brought this on?”
“I—” Amethyst’s face was hot. “It’s just— the way she looks at you.”
Rose blinked. She appeared quite taken aback. “Looks at me?”
Amethyst gave her a pointed look.
“Oh… oh dear. Do you really think…?”
“Yeah,” said Amethyst. “And, well, you two have been spending a lot of time together.”
“Ah. Well.” Rose was blushing, and no matter the circumstance, that was always a rare pleasure to see. “I certainly didn’t intend… In that case, I may have to talk to her… Oh, but you needn’t worry.” Rose bent down, cupping Amethyst’s small face in her huge hands. “There’s no one quite like you, my Amethyst.”
“Well, yeah,” Amethyst said, blushing deep purple herself. “Obviously. Just good to hear, y’know?”
Rose laughed.
Amethyst laughed too. “I can’t say I blame Pearl,” said Amethyst. “You really are amazing.”
There was a cascade of pink curls as Rose Quartz swept Amethyst up into her arms. “So are you!”
And then they were giggling helplessly, and spinning, dizzy, lips being pressed against lips… there was a flash, a purple cloud blooming among the pink.
Smoky Quartz stood, stretching her arms up, cracking the knuckles on two of her hands. She blew a lock of hair out of her face and grinned. “Just like old times.”