Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was going to be the worst day of Pearl’s life.

She glanced nervously at her phone repeatedly, shuffled about awkwardly and tried not to meet anyones gaze as she walked down the sandy street. ‘Beach City.’ Pearl glanced at the sea, it glistened and the waves lazily rolled onto the rocks and shore. It briefly calmed her down. ‘Filled with random people that somehow get by… It’s been a long time.’

Pearl looked away and began to grow nervous, she never had a nervous disposition of any kind. In fact, she was one of the most confident individuals that you would have the pleasure to meet and never missed an opportunity to prove it. However, today was not a good day.

Today…

She was moving in with Amethyst…

It made her groaned in irritation just thinking about it. The short girl, that she was friends with since they were children, wasn’t someone she was happy about staying with. She was loud, messy, obnoxious, irresponsible, and childish but Pearl deduced that the list of unpleasantries could go on and on.

Pearl kept whispering small positive and reassuring things to herself, such as ‘It’s not going to be for forever.’ and ‘I’m sure we can come to an agreement.’ She doubted on those statements.

‘Is this really the only option?’ But Pearl sighed with some irritation. It was unavoidable. If she wanted to get that job and successfully make herself a dancing career Pearl needed to move in with Amethyst.

The tall girl made it to the small flat on the outskirts of the town, it looked pleasant from the outside but Pearl could only imagine the horrors that awaited her within the walls. Grabbing her luggage with bitter distain, Pearl walked up to the front door and knocked three times quickly followed by two knocks after a pause. It was an odd habit she had, just one of many to be exact.

She heard some tumblings inside followed by some cursing, ‘the consequences of being an obsessive compulsive hoarder.’ Pearl rolled her eyes.

Amethyst’s hoard had worried her for years, she simply didn’t understand how someone could live like that, survive like that. At any moment one of those piles she made could collapse and pin her or worse, certainly she is young and would manage, younger than Pearl even. But it didn’t excuse the hazard that it possessed.

Not to forget the awful dust and grime that came with her questionable collections.

The door opened with a groan, it made her flinch and she wasn’t one to flinch at small things. But it could not compare to the jump of fright she had when she was tackled into a hug.

“Wow! You’re actually here!” Pearl looked down to the short girl.

All these years and her height is still the same.

Not to say that she never changed, Amethyst had much longer hair that was dyed in a much brighter lilac than she last remembered…

Nope, she really hadn’t changed that much.

“I mean… Not that I never expected you won’t arrive or anything…” She chuckled with a slight blush of embarrassment,  Pearl raised an eyebrow surprisingly. ‘It this what Amethyst thinks of me?’ She winced at that and shook the thought out of her head.

“Oh, well. Long time no see?” Pearl smiled politely, she never had the heart to come clean at her disappointment of staying with Amethyst. Despite the disagreements, she was still first and foremost Amethyst’s friend, family even with how they behaved back in their rebellious days.

However, Pearl could already see the messy piles of junk inside. She had to hold back a groan.

“Dude, it’s been years!” Amethyst playfully punched her arm, “is that all you have to say?” she laughed at that and Pearl looked down to her feet with a small flustered blush feeling slightly guilty.

Amethyst suddenly widened her eyes in surprise “oh! You’re gonna love this! Let me give you the tour!”

Pearl found herself caught by the younger girls arm and she was pulled into the dark, messy abyss that was the house that she would stay in for who knows how long. Looking back to the front door, the glow of the outside and fresh air got smaller and smaller.

In summary, she was not surprised with how it looked.

Junk was everywhere and piled up in the corners, some piles almost touched the ceiling: There were boxes piled on boxes, messy clothes and paper on the floor, a bicycle wheel? Some bottles of random carbonated drinks and fruit juice. In another pile, Pearl was surprised to say, she recognised as one of Amethyst’s prized piles, the pile of tin cans of all kinds, indiscriminate to the contents. If she was slightly more artistic and creative than she already was, Pearl would say that it symbolised diversity and probably referenced their old gang of the ‘Crystal Gems’. But like most ‘works of art’ and ‘masterpieces’ it was messy and crude, Pearl’s sense of perfection just wanted to stack it neatly, preferably with glue so that it wouldn’t fall over.

“This is it! The main junk room.” Amethyst crossed her arms and looked into the dense forest of random metal pipes and old equipment.

“You mean the living room?” Pearl elaborated,

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a ‘living’ room!” She chuckled, “Seriously, the about of dead spiders and stuff I find there makes it more like a ‘dead’ room. Like that room thing where you put dead stuff.”

“Like a mortuary?”

“Yeah, what did I say?” Amethyst had continued their journey and began moving trash about to make a path clear enough for them to get through. The tall dancer hyperventilated when a stack of paper almost fell onto of them.

“Your sense of balance definitely has taken superhuman qualities…” Pearl commented as she passed by a pile where a ball perfectly supported a box filled with sports equipment.

“Aww. Thanks!” Amethyst blushed, ‘It wasn’t supposed to be a compliment.’ Pearl gritted her teeth with a frown that Amethyst missed (or chose to miss.)

As Pearl continued being dragged by Amethyst deeper into her personal hell, she glanced round the house and made several more mental notes; piles of junk were everywhere, this was an undeniable fact, any sort of house plant she seen was wilting and dying and she could not accurately say how big some rooms were due to the excessive hoard. ‘who needs that many cardboard boxes?’

As they cambered over several stacks of random objects and shuffled round others, Pearl had made the unpleasant discovery of the kitchen. The room was not only messy, but dirty and Pearl could tell that it was frequently visited by how clear it was in comparison to the entrance. Her blood went cold when she seen tissues on the cooker.

“Here’s the life of the house! The kitchen!” Amethyst displayed it proudly,

“Amethyst, are you sure it’s safe to put tissues there?” Pearl tightened her grip on her luggage,

“Not to worry, I never use it.” Amethyst commented and they started walking away.

Pearl just kept breathing slowly, ‘It’s going to be okay,’ she thought, ‘There won’t be any fires or accidents, everything will be fine.’  The tall girl wondered what her room would be like, because if it was as messy as the kitchen she will have an anxiety attack of the worst kind. She wouldn’t even mind paying an ungodly amount of money to a hotel just to not stay in a potentially insect infested house.

Her adventures halted when she reached a simple white door. Pearl held her breath.

“Ta~da!~” Amethyst proclaimed and swung the door open.

She was impressed. The room was quite big and no trash pile was seen, a simple bed, desk and drawers decorated it and she had a lovely view of the sea with soft light blue walls easing her worries. Although there was still cobwebs in the corners and there was dust on the furniture, the tall girl grumbled, but she would take what she could get.

“So? What’d ya think?” Amethyst gave her the slyest of grins, but there was a hint of nervousness in her eyes.

“Oh Amethyst, I can’t believe that you done this!” Pearl gave her a small smile.

“Eh, I had some help.” Amethyst winked, her posture change reminded Pearl of a balloon being deflated, “you-know-who and who-you-know are eager to meet you!”

Pearl rolled her eyes, of course Garnet and Bismuth helped her. If anything they probably realised the massive headache she would get if there wasn’t at least one room that was tidy. She was excited to see them again and fondly smiled as the memories came flooding back.

“But you’re probably going to clean the rest of the house huh?” Amethyst crossed her arms and gave a small grin,

“You know it,” Pearl replied as she dropped her case near the bed, “I mean, who needs a box filled with cereal boxes? And the same cereal too!”

“You got me there,” Amethyst hummed, “just don’t touch anything that looks important.” Pearl raised her eyebrow again, a small smile played on her face. With everything she had seen, nothing looked important, “wait, wait, wait,” Amethyst cut herself off, “let me do it with you, at least then I know what you’re doing.” Pearl smile dropped, this new predicament was almost like being kept on a leash.

“Fine,” she grumbled, “at least this room is tidy.”

Pearl never knew that the phrase would become her mantra.

“I uh… Need to call Garnet and Bismuth,” Amethyst scratched the back of her head, “I kinda got the time wrong and I wanted them to meet up with you… sooo~” Pearl grinned, of course this would happen to Amethyst of all people. She could just hear them now, particularly Garnet pushing up her shades with a ‘I told you so,’ attitude.

“Then I’ll put my stuff away,” Pearl said, “that’ll give you some time to call them.”

“Sure! I’ll see ya!” Amethyst walked out and shut the door behind her, finally leaving the taller girl in the peace and tranquility of a (mostly) clean and tidy room.

Pearl started small and opened up her suitcase; putting clothes in the drawers, stationary and electronics into the desk, other objects such as her fencing equipment would remain in the bag that she had neatly put beside the dresser. It was a incredibly pleasant experience in comparison to the trip she had to get back to Beach City, that she had to admit, wasn’t as Physically stressful as it was mentally.

Beach City was where she met all her friends and she knew many residents here despite not being particularly close with them.

It was also where she met Rose… and where she was dumped by Rose after she found the ‘rock-star’ Greg Universe.

Pearl hummed momentarily, ‘I wonder how she is… Will she even remember me?’ She wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t, it almost seemed like Rose just never cared anymore. She shook her head and resumed her work.

Once she was finished with her belongings, Pearl sat on the bed and looked at the white door with a hint of dread. It was the same feeling someone would have if they were looking at a ticking time bomb, except perhaps not as dramatic. Pearl looked down at herself and scowled at the dust and grime that had gotten onto her clothes in that ‘tour’ that Amethyst gave her, she didn’t even show her the bathroom and that was suspicious.

Pearl sighed, the bathroom was probably dyed permanently into a purple due to the hair dye and had a barely working shower. She stood up and patted the dust off her body, ‘this can’t go on… I need to do at least something!’ going to the chest of drawers, Pearl pulled out an old plain T-shirt and some much more comfortable loose jeans. Her suit of armour against the darkness…

She threw them on (elegantly), put away her old clothes and then finally ventured once again into the wilderness that is Amethyst’s ‘home’. Technically it’s no longer just her home now that Pearl has moved in, but as long as it’s this messy Pearl will never acknowledge it as much as her house as it was Amethysts.

She shambled her way through junk and found herself in the kitchen, the core of her nightmare. A small note was sitting on the only counter that wasn’t covered in empty food packages.

‘Yo P!’ It began and Pearl cringed, ‘I’m away to go get the others! Then we’re going to give you a SURPRISE! Also! I know that you’re gonna clean stuff up, so I made a list of stuff I don’t want you to touch!’

She sighed, ‘This must have taken Amethyst a few weeks worth of thinking’ Thought Pearl as she looked at the list and scrunched the note up.

The thought of a surprise made Pearl sigh tiredly, although she was happy that they cared about her and that Amethyst was doing things for her, she would much rather settle down first before any shenanigans…

Pearl developed a small grin.

Or at least clean the kitchen until she comes back.

———

Today was one of the worst days in Lapis’s life.

It had been long, tiring, arduous, boring and so much more. She walked into the small flat, closed the door and groaned loudly as she dropped her heavy bag dramatically.

“WELCOME BACK!” She heard Peridot yell, she must have settled herself on the sofa like most days when she wasn’t working.

Lapis dragged herself to the room, there was some background noise that belonged to a TV paving her way and wires were all over the floor. Her bag trailing behind her as if it was some sort of animal and face planted into the couch with a groan beside Peridot.

“Long day?” The Green girl asked and she paused the show, Lapis replied with a grumble, “I know that you believe that I am the smartest and greatest human being ever, but I don’t talk couch grumble.” She said sardonically. Lapis let out another groan before she righted herself and leaned back.

“I’m home!” She grumbled again, audible to her room-mate.

“I can see that,” Peridot chuckled and offered Lapis a bottle of water. The girl took it a little too quickly and opened it hastily, gulping down big mouthfuls.

“Thanks,” Lapis sighed, “I needed that…”

“So what happened? I mean, you’re grumpy but not to this extent.” Peridot placed a bowl of what had to have been Doritos before they had been split apart and crushed by the green girl,

“Well were do I begin?” Lapis sat up straighter, “today was the fist day of that swimming competition and some couch actually wrote my name down for it. Bastard. Then I had to go to work, late obviously, got lectured by my boss. Asshole. THEN I get this punk that tries some shit with me! What a dick.” Lapis frowned and crossed her aching arms.

Peridot went quiet for a bit and awkwardly looked at her, “so about that competition…”

“Oh I won,” Lapis grinned, “They don’t call me the ‘water witch’ for nothing.”

“Nice one Lazuli!” Peridot gave her a high-five.

Lapis looked at the screen in-front of them, an unfamiliar movie was paused and she curiously raised an eyebrow.

“What are you watching?” She asked,

“Oh, just the season special,” Peridot grinned,

“Ugh, that winter one?”

“What? I like it!” Peridot huffed, “I mean, Paulette is insufferable all the time, but we actually get to see Percy and Pierre confess-!”

“Their friendship,” Lapis grumbled, “total turn off. I stopped watching right after that disaster happened.”

“No wonder you didn’t recognise the movie at first,” Peridot grumbled and Lapis gave her a blank stare. It was successful in making Peridot uncomfortable.

They un-paused the video and continued to watch. Lapis silently kept her commentary to herself, Peridot enjoyed it, so what? Even if she didn’t agree with her Lapis respected her opinion, that was the least she could do.

Just as the familiar scene of Percy and Pierre facing down each other in the blizzard played, a buzz was heard in Lapis’s jacket pocket. She pulled the device out, it was much more interesting that what was going on in the movie. She grit her teeth at who it was.

‘Jasper.’

She just never quit her desperate pleas of rejoining her group of thugs and getting together again. This time she was begging her to come to the bar, Beach City’s ‘Crystal Gem’, Lapis groaned and put the mobile away.

But something felt… Wrong. It was as if she was longing for something, wanting to go and see her again. Lapis paled when she noticed that she missed Jasper the first time, now she has all but gotten used to that longing feeling.

Lapis sighed and looked through her texts again, Jasper was so nice to her over the phone… Something told her to go, perhaps Jasper had changed? Even if it wasn’t likely.

‘Perhaps… I’ll give her another chance…’ Lapis slapped herself, ‘NO. She hasn’t changed! She never will! When will I stop being fooled?’ Jasper was a horrible person, she beat anyone she didn’t like and that included Lapis. The sole reason Jasper liked her was because she was the only one that was strong enough to stand up to her in the gang and a relationship isn’t formed on hate. The bruises that Lapis received with her were proof of that.

She clenched her fingers around the phone, but sighed in defeat.

“OK.” She sent back to the girl and she shoved the phone back into her pocket, as deep as it would go.

She missed her… She missed being with someone… She missed taking it all out on someone…

“That was Jasper wasn’t it?” Peridot looked over at her with a small frown, “when will she just give up?”

“I agreed to see her…”

“WHAT?!” Peridot almost dropped the bowl of misshapen Doritos, “Lapis no! You know what’ll happen, she’ll start hurting you again and- and she doesn’t respect your personal space!”

“I know.” Lapis hugged her knees,

“Then… Why are you-?” Peridot stopped and sighed, “never-mind… I know…”

“It won’t be until later tonight… I just want to tell her in person to leave me alone.” Lapis stood up momentarily, when she came back she was holding a sketchbook and pencil. “I’ll be fine.”

Peridot nodded and continued to watch the movie as attentively and as vocally as before.

———

The tall girl patted down her shirt and jeans, they were covered in dust and grime. At least she changed into something she never cared about, mostly because she looked like a stick figure in an over-sized shirt.

Pearl was proud of her work; she destroyed the piles of tin cans, empty bottles and wrappers in a heart beat, preserved the random trading cards she found in the wreckage and thoroughly cleaned ever inch of the room (including the disastrous fridge).

By the time she satisfyingly tutted and put the last wrapper into the bag of trash the room had transformed. It was much larger and open when there wasn’t mess everywhere, definitely far less suffocating.

However the list was proving to be the spawn of evil rather well… There was a collection of jars that was in the corner and those cardboard boxes still plagued the room, there was so much stuff left that Pearl wondered if she had done anything at all to the room in all.

At least she could walk in instead of climb in.

She had finished removing the black bags when Amethyst finally came back with some familiar faces. Garnet and Bismuth grinned after looking about in slight amusement at her work.

“Whoa!” Was Amethyst’s first reaction to the clean space, “I didn’t know this place even had corners.”

Pearl rolled her eyes at that,

“If you cleaned up after yourself then this wouldn’t be a problem wouldn’t it?” She sharply replied,

“Let’s not start on bad terms.” Garnet grinned and put her hand onto Pearl’s shoulder, “good to have you back Pearl.”

“Yeah! We’ve missed you!” Bismuth came over, picked her up and gave her a bone crushing hug,

“It’s good to be back!” Pearl grinned once she was put down,

“I bet you’re curious about your surprise,” Garnet smiled,

“That is if you weren’t to distracted by the mess to actually read my note,” Amethyst added with a small chuckle. “You’d better have!”

Pearl blushed slightly on instinct, “I read it.”

“Oh good! We’re going for a PART~AY!” Amethyst cheered and pushed Pearl towards the front door, ignoring her protests.

“You look great! What are you worried about?” Bismuth reassured Pearl, or at least tried to. “But this’ll make you look even better~” She quickly placed a cap on Pearl’s head, it was a long forgotten red hat that she once wore during the pranks that they committed on their poor unsuspecting victims.

“You kept this?” Pearl fondly sorted it,

“I just happened to have it on me.” Bismuth winked.

They make their way to the local bar, it was at this moment that Pearl reconsidered ever wanting to get dressed and remembers that if it was anything like back in their teens then she would either be covered in alcohol dragging Amethyst home, or other disgusting substances dragging Amethyst home.

The bar was warm and the air was stuffy, it reeked of alcohol later in the day but is was all nostalgic to the tall girl. Pearl was surprised at how many people she recognised in the place and nearly all of them frightened her with a ‘welcome back!’ at some point.

Pearl sat down with the others and she was handed a drink by Sardonyx the now bartender of ‘The Crystal Gem’ of Beach City. The substance was bitter and stronger than Pearl remembered.

“We got everyone here!” Bismuth grinned,

“Took us forever!” Amethyst chuckled. “Hey, do you remember when Sardonyx wanted to be a show host?”

“I’m still a star darling!” Sardonyx replied with her signature laughed and Amethyst blushed slightly.

Pearl looked around the bar, despite knowing a good quarter of the crowd there was still so many people she didn’t recognise what-so-ever. ‘It really has been a long time.’

“So what is everyone getting up to nowadays?” Pearl asked,

“The usual,” Garnet replied,

“We all got jobs. All grew up.” Bismuth smiled, “Never left though, we’ll probably stay here till the apocalypse.” They laughed at that.

Pearl continued looking at the familiar faces, Smoky was now in high-school, ‘If I didn’t feel old before I do now.’ Sugilite was rumoured to be an underground rapper, Alexandrite works in a restaurant apparently. But the more Pearl looked round, the more she noticed someone missing.

“Where is Rose?”

The table went deathly quiet and they all looked at her as if she was some sort of alien. They all looked at each other with pointing glares, nudging and poking each other until Garnet finally ended the silent battle.

“Pearl… I’m so sorry.” She sighed and Pearl grew angry, had Rose not cared at all? Had she forgotten her that easily? But Garnet continued, “I don’t know how to tell you this… But Rose isn’t here anymore.”

“W-what do you mean ‘isn’t here’? Where is she?” Pearl frowned,

“Pearl… Rose passed away a few months ago…”

She froze and her body tensed, Pearl didn’t want to believe it and refused to listen to her. She glared at the table, drilling an invisible hole into it to try and block out what they were saying.

Pearl snapped out of it when Amethyst put her hand onto her forearm, she yanked it away and stood up suddenly.

“Pearl? Pearl!” They called when she left suddenly but she didn’t look back. She needed some fresh air.

Pushing by several bar patrons she makes it out of the building and leans against the cold wall of the building watching the rain start to fall as the sun finally disappeared passed the horizon.

———

Lapis sighed as she got to the bar. It was always far too warm and stuffy for her liking and Jasper knew this. The nerve of her asking to meet here was slowly making Lapis more and more irritated by the second.

The Crystal Gem was an annoying bar that is run by an annoying group that’ll seemingly do anything to just irritate her in every way possible. But Lapis sighed, she didn’t know anyone in that bar until Peridot had introduced her to some girl named Amethyst and ever since then she was friendly with them most days.

It was an understanding, she would keep away from them and they would keep away from her.

To keep the peace.

The girl felt her heart in her throat when she seen the dark clad figure leaning on a small bench across from the bar, wild and untamed white blond hair cascaded down her back like a wild animal and a bottle was in her hands. Lapis got close enough to be heard, but stayed a good distance away from the woman.

She knew that at any moment Jasper could blow a fuse and start something, perhaps even get Peridot involved somehow. She already tried getting her to persuade Lapis to come back, with no success.

“Jasper.” Lapis speaks up and narrows her eyes,

“Ah! Lapis!” She jumps but Lapis could tell she was faking it, “You shouldn’t sneak up to someone like that.”

“Oh please, you knew I was coming and you knew I was here.” Lapis crossed her arms and widened her stance, “what do you want?”

“I want you to give me a chance,” Jasper said softly, “I know we have our differences, but it’s not the same without you!”

“No.” Lapis shook her head, “we’ve been over with this already, and I’ve given you more than enough chances.”

“But I’m different!” Lapis rolled her eyes, the amount of times that she used that excuse. “Please, once you left I finally understood! I knew how to handle you!”

“Excuse me?” Lapis felt anger bubble forth like boiling water, “handle me?!”

“Just let me prove it to you!” Jaspers eyes softened and looked at Lapis with such a pitiful expression that Lapis was almost swayed, but she shook her head in retaliation and the anger she held gushed.

“NO.” Lapis looked away from her, “I don’t need handling! I don’t need someone like you!”

“Are you sure about that?” Jasper creeped closer and she abandoned her bottle of beer, “You need me. Because I’m the only one that understands you! The only one that tolerates you!”

“N-no!” Lapis faltered, she closed her eyes and tried to block her out.

“You know this Lapis!” Jasper grumbled, “you only bring people down, everyone you know get worse around you. But I don’t!”

Lapis clenched her teeth and scrunched her face, she knew that Jasper was wrong… She wanted Jasper was wrong… She wondered if Jasper was right.

“Lapis…” Her voice was soft and she gently took her hand, Lapis gasped at how quickly she managed to close the distance between them.

Her hand was warm, rough and calloused, large and strong. She felt weak in her grasp, like a delicate flower.

“My bird… My poor broken bird…” Lapis shivered at the name.

‘NO!’

Lapis slapped away Jaspers hand and glared at her. The soft expression on Jaspers face hardens and she scowls menacingly.

“I am not some sort of broken bird!” Lapis spat, “I don’t want anything to do with you Jasper! Not a thing!”

Jaspers eyes gained a spark that Lapis recognised and she instantly paled, awaiting the fury that was about to be unleashed upon her.

“So you’re going to cast me aside just like that?” Jasper spat, “after all I’ve done for you?!”

“You’ve done nothing for me.” Lapis turned her back on the woman and prepared to leave but a large hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Jasper!”

“You always act like you’re above me don’t you?! But newsflash! You’re nothing without me!” Lapis hissed as her arm was gripped tighter,

“Let me go Jasper!”

“What is it with you?!” Jasper growled, “I thought you liked it rough! You told me so!” Lapis started to shiver and she was slowly losing her confident facade. “You’re cruel, using me, toying with me… Was I just some sort of joke to you?! Did I matter?!”

“N-no Jasper I-!“ Lapis paled as the girl straightened and the size difference truly made her look like a threatening tyrant.

“Save it.” Jasper growled, “it seems I need to remind you of your place. You. Are. Beneath. Me.”

Lapis gasped in fear when Jasper tugged her towards the alley near the bar and violently threw her into the wall.

“J-Jasper stop!” She nearly begged as Jasper roughly pushed her into the wall.

“No.” She growled and the light brown eyes seemed to glow a menacing Yellow.

———

Pearl tried to regain her composure, ‘deep breaths, remember what you were taught.’ She paced about awkwardly for a moment. it was impossible for Rose to be dead, she probably just never showed up and Garnet made something up.

She was always blunt and to the point…

The tall dancer refused to think about it, she refused to feel guilty about leaving because she refused to believe it.

“N-no Jasper! Stop!” Pearl glances up and looks around. The street was empty and yet she swore she heard a girl’s voice-

“Jasper!”

Pearl jumped, she followed the voice and peeked round the corner. There she seen a large woman grabbing a much smaller girl’s arm and shoving her into the wall, Pearl gasped as she seen the larger woman’s hand start to hitch up the dainty blue dress the other was wearing.

She seen tears well in her eyes. The girl tried to fight back but she was pushed so roughly into the wall she got herself a nosebleed.

‘I have to do something!’

Pearl looked around for anything to defend herself with, she even took out her phone to call the police but she huffed. The police in Beach City has been literally non-existent for years, they have to call them in from Ocean Town now.

She heard the girl whimper and she quickly went back on task, Pearl seen an empty glass bottle on the ground and she picked it up with a slight cringe.

She bravely stood in the middle of the alley and threw the bottle at the larger girl with the same deadly accuracy she had honed for years.

It bounded off her and the woman glared at her.

‘Well… Shit.’

Pearl stayed deathly still, as if she was invisible if she never moved and nervously gulped. ‘That movie was horribly inaccurate!’

Thankfully the woman growled and ran off the other way. Pearl let go a sigh of relief and she walked up slowly to the cowering girl. She did not expect to be hugged however. But the girl quickly pushes her away with a slight blush.

“T-thanks…” She pants and hold her nose, “you saved me there…” she looked at Pearl with a curious gaze, it slowly morphed into a rather strange one and Pearl felt awkward for just staying silent and staring at a stranger just because she’s pretty.

Her cheeks grew warm and Pearl turned away.

“H-hey wait!” Pearl glanced back and the girl walked up to her, “I don’t have anything to give you right now… But I can give you my number?” She phrased it as if it was a question. She pulled out her phone, a pretty blue phone cover adorned it and complemented her ‘blue aesthetic’.

It really was as simple as exchanging numbers, but the news about Rose still was making itself known in Pearl’s mind and now Pearl was exchanging numbers with some other cute girl and she just felt as guilty as it could get.

“What’s your name?” She asked,

“Pearl…” She grumbled,

“Earl?” The girl repeats, “Well I’m Lapis, Lapis Lazuli.” Pearl frowned slightly at the mistake and was about to correct her but the girl had already slipped by and out onto the street, “sorry! I need to go, but I’ll call you! I swear!” she called back to her.

Pearl clenched the small note in her hand, a string of numbers written on the back of a receipt from a cafe. She grumbled and shoved the note into her jean pocket.

She knew what girls like that were like, they give you false hope and make promises they can’t keep. There was no way that a pretty girl like Lapis would ever call her, especially now that she thought she was a boy!

Pearl groaned. She had enough drama for the day.

———

Lapis bit her lip, it tasted of bitter metal and anger. She clenched her fists as she opened the flat door and slammed in behind her, careful to to get any of the blood anywhere as she made her way to the bathroom. But if she could, she would have coloured everything red in spite, but she wasn’t prepared in creating the set-up to a horror story nor did she want to stain anything.

“Lapis?” She heard Peridot follow behind her, “You okaa-aye!” She jumped back once she seen the red liquid in the sink and painted on Lapis. “What happened?! Did she-? Why am I asking? Of course she did! Are you-?”

“I’m fine Peridot,” Lapis replied as she washed away everything that transpired, “I got away.”

“How? Is she following you? Is she going to-?”

“I was saved by some boy,” Lapis dried her face with a towel and shoved some cotton into her nose, “called himself Earl.”

“Earl?” Peridot raised an eyebrow at her, “you sure you can trust him?”

“He scared Jasper away with a glass bottle, so I hope so.” Lapis grumbled and walked out into the living room with Peridot in tow, “sorry, I’m just really irritated at what happened… I almost fell for her… Again.”

“But you didn’t right?” Peridot sat them down onto the couch,

“With what she tried to do… I wish I did…” Lapis clenched her fists and huffed angrily.

They stayed awkwardly silent for a moment, in a way, it was exactly what Lapis needed and she was thankful that Peridot wasn’t asking her incessant questions that most others would do in that situation.

Lapis felt a tap on her shoulder after a moment and it was Peridot, holding out a cooled bottle of water.

“Thanks…” She smiled and took it off her, opening it and sipping it slowly.

“So… About this Earl guy.” Peridot grinned, “hit or miss?”

“You’ve been hanging out with Amethyst too long,” Lapis grumbled and took another sip of her water, “I promised that I’ll repay him… Somehow. So I suppose a ‘Hit’.”

“What’re you planning on doing?” Peridot asked with a grin,

“I have no clue,” Lapis replied, “maybe a date? Boys like dates.”

“From my experience, and many other girls experiences, boys like getting into your underwear more.”

“Okay, stop. You’re seriously not the Peri that I know,” Lapis laughed, “and most girls are like that too!”

“Then what’s to worry about?” Peridot hummed, “He’s not Jasper.”

Lapis paused, “I don’t know… There’s something… Off… About Earl. Like he’s hiding something…”

“Oh, tall, dark and handsome? You’ve become a true stereotypical female.” Lapis laughed and playfully punched Peridots shoulder, “and mysterious to boot, every girls dream!”

“Listen, I just want to repay him,” Lapis smiled, “nothing more. Nothing less.”

“Well… I heard that there’s a Beach Party tomorrow night,” Peridot hummed,

“Ugh, is it that Dewey guy?” Lapis groaned, “it’s sad that people only like him because he’s the mayors son. He’s always so sweaty too.”

“I know! But at least you can repay Earl quickly.” Peridot stood up and looked through the collection of DVDs she had, then a mischievous idea came to Lapis’s mind.

“Hey, you should come with!”

“What? No!” Peridot replied, “I have better uses of my time!”

“Come on Peri, I need a wing-woman incase I get ditched!” Peridot remained silent, “I’ll marathon Camp Pining Hearts with you.” Peridot looked back at her and narrowed her eyes, “I’ll even watch those stupid specials.”

“Hmm… Okay!” Peridot grinned and laughed a little too much like an evil villain.

“Now that we’ve got that settled…” Lapis looked at the time on her phone, ’10:30’ was written on the screen, “I think I’ll call it an early night… I have work tomorrow again and I have to do an early shift.”

“Well, I’ll still be down here if you need me.” Peridot looked back at her as she put a disk into the player, Lapis frowned when she discovered it to be a horror film.

“If you watch that you know that you’re not going to get any sleep tonight…” Lapis warned her,

“Oh I know, I just don’t want to go to bed tonight…” Peridot mumbled, “Anyway! Goodnight Lapis!”

“Goodnight…” She replied as she opened the door into her room and walked in.

It was a small room with dark blue walls and had a small window with some house plants and flowers decorating the ledge. Some boxes containing various electronics and paint equipment sat in the corner gathering dust. It was once Peridot’s storage room way back when Lapis was still living with Jaspers gang, but when she left she had to get a place where Jasper wouldn’t know about.

Lapis was always surprised at how caring Peridot was.

She wasn’t used to it at first. All the attention and the pleasantries, Lapis cringed at her hostile behaviour. The glaring, the distrust, the passive aggressive to sometimes threatening remarks.

But when Jasper knocked on the door a few days when she left and Peridot covered for her, that was when Lapis realised what it was like to be normal again. That’s when she remembered what it was like to trust again.

She sighed and lay down onto the soft covers of her bed, Peridot was really the best room-mate. Lapis pulled out her phone and looked at the new number in her contacts, ‘Earl’ was written on the screen a little ominously. Lapis really couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something off about him, but she had to learn how to trust people again. ‘He saved me right? So he wouldn’t be that bad right?’ she hummed, obviously she wouldn’t call or text him now. But it was still a little nerve-wreaking having a new number on her phone.

Lapis chuckled to herself, ‘since when did I become so socially awkward?’ She put the phone away and continued to look into the darkness. ‘Definitely tomorrow…’

Chapter Text

Pearl rolled out of the bed with a loud groan, her head was dully pounding and willed her to crawl out of the comfy shelter of the blanket and pillows. ‘How do I have a headache? I barely drank anything!’ The tall girl rubbed her eyes and placed a cool hand onto her forehead, ‘god, since when did I become such a light-weight?’ She flopped back down defeatedly and looked over to her mobile, abandoned on the small bedside table. A small scrunched up receipt beside it, she could faintly see the numbers elegantly written with blue ink. ‘Oh, that happened…’

Memories of last nights drama sprang into the tall girl’s mind and she groaned yet again. The news about Rose, the party, Lapis… It all seemed so unrealistic that it happened in one day.

‘As much as I want to, I can’t just stay here forever.’ Pearl slowly sat up and checked her calendar. Her job interview wasn’t until until tomorrow, so she really didn’t have anything left to do other than clean.

Or, she supposed, that all she wanted to do was clean.

Cleaning was a strange stress-reliever for someone to have, yet there she is, a weirdo that liked to clean. Taking some dusters, Pearl promptly evicted several spiders of their homey, little webs and after a moment of repeating her mantra about the room, she ventured to the living-room.

‘No list or letter this time,’ She noted and opened some black bags with a grin, either this was going to be very easy or very difficult. Packages and boxes meant very little to Pearl, in most instances they were discarded and recycled, so like most sane person Pearl attacked the cardboard packages of random utensils and equipment head on whilst making sure nothing was inside. She left some of the bigger boxes as there could be some use to them when she inevitably had to put somethings into ‘storage’ and began picking up the food containers, such as cereal and pasta.

In a way, it was very exciting going through this much garbage (minus the dirt and bugs). She never knew what she would find in the mess and discovering an actual functioning object became like a treasure hunt.

There was the second bicycle wheel (Pearl still had to find out if Amethyst actually owned a bike) ‘perhaps I’ll even find a third one.’, a baseball bat with small initials etched into the hilt, it was of their team. Pearl chuckled, they didn’t even play baseball all that much.

She continued parting the mess when she came across something she wished she never found, it was a small black case that looked to be able to attach onto a belt, the outside was covered in scratches and scuffs, her name was etched at the bottom corner and beside that an engraving of a Rose.

Pearl shyly swallowed and opened the case.

There is was… A black hilt and a long sharp blade. It may not be like one of her fencing swords and it certainly couldn’t beat a combat knife. But it was hers, a small pocketknife that she was ashamed to say she used multiple times.

The fencers hand shook and quickly she shoved the knife back into it’s decorative case and threw it into one of Amethyst’s largest trash piles. ‘Never again.’ She sighed.

She kept her mind occupied and began ferociously digging again, a small voice at the back of her head whispered more distressing ideas and kept making her remember the darkest times in her life. ‘Why does Amethyst even have it? I’m certain I gave it to…’ Pearl paused, ‘Rose…’

She sighed and looked down at her feet, her chest grew heavy yet again and her throat hurt as if she was only one event away from bursting into tears. But something stood out, something rectangular in the pile and as the tall girl took it and wiped the cover covered in dust, Pearl discovered a picture album and she sighed. The deep royal purple hardcover, tinged with fading gold etchings made Pearl feel warm in her chest, replacing the tight, constricted feeling, a small smile plastered her face and she opened the book after finding a relatively stable bar-stool to sit on.

Inside there was (surprisingly) many pictures that they had taken or their family had taken, all of them labeled by anyone other than Amethyst. The first picture was of Ruby and Sapphire holding a baby Garnet, Pearl grinned, she remembered everyone criticising their young age at the time, but they never cared.

Pearl promptly paled when she realised that she was now just as old as them in that picture.

“Oh god I’m old…” She muttered and looked at the other photos.

There they all where… The ‘Crystal Gems’ a bunch of orphaned children of various ages smiling happily in a large group photo. Some faces she never recognised, but most faces shown she knew one way or another. Pearl spotted herself in the back, she was only four years old in that photo, she remembered the pride she had back then of being second eldest. Beside her was a little girl with curly hair in a small pink dress… Rose, the eldest of them all.

Pearl sniffed and she felt warm tears roll down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand and flipped the page.

As the years went on, they all found a nice home or were returned to their family like Amethyst. She had so many sisters it was unbelievable. But Pearl remained, even when Rose found a home.

The dancer concluded that she had to visit Ruby and Sapphire as some point and thank them again, they really were family.

Pearl wiped away some more tears and beamed brightly. She was about to close the book when some back pages made themselves known, tentatively she flicked to the end and looked at the more recent photos.

She chuckled when she seen all of them back together, ‘God those were awkward years.’ She gently touched the laminated photos and remembered Ruby taking this photo.

They were as the teens now would say, the edgiest of edge lords… Or at least a few of them were…

Pearl rolled her eyes when she recognised herself as one such teen. A leather jacket with rolled up sleeves and a frown face on her shirt, she looked like she just had a beating or had tumbled town a cliff. But Amethyst was no better. She chuckled but slowly she found herself to be frowning.

She really wasn’t a nice person back then… Constantly beating people up to make herself feel stronger and constantly losing. Pearl sighed, this particular photo was just before everything went wrong and she got that knife. Nobody won against her ever since.

But something was wrong with the album, several photos seemed to be missing, some even looked ripped out and Pearl couldn’t begin to remember what the photos were. ‘Ruby and Sapphire were the ones to take most of the photo’s, perhaps they have some?’ Pearl hummed, it was unlikely, ‘Maybe some of the others took the photo’s.’

Snapping the book  shut. Pearl believed that she had slacked off a little too long and returned back to clearing the room.

However this time it wasn’t another book that stopped her, but an unhappy gasp from her room-mate she had nearly forgotten about.

“PEARL!” Her voice made her jump and Pearl instantly turned to see Amethyst march up to her. “What are you doing?! Some of this is really good stuff!”

“Oh please,” Pearl scoffed, “none of this stuff is good Amethyst!”

“What would you know?!” The lilac girl huffed and she opened one of the black bags again, messily dropping the scraps of fabric that Pearl had to endure through without calling a biohazard unit.

“I know that this isn’t normal!” Pearl irately replied, “Amethyst we both live here! This!” Pearl spread her arms wide and looked round dramatically, “This isn’t stuff! People don’t keep this!” Amethyst went silent and with a frown kept looking through her belongings, “Garnet moved out a few weeks before I moved in, I know that it wouldn’t have been like this when she lived here.”

“Just shut up!” Amethyst snapped and she glared at Pearl, “What would you know?!” she repeated, “you left everything! Abandoned us and just gave up!”

“A-Amethyst I-!” Pearl tried, her voice much softer and looked at her sympathetically,

“Just!” Amethyst eyes focused on the album in Pearl’s grasp and the anger seemed to melt away, being replaced with sadness, she huffed and kicked a rag on the floor, “just leave it…” She sighed sadly and walked away.

Pearl sighed and put the book down, like always she ran away and left the flat and her problems behind.

The sun was relentlessly beaming down on Beach City, people were either at the beach sunbathing or were sheltering in the shadows and acting as if the sun was the bringer of the end of worlds. Pearl rushed to the one area that she knew she would be alone, a small secluded cove that she and Rose visited frequently when they wanted to be together.

She jumped over a small fence with a long and graceful swing of her legs and carefully made her way down a hill before reaching a small beach hidden by the cliff, she took off her slip on shoes and waded through some of the salt water before she finally seen the small ledge.

Pearl hopped onto it and sat down, she smiled sadly when she seen the etching on the wall. An attempt at carving out a Rose, it looked more like a mess, with jagged lines all over the place.

She traced it and remembered when she done this…

It was a late night and they had snuck out the house, they stayed here to watch the sea and look at the stars. Pearl smirked, that’s what they told themselves anyway because if she remembered correctly, they done a lot more than just stargaze. Pearl remembered cutting herself accidentally with the knife as she carved the rock, Rose always had some sort of bandage with her.

The taller girl sighed and pulled out her phone, Garnet had to know about this. ‘If she managed to control Amethyst before, perhaps she’ll help me.’

Tapping on her name, Pearl brought the phone up to her ear and waited for it to pick up. Eventually the dull ringing was replaced with a voice.

“Garnet.” The woman spoke, “Amethyst is bothering you.”

“What? How did you-?”

“Lucky guess.” Pearl breathlessly chuckled,

“I don’t know what to do, the house is driving me insane and any attempts to clean it is always reversed somehow by Amethyst.” Pearl leaned back and cradled the phone closer, “I need some help…”

Garnet hummed, “I’ll talk to her…”

“Oh thank you-“

“But just know that you’re part of the problem,” Garnet cut her off, “you need to talk to her inevitably about this and not just argue about it.”

“She’s not in any mood to talk…” Pearl grumbled and bit her lip,

“She’ll come around.” Garnet simply stated, “why don’t you go around town, meet some one new… Perhaps call someone?” Pearl raised an eyebrow, “See you later Pearl.” She then hung up.

There was no way that Pearl was going to be visiting or meeting anyone at the moment. She lay back onto the stone and relaxed. Closing her eyes, she listened to the waves and felt the nice breeze gently ruffle the blouse she wore.

Pearl could almost imagine smelling a Rose perfume.

She felt some tears well in her eyes, but she made no attempts to wipe them away. They had done so much together, she shared so many memories, so many ‘firsts’. Like the time they took a trip together and went ice-skating or had discovered a field of wild strawberries.

‘I can’t call them firsts anymore…’ Pearl shuddered, ‘more like lasts now…’

Pearl covered her face with her arm and sighed, she had to forget about Rose. They were nothing now, she’s probably galavanting around the country with that Greg. Pearl cringed, what on earth did the shabby looking guy like him have that Pearl didn’t?

“Why do I ask myself that?” Pearl grumbled, “she wasn’t gay. She was never gay! That’s the end of it!”

‘Maybe she was Bi, but that brief look of confusion whenever we kissed…’ She groaned again, ‘Why do I always fall for the straight girl?’

She jumped at that thought, when had she ever-? ‘Oh… Right…’ Pearl looked solemnly at her mobile, ‘Lapis…’

———

Lapis paced anxiously, to and fro in front of Peridot, clearing and then blocking the TV. But there was no Camp Pining Hearts or anything displayed for that matter, in fact, the only show Peridot was watching was Lapis.

“Seriously, you’ve been like that for an hour now.” Peridot bit into her toast and drank some of her coffee, Lapis grumbled in response. “I mean how important is this Earl anyway?”

“He saved me Peri!” Lapis exclaimed suddenly and then returned to her quiet and thoughtful pacing.

“Yeah, but you don’t need to make a big deal out of it…” Peridot’s voice gradually grew weaker and Lapis slowly turned and stared at her, the girl in green wordlessly understood and she took a large gulp of her drink.

“Ugh, why am I getting so worked up about this?” Lapis groaned, “but seriously, what if he doesn’t like me? What if he DOES ditch me? He walked away from me before!”

“So what? Lapis-!” Peridot took a deep breath and sharply exhaled, “It’s just a guy! A. Guy. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Yeah, but what if Jasper shows up?” Lapis paused and she froze. She quickly turned to Peridot on her heels, “What if she shows up? I’m not ready to face her again! Not after yesterday!” Her hands went to her head and she felt herself shake slightly.

“Okay, okay, calm down!” Peridot placed her mug onto the coffee table and raised her hand if not a little authoritatively. “Why would Jasper show up?”

“To finish off what she started…” Lapis said darkly and looked to her bare feet on the floor.

Peridot awkwardly cleared her throat. Lapis noticed her look at the clock on the wall before she stood up and nearly ran away into the kitchen. Lapis calmed herself down, taking a deep breath. Peridot was trying, but Jasper was an awkward conversation that always lead to some sort awkward silence between them. It almost made Lapis angry at how they regard Jasper as an embarrassing secret, something to be mentioned once or twice and not to talk about under any circumstances.

“Time for us to head out!” Peridot exclaimed, ‘Just forget about them for now… I’ll deal with them later.’ Lapis told herself.

“Wait, you have an early shift too?” Lapis followed her and seen peridot put on an employee’s shirt over her vest. It was bright red and it screamed ‘fast-food’ to anyone within a mile radius.

“Yes, like most bosses, mine is truly despicable.” Peridot grumbled and yawned, most likely due to her late night and the horror film, “he threatens to fire me just for fun!”

“What a tyrant.” Lapis commented.

“A tyrant! Unlike Earl!” Peridot added tiredly, “if you’re uncomfortable you don’t have to go… We’ll still do the marathon though.”

Lapis gave her another blank look but Peridot was already leaving out the door.

“Don’t forget to lock the door Lazuli!” she said and walked away,

“Yeah, Bye!” Lapis called out to her. She huffed, it wouldn’t be long till she had to leave for work too.

Now in her new-found solitude, Lapis pulled out her silenced phone. She winced at the amount of missed phone calls and texts from Jasper. It was an avalanche of remarks that slowly got more and more threatening. Small things like ‘I’m sorry’ snowballed to death threats if she ever was to speak of what happened again, or seen Earl again.

She shuddered when Jasper mentioned what would happen if she went to the beach later in the evening. Jasper sickeningly described everything that she would do to her, everything that would happen to Peridot and how she’ll track down ‘the boy’ and carve words into him, reminding him never to mess with her.

Lapis snapped her eyes shut and deleted Jasper yet again as a contact, blocking her for extra measure. She knew that it was only a temporary solution and that sooner or later Jasper would be back texting her with more intensity and fury.

The girl sighed and grabbed her bag whilst she slipped on her sandals. ‘Might as well go to work early’ she concluded and headed out.

Lapis’s work place wasn’t the best, but the cafe paid decently and it was rather boring most days. Despite her boss being a grouch (quite like herself) and her co-workers keeping away from her she was content there.

Especially when she got the most tips.

Today was one of those days were only the regulars came in, it wouldn’t have been too bad in any other cafe. But it became a problem when only three people were regulars.

Less customers meant less money earned, that was something Lapis couldn’t afford when her room-mate was eating away at the electricity bill. But the water bill, well she had to blame only herself for that.

She glanced at the door when she heard the small bell ring on the entrance, a tall dark woman that Lapis recognised entered the establishment and sat at one of the tables. Lapis looked round, she was the only waitress in today as all the others were away on either ‘sick leave’ or just weren’t in the state.

Taking her notepad she approached the new customer and put on a (well practised) pleasant smile.

“Hello, what can I get you?” Lapis asked,

“Hm,” the woman glanced at the desserts through her shades, “I’ll have a latte, sweet. Also this cheesecake here.”

Lapis glanced at the menu and wrote down the order.

“It’ll be on the way shortly.” Lapis walked away and dropped her smile.

There wasn’t even anyone at the till.

She grumbled and began doing the work herself, silently thankful that the order was so simple. Anything more elaborate and she would have had a massive headache

Lapis returned and delicately put the cup and plate down onto the woman’s table. The woman thanked her with a small smile.

“You’re Peridots friend,” the woman stated and took a tiny sip of her coffee, Lapis glanced round, the regulars had already left and they were the only ones there. She tutted and leaned on the seat across from the customer,

“Yes, who’re you?” She asked,

“Garnet,” The woman in shades responded, “It’s a slow day.” She said it like it was a definite fact.

“Trying to get by.” Lapis crossed her arms, “You hang about Amethyst right?” Garnet simply nodded, she then pointed at the empty seat. Lapis huffed and sat down, it beat standing about doing nothing.

They just stared awkwardly at each other, ‘what is it with the awkward silences around me?’

“You look like there’s something bothering you.” Garnet took another sip of her coffee,

Lapis wriggled somewhat uncomfortably on the seat, but inevitably sighed in defeat when the woman’s shades never left her.

“Why? You going to give advice?”

“Only if you talk about it,” Garnet smiled and Lapis sighed,

“There’s this guy…” Lapis began with a grumble, “I feel like I really owe him because…” she huffed, “I just want to replay him. But I hardly know him and I’ve never been on a date with… anyone before.”

“Well…” Garnet drank some of her coffee and hummed, “Normally people aren’t this anxious to someone they don’t care about.” Lapis grew flustered, “you’re worried about what he’ll think of you, probably because you think that you’re so different to how you were when you met him.”

Lapis just blankly looked at her, a blush on her cheeks. Was Garnet some sort of mind reader? She tried looking around her, as if there was something that was telling her this private information. But there wasn’t anything or anyone around them.

“How do you know that?” Lapis asked,

“A hunch,” Garnet smiled, “but, did you ever consider that he is just as nervous to meet you?”

“What?” Lapis sat up straighter,

“Think about it, he’s obviously nervous, perhaps even wondering if you will call him.” Garnet took a sip of her coffee.

Lapis looked down to her hands on the table.

“But, I think it’ll go well,” Garnet concluded, “I recommend going to the beach, something’s happening there. I think it’s a party.”

Lapis smiled and Garnet smiled knowingly back, “Thanks.”

Garnet was about to reply when she suddenly got a call on her phone.

“Sorry,” She said, “i have to take this.”

Lapis nodded and she stood up from the table,

“Garnet.” She heard her once she tapped the screen. She briefly heard something mentioning Amethyst but Lapis wasn’t interested in sticking around and listening to someone’s conversation.

Making the most of her time, Lapis believed that it was a good idea to sort the till and the coffee stock. As to cure her idleness and boredom.

After creating a masterpiece with the shelves, she seen Garnet return to her with the empty cup and the cake, still untouched. Yet ready to pay.

“I have to go.” She placed them onto the counter, giving Lapis some generous change.

“But you haven’t touched your cake,” Lapis replied, “and you’ve paid too much!”

“You keep the cake.” Garnet said, “plus this is your tip.”

“I can’t-“

“Sure you can, as a gift.” She fixed her shades, “and there’s no one here to stop you.”

Lapis smiled and took the plate. She watched Garnet leave the cafe and then Lapis promptly packaged the slice and put some of the tip into the tip jar, her boss wouldn’t know a thing.

As she waited for her shift to end, Lapis swore that Garnet knew something. It was just a small thought in her mind but it ate away at her. In a way she had wished that she had asked sooner if she knew who this Earl was. It certainly sounded as if she knew him when she could just ‘guess’ that much stuff about Lapis.

As Lapis closed up the cafe and left with the dessert slice in tow, she took out her phone and brought up Earl’s number. What looked so ominous before now had reverted into just a simple name.

When Lapis got to the house she dropped the cake onto a plate and left it out for Peridot. She never felt like eating anything and Lapis felt that Peridot deserved it after managing to put up with her all this time.

With a determined huff, Lapis pressed the call button and brought the phone expectantly to her ear.

———

Pearl grumbled when she heard her phone ring, she wondered if it was Garnet telling her that she spoke with Amethyst but she doubted it. She had stayed in the small cove for several hours she imagined, just thinking and trying to remember good memories, only to remember the bad ones.

She reached for her phone in her pocket and glanced at the screen.

The dancer flinched as the screen displayed the name ‘Lapis’, she tried to calm herself down. ‘Shit, she thinks I’m a guy!’ She groaned.

But time was running out, the phone wouldn’t keep ringing forever and Pearl certainly knew that if she never answered there and then she never will call her. ‘Maybe that’s a good thing.’ Pearl then cursed as the phone kept ringing.

As the melodic tune was about to restart again, Pearl coughed and cleared her throat. With all her willpower she hit the answer button and put the phone to her ear.

“Hello?” She tried to make her voice sound as gruff and low as she could but Pearl face palmed when she realised she sounded like a pubescent teen.

“Hello? Um…” She sounded nervous, that made Pearl nervous more than it should have, “I want to ask you if you would like to go to a beach party. I mean, like on a date.”

‘A date?!’ All the alarms went off in Pearl’s mind,

“But I mean, we can just go as friends! If you’re not comfortable or anything…” As reassuring as Lapis was trying to be it did not in fact help Pearl’s peculiar situation.

She cursed herself for being so awkward.

“I’ll think about it,” she replied, not as cooly and more so douche that she never intended.

“Oh, uh…” Lapis went a little quiet, “if you want to go with me then I’ll meet you by the bar later tonight at like ten. So if you want to then I’ll be there… Waiting… Okay, um… Bye!” She hung up before Pearl could say anything.

“Whyyyyy?” Pearl flopped back onto the ledge. A date with Lapis sounded nice, but it wasn’t so nice when she was toying with her feelings by masquerading a man. ‘This will only go downhill from here.’ Pearl took a deep breath.

Lapis sounded so nervous, perhaps she was really looking forward to going out on this date. Now it’s going to be ruined by Pearl not showing up just because she doesn’t like parties, she groaned again, Lapis doesn’t deserve that.

“One date.” Pearl grumbled, “and I won’t fall for her.”

After recollecting herself from that drama, Pearl had returned back to Amethysts flat and stopped herself from knocking. She entered slowly and carefully closed the door behind her, there was something unusual when she looked around. It was as if some of the piles had shrunk, there was no more wrappers or paper littering the floor, some of the boxes seemed to have disappeared too.

She walked into the living room and her eyes widened when she seen a whole old and dusty couch had been uncovered and there were several black bags hidden behind it. Amethyst and Garnet were looking at her from the couch, a mixture of emotions on Amethyst’s face.

“We talked,” Garnet hummed,

“Yeah,” Amethyst murmured, “I’m uh, sorry, about what happened.” The short girl folded her arms and looked down at the floor dejectedly.

“We’ve come to an agreement,” Garnet explained, fixing her shades slightly before turning to Amethyst and supportingly putting a hand on her knee.

“I’ll throw away the junk, like wrappers and whatever box you don’t like and have a ‘disagreement’ with.” Amethyst huffed, “but, you can’t throw away anything important to me.”

Pearl smiled brightly, “Oh Amethyst, I was never going to throw away anything I knew you liked!” She walked closer to them, “I just wanted to get rid of the… Well… Stuff people don’t usually keep!”

Amethyst nodded understandably.

“And I love what you’ve done! We’ve actually got a place to sit now!” Pearl added and Amethyst blushed slightly, Pearl placed her hands in front of her and clasped them a little nervously, “why don’t we do it together? That way we can clean out the house and… Talk…”

Amethyst looked up at her and chuckled, “Yeah sure, I need to make sure you don’t throw away a collectable!”

“Haha,” Pearl tried to be serious but also ended up chuckling.

“Pearl.” Garnet tapped the couch and Pearl silently sat between them, she felt Garnet supportively place a hand onto her knee. “About Rose-“

“No.” Pearl shook her head, “Not now.”

“But-“ Garnet tried, but Pearl silenced her again, ‘I can’t do this right now…’

“I have something to tell you two.” She crossed her legs and leaned back into the couch,

“What is it?” Amethyst asked, “did you destroy something again?”

“What? When have I ever-?” Pearl stopped herself, and cleared her throat, “no, I have not. It’s something else and it’s equally disastrous.”

“This is getting interesting,” Garnet remarked,

“Come on! Just tell us already!” Amethyst grinned impatiently,

“I’m going on a date.” She sighed,

“What!?” Amethyst grinned and Garnet knowingly smiled, “with who?!”

“L-Lapis,” Pearl replied,

“Congrats,” Garnet said,

“Oh, Peri’s room-mate! You just can’t keep away from the bad girls can you Pearlie?” Amethyst laughed,

“Shush!” Pearl blushed, “but there’s a problem.”

“Uh oh,” Garnet instinctively frowned,

“She thinks I’m a man…”

There was a resounding silence before Amethyst burst into hysterical laughter, even Garnet the stoic pillar, laughed. Pearl felt herself sink deeper into the couch and covered her bright red face with her hands.

Amethyst slapped her knees and crumpled to the floor, Garnet had to wipe her eyes from under her shades and Pearl continued to internally die.

“Oh my god!” Amethyst breathed in, “I can’t breath! haha!”

“I can guess how it happened,” Garnet chuckled,

“Look it was a misunderstanding! Now she thinks that my name’s ‘Earl’ and she asked me out!” Pearl burst but then slowly flopped onto the couch, “just let me die in peace now…”

“Okay… Haha! Okay calming down now!” Amethyst sniffed and she sat up on the floor. Pearl groaned in misery. “How the hell did she think you were a guy? You’re like the girly one out of all of us!”

“Not. Girly. Enough.” Pearl grumbled, “It was just after I left the bar. I… Met… Her. And she gave me her number.”

They looked at her a little strangely, Amethyst looked like she would burst out laughing at any moment.

“Now I’m going on a date with her, I have to go, she’s so looking forward to it!” Pearl sighed in defeat, “I have to go. I can’t just leave her…”

Amethyst and Garnet looked at each other before they returned their gaze on Pearl, it was a silent agreement that did not go un-noticed by the tall girl.

“We’ll help you.” Garnet folded her arms and Amethyst nodded, “Amethyst.” She looked over at the girl. “Clothes.”

“On it.” She rushed out of the room and into her own, leaving Pearl alone with Garnet.

“Pearl, you will go and pretend to be Earl again,” Garnet explained, putting a hand onto her shoulder, “but you HAVE to tell her the truth today, at least before anything gets serious.”

Pearl nodded her head quickly, a spark of determination had ignited in her. They looked over when Amethyst came in with some clothes in her arms, Pearl had to hold back her frown and tried not to cringe as Amethyst forced her into a black loose shirt and baggy jeans that she only grabbed because it was on sale.

“Are we done?” Pearl huffed as she put her signature red cap, the one that cause all this mess, on.

“Not sounding like that you’re not,” Amethyst replied, “you’re a man aren’t you?”

Pearl grumbled and she cleared her throat, “Are we done?” She asked again with a deeper voice,

Amethyst looked hopeful, but…

“We’re going to have to practice that before you leave.”

Tonight was going to be a long one.

———

Yet again she was pacing.

Back and Forth.

Blocking and Unblocking the switched off TV.

Peridot watched yet again, this time as she enjoyed the sweetness of the cheese cake.

“This… This is a side of you I’ve never seen…” Peridot raised a fork at her but Lapis scoffed and kept pacing. “I don’t know why you’re so worried, you got Garnet’s blessing! Garnet’s! Blessing!”

“Sorry, just nerves I guess…” Lapis continued,

“Okay, something’s going on in that brain of yours,” Peridot set the cake down, “you can trust me!”

Lapis looked down at her and then sat down beside her, “this is going to sound stupid.”

“I’m used to dealing with Amethyst. I KNOW stupid.” Peridot scoffed,

“I don’t know if I like him,” Lapis sighed,

Peridot paused, “you’re right, that is pretty stupid…”

“Peridot!”

“Sorry! But didn’t you say it yourself that this was just to repay him?”

“Yeah, but I just can’t stop thinking about it ever since Garnet mentioned my feelings about him!” Lapis muttered, “and Jaspers been texting me, telling me to keep away from the beach!-“

“JASPER’s texting you?!” Peridot paled, “Why didn’t you say something!”

“So you didn’t have to worry!”

“Thank you!” Peridot huffed, “but I would appreciate it if you told me. Jasper is my problem now too.” Lapis sighed, “I mean that in a kinda good way? W-what I’m saying is, you don’t need to go through this alone!”

Lapis looked up from the hands on her lap and back at Peridot, who was staring directly ahead at the half-finished cheesecake.

“And so what if Earl doesn’t show up? We can still come back home and watch Camp Pining Hearts, I mean no one’s relationship is worse than Paulette’s!” Peridot grumbled, “and Jasper… But she’s not funny to mock!”

Lapis laughed at that.

That was something that Peridot had, the ability to be hilarious in any given situation.

“So let’s get going, it’s almost ten.” Peridot huffed and stood up, but she looked down to the coffee table anti-climactically and sat down again, picking the cake up “right after I finish this cake.”

Lapis grinned and rolled her eyes.

When they finally made it out the door and made their way to the bar Lapis’s nerves went haywire. She felt like she was being watched from somewhere, like someone was following her. She gripped her shirt’s sleeve, ‘I can’t let Jasper get under my skin.’

Peridot had noticed this sudden motion and looked at her in disbelief.

“After my inspirational speech and you’re still on edge?!” Peridot whimpered,

“I’ll calm down once I see him.” She face palmed after she said that, “ I did NOT mean that to be in any romantic sense what-so-ever.”

“Ri~ight, sure you didn’t” Peridot grinned.

Lapis pouted and turned away from Peridot if a slight huff. She seen the fire from the party on the Beach to her Left, just a few streets down and then Lapis glanced to the Bar to her right, she suddenly paused. ‘I need to control myself.’

“Are you serious?” Peridot raised an eyebrow,

“What? No! Just… You go on ahead to the Beach. If I’m not there in ten then you can just go home.” Lapis said,

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Lapis smiled, they gave themselves a high-five as they walked by each other.

“Knock him dead Lapis! But not literally!” Peridot laughed,

“I will!” Lapis smirked.

But what Lapis believed to be a stroke of genius turned to be one of the worst decisions she had ever made. As she waited outside the busy bar she swore that the feeling that there was someone watching her, following her even, got stronger.

She hoped that Earl would show up soon.

———

Pearl sighs as she walks to the bar, why did she ever agree to this? What possessed her to do this? She had practiced for a solid hour with Amethyst after Garnet left, a solid hour! That’s the most dedicated thing that Amethyst has ever done in her life!

She scoffs as Amethyst gave her a ‘meh, pass.’ once her voice grew hoarse. She had judged it to have just enough grit and deep enough to sound like a young man. Emphasis on the young.

Pearl, or ‘Earl’ as she was known as at the moment, pulled out her phone. She felt like punching herself when she realised that she forgot to take off her phone case and change the background, ‘too late to change it.’ She huffs and sent Lapis a text.

It was a simple “on my way,” but it still seemed extremely wrong in every context.

As she kept walking, she realised how differently people looked at her at night. Women would hurriedly return homes armed with keys between their fingers and men would shy away trying to act normal and yet, only end up looking more suspicious.

She wondered when it was that people got scared to go out at night in Beach City, ‘it never used to be like this.’

Pearl sighed when she seen the bar from a distance and she cleared her throat. There standing out front was the same girl she saved yesterday, looking into her phone and glancing around at her surroundings a little nervously.

Was this really the Lapis Amethyst told her about? She was always described as threatening and unreasonable… But the girl she seen was as normal as everyone around her.

The tall disguised girl looked around Lapis, she seen someone looking at her from the darkness of the bench across from the bar.

They did not look friendly.

She fixed her red cap slightly and walked up to her.

“Lapis,” she called, testing her new voice. The girl looked at her in surprise and slight fear, but it softened and she released a sigh of relief, she walked up to her slowly and Pearl glanced at the figure by the bench, they had lost interest.

“Wow, you actually showed up!” Lapis smirked and folded her arms, “you’re late!”

Pearl frowned, ‘no I’m not…’ But played along, “fashionably late.”

Lapis chuckled, “I’m joking, you’re right on time. So, you ready?”

Pearl nodded and they continued walking to the beach.

‘I will not fall for her.’ Pearl told herself.

I will not fall for her.’

Chapter Text

They walked side by side awkwardly, Pearl would glance at her at times and if she was particularly (un)lucky Lapis would catch her gaze and they awkwardly looked at each other. This led to a small, self-deprecating smile and an embarrassing blush. Pearl scowled when she became very conscious of how clammy her palms had become, in fact, she was conscious of just about everything right now.

‘Do I look manly?’ ‘Will she find out?’ ‘Do I smell bad?’ She wrinkled her nose, it was Amethyst’s clothes after all- ‘Stop. Thinking. About. It.’ She bit her lip.

This wasn’t going well, they had already walked a few paces away from the bar and they haven’t said anything to each other. ‘Think Pearl, think! What would Bismuth or Garnet say? They’ve always been the most suave with girls.’ She took a sharp breath, ‘and they’ve rejected too many to count.’

This wasn’t going well at all.

“So-“ Lapis awkwardly cleared her throat, Pearl felt her heart lurch into her stomach and then make a trip up to her throat like some sort of excursion. She looked down at Lapis curiously, she had an awkward look on her face. “You… New… Here?” Lapis somewhat mumbled,

“I uh…” Pearl cleared her throat, trying to call back the hoarse voice she worked hard to achieve, “I’m a visitor.” She lied, if she said she moved then there would never be a way to disappear.

“So you’re not from here,” Lapis clarified,

“That’s right.”

Really what she meant to say was, ‘Hi! My name’s Pearl and I am a girl!’ But she didn’t have the guts right now and she didn’t want to ruin this moment for Lapis. ‘It doesn’t matter, I’ll ruin this for her no matter what I choose to do.’ Pearl breathed in and out slowly, the attempt at calming down and gaining enough courage was about as successful as trying to do it in a cage full of lions.

Basically, Pearl knew that this spelled disaster.

“So, uh…” Pearl tried, thinking of something to say, anything. ‘Anything other than last night that is.’ Lapis looked at her expectantly with those dark blue eyes, “What’re you interested in?”

Lapis looked forward again and sighed, she was taking some time to think of her answer. “Well, I like art, like painting and whatever… I also like swimming, surfing, anything with water really. I don’t complain.” She sighed at the night sky, “stars are pretty too… But that’s what most people say.”

Pearl grinned hesitantly, “is your favourite colour blue?” she asked hopefully whilst trying everything as to not offend her.

“Oh how could you guess?” Lapis scoffed and rolled her eyes playfully, “I like other colours too, I don’t discriminate when it comes to the rainbow.”

“Right,” Pearl tried to chuckle with her new voice, it went awkwardly. “A Rainbow?” Pearl mumbled quietly and her thoughts went out of control. Lapis didn’t seem to notice the sudden curiosity of what Pearl thought she had intended to be a clever joke.

They descended into yet another silence and they continued walking, subconsciously matching their paces like a well thought out dance. Pearl tried to shift her posture on the way, hands into her pockets and slumped her shoulders ever so slightly, ‘There, perfect.’ Lapis had also seemed to change as her hands swayed casually beside her hips.

Pearl never noticed the amount of bracelets that she had worn until now, some were plain and made out of the famous chord used to make friendship bracelets, strangely it was an out of place lime green. Others seemed decorative, one was made out of a single, long, sturdy string wrapped twice around her wrist with a small blue stone hanging from it, it looked like it could have been a choker necklace and Pearl developed a small smile as the prospect of it being a lapis stone, ‘how cute.’ she slapped herself out of it ‘No pearl it’s a trap! Don’t fall for her!’
She looked at the other accessories, another bracelet that Pearl could see was a silver chain with some small etchings on some of the links, half of the links were blank. She wondered what it could be and if it was Lapis that engraved them herself.

She was about to see the last one but Lapis had moved her hands out the way and Pearl blushed uncomfortably when she realised that she was spotted.

“You have very pretty bracelets,” she spluttered out quickly,

“Oh, thanks…” Pearl seen her fondly brush the various threads, “each have a story I guess. Can’t seem to get rid of any of them.”

That sounded similar to Amethyst’s problem but the taller girl could feel that the reasons were not the same, there was something that Lapis wasn’t telling her, something she was hiding. Normally Pearl could tell what kind of secrets people hid… Well… Not normally, but she had experienced more that enough lies and secret keeping when she was with Rose. Lapis seemed to hide something emotional, shiny bracelets could mean a bad ex and as that was the more likely case Pearl stuck to it. But by the way Lapis carried herself, it was like she was nervous of something and hesitantly moved, it had to have been something much more.

“I’m sure that they’re very interesting stories.” Pearl tried giving her a friendly smile,

Lapis looked at her blankly, “I suppose…” She dropped her hand and looked away from Pearl, “some things are best to be forgotten though.”

‘What an enigma.’ Pearl dropped her smile and clenched her hands, ‘Was this what Amethyst was talking about? But what could have happened to Lapis? Who is she?’ Her curiosity would have to remain unsated, ‘curiosity killed the cat’ and all that.

“So Earl.” Lapis snapped her out of her thoughts, it somewhat made the taller girl realise how slow they were walking to the beach, she looked at her. “Tell me about yourself.”

And Pearl had a panic attack.

‘About me?! I barely know myself and I have to answer that?’ She hummed, trying to buy herself some time she looked to the stars in the sky. ‘Okay think, what should I say? What would a guy say? Should I reveal myself? Or should I make something up?’ Lapis started looking at her curiously, ‘Not. Good.’

“I suppose I am… Up for anything?” She replied, Lapis looked like she nodded in acknowledgement. it wasn’t technically a lie it just never revealed a lot about her, Pearl did enjoy doing anything at least once (even the stupid stuff) but she had already grown out of that stage in her life… Or at least she hoped so.

“So, ‘try something once’ type of guy?” Lapis smiled.

Pearl felt her face heat up, she could have sworn that her heart skipped a beat like some sort of cliche in a cartoon. She nodded and cleared her throat, ‘she has a pretty smile.’ She told herself, then with a slight grumble ‘a very pretty smile… It’s too pretty.’

The dancer had to stop herself, it was like her logic and her emotions became separate entities and were currently having a staring battle of the worst kind in her mind. Rose had made her feel like this before and although she wouldn’t have minded this feeling generally to anyone, like that one time crush on some mystery girl, she had to control herself. Lapis, she was certain, was straight. ‘Or bisexual.’ Pearl silenced the tiny voice, ‘always assume straight, brain, always.’

If she was gay then she wouldn’t have went out on a date and simply would have said it to be a friendly ‘hang-out’. ‘But what if she was bisexual?’ Pearl sighed and listened to the tiny voice.

She looked over Lapis with a careful and analytical eye, a denim jacket over a crop-top and a pair of jeans. ‘Badges?’ her collar was clean, ‘no.’ She sighed, ’anything gay-sh?’ she had short dark hair with blue highlights, ‘straight girls can have short hair.’ Pearl glanced again and Lapis met her eye, she cast another grin that made Pearl question all of existence.

‘Is there anything?! How do you know without asking?’ Pearl groaned internally, ‘I wish that after my wishes of world peace, that there is some sort of system in Beach City other than those badges that said “I’m gay!” That would be really helpful.’

“We’re here,” Lapis said and Pearl grimaced as she looked over the party from afar, she hoped that Dewey wouldn’t notice and recognise her as the Pearl he had a crush on in high-school. “My friend’s over there, let me introduce you.” The girl in blue walked away and Pearl followed her a little anxiously, ‘This has to be Peridot that Amethyst spoke about nearly non-stop. Thank God she doesn’t know me.’

They walked further into the shade of the wall against the sand, there Pearl could see a lone girl in a green hooded girl with what looked to be badges sown into the sleeves haphazardly. She looked like a miniature forest ranger or some sort of scout but she didn’t seem to be interested in anything other than the phone in her hands. Peridot looked up from her phone once they got close enough, surprise, yet mild irritation, was evident on her face.

“Oh he actually came…” She grumbled, “well there goes the Camp Pining Hearts marathon.”

“We’ll still have it once we get back,” Lapis smiled sweetly, “anyway,” she turned on her heels and looked back at Pearl, “Earl, this is Peridot. Peridot, Earl.”

“Nice to meet you!” The green girl grinned, she put her hand out and Pearl raised an eyebrow,

“Likewise.” Pearl smiled back. She accepted the handshake with some hesitance and shook her hand quickly before pulling back. It was embarrassing for her to admit that she hadn’t encountered many people that actually greet her with a handshake and she wasn’t really prepared.

She noticed Peridot’s expression flash in discomfort and she receded away from Pearl slowly, the taller girl raised an eyebrow in concern. She cleared her throat and ran through her brain for things to say.

“You mentioned a marathon?”

“I bribed her into coming,” Lapis explained,

“Yeah, she bribed me,” Peridot nodded her head, she seemed a little more defensive and folded her arms.

“It was because… Um… Well…” Lapis sighed,

“No it’s fine,” Pearl raised her hand expressively, “I understand.” Lapis gave her another smile, Pearl then looked back to Peridot, “the show must be good if you were that easily bribed.”

“Camp Pining Hearts is the best!” Peridot proudly proclaimed, “tell him Lapis.”

“It’s good,” she added,

“Never heard of it.” Pearl hummed, the only ever times she had watched anything on television was when it was some sort of date or movie night with Rose. But even back then she was focused on other activities.

Peridot gawked in a mixture of surprise and utter horror at her ignorance,

“I- I do not approve of your ignorance!” Peridot huffed, “Lapis, we are educating him!”

Lapis laughed and it sounded lovely to Pearl, she pinched herself and instead focused on the bitter expression on Peridot’s face. It looked like she was a child tricked into biting a lemon and forever wanting revenge on those that wronged her. Lapis then snorted slightly and looked to Peridot, “I don’t think we need to go that far.”

“Is it that good?” Pearl smiled,

“Oh my god! It so is!” Peridot gasped and Lapis seemed to join in with her eagerness, “so like, there’s all these camps and they’re constantly fighting with each other!-” She began to wave her arms about with a grin as she explained further how a character named ‘Paulette’ was the most despicable thing on the planet. At least she was comfortable being around her again.

Throughout the night, Pearl saying to herself one thing, ‘I will not fall for her.’

It became another mantra, something that she kept telling herself after Lapis would grin or laugh, interact with her in any way or even touch her sleeve when she was really into a conversation or pulling Pearl’s attention away from Peridot’s rants. Loving a straight girl was tough and it hurt more than getting stabbed with one thousand knives or being bludgeoned to death.

Pearl sighed sadly as she remembered how Rose would give her the same smile that Lapis seemingly possessed, it was always that stupid smile that made Pearl’s knee’s shake like it had become jelly and a silly grin spread on her face.

When Rose left her, it felt like she was set alight, that everything leading to it was her just adding gasoline over her and Pearl pretending that it was alright until finally she brings out the match.

That was when a stupid and selfish thought came into Pearl’s head, ‘What if Lapis never found out?’ Pearl grimaced slightly, but she did not reject the idea.

Lapis looked at her with a hopeful expression once she glanced at the sea, people were getting into the salty water with a fury. Perhaps it was a challenge that one of Dewey’s friends came up with, an endurance test of sorts. Or maybe they finally got so drunk that they had to go cool off.

“Want to go for a swim?” Lapis grinned,

Pearl would have loved to, but as she was hiding the fact that she was a girl dressed in boyish clothes…

“Sorry,” Pearl gave her an apologetic smile, “I can’t.”

Peridot and Lapis shared a look but Lapis quickly shrugged, “I’ll just go, I’ve been meaning to start swimming again, no better time than the present.” She stretched. “You can keep Peridot company!” She looked a little nervous but there was still the charming confidence that she possessed shining through.

Pearl was not ready for Lapis to start pulling off her clothes and she looked away at the speed of sound, nearly giving herself whiplash in the process.

“Enjoy!” Pearl looked back once Peridot called out to her, she blushed at the sight of her in a blue swimsuit exposing her back. She could see from under the moonlight a scar and a decorative blue wing tattoo seemingly made of streams of water or flower petals, it made her take a breath in a similar manner of seeing a world wonder.

‘Lapis is a world wonder.’

She grumbled at the thought, she barely knew her after all and she bit her lip in irritation. ‘I’m falling for her.’

“So,” Peridot spoke up, “You saved her from Jasper?” She got straight to the point and looked at her in disbelief. Sizing her up and narrowing her eyes as if she was some sort of critic. “No offence, but you don’t seem… Well…”

Pearl looked at her dully and sighed, “I threw a glass bottle at her, that’s all I done.”

Peridot paled, “Ugh, you’re more stupid than I thought…” Pearl scowled at her, “I mean, don’t get me wrong you saved Lapis!” Peridot put her hands out reassuringly, “but it’s just that… Jasper is going to track you down… If she finds you then-“

“Who is she?” Pearl interrupted her, a little gruffer in her voice,

Peridot nervously gulped and jumped like a deer caught in a cars headlights, “Jasper’s the reason that people are scared at night.” Pearl raised an eyebrow and let the green girl continue, “Her gang of thugs run the streets of Beach City ever since those Crystal clods stepped down.”

Now this was interesting.

Pearl wasn’t aware of the effect their little group had on the community, she supposed that she did get into a lot of fights when she was younger and it would have contributed somehow. She never considered to be a gang member… ‘The Crystal Gems really WAS a gang now that I think about it from Peridot’s perspective…’

“I mean, Amethyst told me all about the ‘pranks’ that they pulled back in the day. Particularly about some renegade wielding a knife, now she was terrifying!” Pearl gasped and clenched her hands tightly, “Jasper never liked to talk about her though, back when Lapis was… Well… Jasper once mentioned something to do with scars and someone-“

“Okay! I get it,” Pearl’s voice almost cracked and she had to take deep breaths to calm herself. She never thought that she would be remembering her past so suddenly or what happened a long time ago. She hurt so many people back then, anyone that irritated her or Rose, anyone that attempted to steal or hurt someone. Sure it was a valiant effort, but one day after some goon threatened Rose… she took it to the next level…

‘That incident, it’s always that incident! Why won’t they shut up about it already? I don’t want to remember, I’ve forgotten it!’

Pearl let out a long sigh.

“Are you okay?” Peridot asked, her hands nervously tugged at her hoodie strings.

“I’m fine,” Pearl replied and she lowered her cap slightly, “just peachy.”

So this is what it’s come down to, now the moniker of Earl is very real and has a very significant purpose in her life. There was no-way that Pearl could tell them who she was now, anything could happen and the last thing she wanted was to be chased out by a gang with a grudge.

Yet just disappearing wasn’t an option, Jasper would be looking for her and, by what Pearl could guess due to Peridot’s paranoia on the subject, Jasper would not stop till she gets what she wants. Lapis and Peridot would be the first targets.

Pearl didn’t want that at all, she didn’t know what their history was with the thug, but whatever it was it wasn't pleasant. The next targets would obviously be anyone that they knew, that meant Amethyst and Garnet. There was no escape.

‘What do I do now?’ Pearl sighed.

Just as the green girl was about to say something else, Pearl got a text. The taller girl turned her back and secretively pulled out her phone (still with the original cover). She paled at what she read from Garnet, it was a blunt statement that made her skin crawl with the recent track of mind she had.

“I need to go,” Pearl shoved the phone back into her pocket, she noticed Peridot looking at her own phone in shock too, “my… Friend… just got sent to A&E.”

“Wait!” Peridot jumped, “Are you friends with Amethyst?!”

Pearl froze.

It was a bad time for Lapis to come back, she was soaking wet and breathing heavy, but otherwise she was happy. Her smile however vanished when she seen their frightened expressions on their faces.

“W-what happened?” She asked,

“Sorry, Lapis I’ve got to go now.” Pearl slowly backed away, “it’s an emergency.”

She turned to run and she barely heard Peridot yell out “ Wait! You never answered me!”

Pearl ran as quick as she could go. She wondered what had happened and shivered at the idea that Jasper somehow managed to skip the several steps she devised and find Amethyst sitting in her flat, minding her own business.

She had to make sure she was okay. She had to.

———

“Well that went well!” Peridot grinned uncomfortably before groaning loudly when Lapis caught on to her lie and raised an eyebrow at her,

“Could have been better,” Lapis grumbled as she dried herself off with one of the towels that Dewey, for some reason, had brought with him. Lapis cringed at the idea that it was for him constantly wiping his forehead but she banished the thought. “What even happened?”

Peridot sighed defeatedly. “We both got a text at the same time, then he said his friend was sent to the A&E.” She took out her phone and showed Lapis the blue screen, “I got a text from Amethyst saying she just got to the A&E.”

“That’s really suspicious… But couldn’t it just be a coincidence? They happen all the time,” Lapis asked as she put on her shirt,

“Please…” Peridot scoffed, “a coincidence like this in Beach City?”

Lapis hummed, ‘It does sound really strange.’ She pulled on her jeans and sorted her jacket, trying to make herself presentable and not like she washed up on some Beach like a castaway. “I have my theory that Garnet knows Earl somehow, she does know a lot of people our age… But why would Earl be friends with Amethyst?”

“Why wouldn’t he be friends with Amethyst?” Peridot said defensively with a huff,

Lapis grinned, “not everyone has a crush on her like you do,” Peridot frowned with a blush on her cheeks, “besides, Earl doesn’t seem to be the loud, abrasive type. You know?”

“You’re missing the point Lazuli! Earl is weird-“

“Look who’s talking?” Lapis smirked,

“Shush!” Peridot frowned, “I mentioned those Crystal gems to him and he flipped out!”

Lapis frowned. “Given the subject, I would also ‘flip out’ Peridot.” Lapis crossed her arms and looked towards the sea absently, trying to forget the rocky relationship she had with them.

“Yeah, but what does he have against them? He said he was visiting remember?” Peridot pushed her phone back into her pocket and expressively widened her stance, “and I don’t think the Crystal Gems moved to the next town!” She finished.

Lapis rubbed her head and groaned, now Peridot will probably create theories of him like he was a show to enjoy and critique. She knew that there was something off about Earl ever since she met him, spending time with him has only giving her more questions instead of answers and she didn’t know if she liked that or not.

Perhaps he was trying to impress her all this time, his actions did seem forced and unnatural. She brought her wrist to her chest and cradled the various bracelets, the feeling that haunted her like a curse making her remember being with Jasper seemed to disappear from them momentarily and now all she could think about was Earl’s sharp blue eyes gazing at her curiously. She frowned, something just didn’t feel right.

“Amethyst said she has a room-mate right?” Lapis asked after they had begun to walk back home,

“Yeah…” Peridot’s face seemed to brighten in realisation, “yeah! A new one at that.”

“Did she ever tell you who it was?” Lapis asked, her heart started to race,

“No.”

They began to grin at one another, wide and cheshire like that seemed to dust away some of the mystery behind the mystery boy.

“Do you think?-“ Lapis asked,

“Oh I’m thinking, I think yes!” Peridot seemed to gain a spark in her eyes, “we could probably find a resident registration sheet or something similar, those flats on the outside of town were always awkward in getting into.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Lapis grabbed Peridots arm and then pulled her along the darkened streets determinedly. “Amethyst might have the answers we need!”

“You mean, you need?” Peridot quipped with a sly smile,

“Whatever,” Lapis snorted a grin on her face.

All was silent as they rushed through the empty streets. Lapis hadn’t felt this excited in what felt like forever, it was like she was going to burst at any moment. But as she tailed Peridot behind her, practically dragging her, she felt more and more like she was just running away from something.

At first Lapis believed it was just the wind, the darkness of the unlit streets played with her mind and made her believe that things were there. It was like a young child being afraid of a monster hiding in their closet or under the bed. But slowly she seen more and more compelling evidence, some footsteps, bottles breaking, breathing even, it all unnerved her and slowly Lapis started to doubt on everything around her other than Peridot.

“Are you okay?!” Peridot wheezed behind her, “we’ve been running…” she gasped a big breath of air, “For a solid ten minutes!” She breathed out, “I’m not cut out for this physical activity! You know we could have just walked here? I mean it is on the outskirts of town!”

“I-I’m fine,” Lapis looked around her quickly and she panted, “sorry Peridot.”

“No!… No it’s fine!” She regained her breath and looked ahead of them, she pointed suddenly and Lapis followed her eyes, “there it is.”

It was a rather large four-story building, quite impressionable with the white walls and brown, if not, wooden accents. But it was pleasant and looked like it housed several apartments. They walked up to the entrance and glanced inside through the window.

“Looks like it’s clear,” Peridot murmured and she tried to open the door, it was locked. ‘Figures, you have to be a resident to open it… Or at least come at the acceptable times…’ Lapis sighed,

“Well Lapis, looks like there’s nothing that can be done!” Peridot turned on her heels and began to walk away.

Lapis rolled her eyes and grabbed Peridot by her collar, yanking her back slightly.

“It’s locked, we can’t get in you clod!” Peridot grumbled,

“Shh!” Lapis put a finger to her mouth and walked up the small barrier that separated the main stairs to the entrance and the small garden patch. She swung her legs over and grabbed onto one of the window sill as she balanced herself on a small ledge.

“Lapis!” Peridot gasped a little loudly and the blue girl cast her a glare, Peridot clasped her mouth before removing her hands again. “What are you doing?!” Peridot then whisper screamed, “you’re going to hurt yourself!”

“I won’t, I done this all the time,” Lapis replied as she climbed up the ledge and pushed herself up the wall with a kick, she grabbed onto the small window into the main receptions office, pulling her weight as if she was flying.

“Do you want to end up in A&E like that other clod?!” Peridot added,

Lapis never replied as she comfortably leaned against the glass, using the groove in her belt buckle she managed to get some leverage on the window, opening it just enough for her fingers to slip under and open it with some force to slip inside.

As silent as a professional thief, she crept past a sleeping security guard that was currently (and successfully) guarding a coffee mug with ‘I HATE MY BOSS’ written boldly, Lapis could faintly see a name beside it as if continuing the sentence, ‘Holly B.’ was written in marker that was already rubbing off. Briefly Lapis thought about robbing her on her escape ‘But I’m not like that anymore…’ she sighed and slipped into the entrance area, she could spot Peridot standing outside with a look of awe and fear on her face. Her hands waved about expressively, mentioning that Lapis will get caught and they’ll go to jail for trespassing. The girl in blue ignored her.

Quickly Lapis looked through a residents sheet and found the particular one that she was looking for. It was a document that was messily filled and had the signature ‘Amethyst’ at the top, she looked at the documents attached and found Garnets old document. Lapis clicked her tongue disappointingly and put the file away, however she had no intentions of leaving just yet ‘The document could still be incomplete, perhaps I’ll find an application letter instead.’ Lapis scanned the table top of the reception and moved numerous papers about, many were just random adverts and Lapis doubted that many would apply for the flat here, she continued her search until she discovered a formal and opened envelope. She grinned in success as she opened the envelope and inspected the letter and application. She felt her heart leap when she discovered it was for the same flat that Amethyst was currently staying in, she opened the letter but all that greeted her was confusion.

It was a very elegant handwriting, with tidy flicks and swirls. It was so immaculate that Lapis believed it to be a computer font at first, the more she read the letter the more confused she got.

Finally she read the name at the bottom of the page.

‘ Pearl. ’

Lapis returned outside to Peridot with a mixture of emotions after she dropped the letter back onto the desk, her previous thoughts on the guard ignored and her mind was a haze.

“So?” Peridot looked at her expectantly, “I seen you read the application letter, who is it?”

“A woman named ‘Pearl’.” Lapis clicked her tongue and shoved her hands into her pockets, finally noticing how sore they had become due to supporting her weight when she was climbing.

“Pearl?” Peridot scoffed, “that’s an unsettling coincidence…” She brought a hand to her jaw, “was there any photo?”

Lapis shook her head in response, “let’s go Peri…” She sighed, “I wish I took a drink at that party.”

They began to walk away from the building slowly and Lapis furiously glared at the ground. ‘I was so sure of it. But who is this Pearl? Why are their names so similar?’ she groaned ‘They can’t be the same person, Earl is a man.’

“Hey,” Peridot grabbed her attention and Lapis looked at her a little glumly, “nice detective work there…” she grinned,

Lapis smiled, “thanks, but really, I shouldn’t be breaking and entering anymore… Makes me want to… Well…” she cleared her throat,

“I understand,” Peridot hummed, there was then a spark in her eyes, “that’s why I believe we should get a sniffer dog instead. They’ll get in anywhere and find anything for us so you don’t have to!”

Lapis snorted and broke into laughter, “you can’t be serious, you? want a pet dog?”

“Hey! I’ll have you know I am very responsible! We had those goldfish didn’t we?” Peridot huffed,

Lapis thought back for a moment. “Poor Percy and Pierre…” she sighed, “They lived short lives in this world… Too pure…”

Peridot sniffed dramatically, “I’LL NEVER GET A GOLDFISH AGAIN!”

“What about that bird we took care of?” Lapis sighed, “Susan’s probably flying around the world right now…”

“No loyalty that one,” Peridot frowned, “they must have got it from you and your ‘freedom’ tendencies.”

Lapis sighed with a fond smile, “fine, you go ahead and do some research first. If we’re going to get one we’re going to do it right.”

“Yep!” Peridot grinned, “and I’m going to also train it to do my bidding!”

“You say that about all pets…” Lapis rolled her eyes,

“Not if my bidding is to bite Jasper.”

“Touche.”

Lapis smiled fondly as they continued walking further and further away from the building, she sighed sadly at the disappointing revelation but she hoped that she could at least speak to Amethyst with Peridot after work. This ‘Pearl’ did seem interesting and Lapis began thinking about what kind of person she would have been like.

She must have been a perfectionist of some sort, it was the only way of explaining her masterpiece of an application, she was also very thoughtful judging by how sincere she sounded in the letter. But ‘posh’ or ‘elegant’ definitely stood out like a sore thumb. It was almost entertaining to envision what she may have looked like, but overtime when Lapis tried she thought about a fat, old, wrinkly woman that must have been Amethyst’s grandmother or great aunt, ‘Now THAT would be funny!’ She imagined an old lady-like figure attempting to shape up Amethyst and get her to clean the house or something similar. Perhaps even making Amethyst wear girly things such as dresses, Lapis snorted. ‘Seeing Amethyst walk about doing chores, “My great-aunt Pearl told me to!” she would say!’

But as they walked by the beach again, nearing their own home. Lapis swore that she heard someone walk up behind her.

And Peridot gasped.

———

The trip to the hospital had been eventful if anything, from the precise manoeuvring of Amethyst into the taxi without hurting her to the gut wrenching feeling of watching Amethyst shamble up the stairs to the apartment by herself with only crutches.

Pearl sighed as she watched Garnet and Amethyst sitting on the couch.

“What… What happened?” Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose and frowned, her cap hid her eyes quite well,

“Well, y’see…” Amethyst grumbled and groaned as she replied, “My… Uh… Pile fell onto my foot.”

Pearl tensed, “and why did it fall onto your foot?” She probed,

“I was trying to clean some stuff out… From some of the tallest towers…” Amethyst sighed,

“Amethyst I said that we should do it together!” Pearl snapped, “or at least you should have been more careful!”

“I was trying okay?” Amethyst huffed and crossed her arms, propping her foot up onto the couch pillow with an ounce of sass,

“Pearl has a point Amethyst.” Garnet put her hand onto the injured girl’s shoulder, “anything could have been in one of those piles and you would have more than a broken leg.”

Amethyst pouted and looked away, “okay, okay! I get it, I should have just waited to get skewered another time…”

“Amethyst!~” Pearl covered her face and looked away, she envisioned that knife that she threw back to the top of the pile carelessly, had Amethyst knocked over the wrong pile… She didn’t dare think of it.

“Sorry Pearl,” Amethyst mumbled after they silently watched each other for their sides of the room, “I totally ruined your date didn’t I?”

Pearl sniffed and looked back to Amethyst with a small apologetic smile, “it’s fine, it wasn’t going well at all…”

“Did you manage to tell her?” Amethyst asked curiously,

Pearl shook her head, “No, and I don’t think I ever will be able to tell her.”

Amethyst groaned and dragged her hands down her face, “UGH, I messed up!”

“What? No! No, no, no! Amethyst it’s not your fault,” Pearl smiled and reassured her, “it’s just… When I ‘met’ Lapis I also may have threw a bottle at someone named Jasper.”

Garnet and Amethyst seemed to sit up straighter at the mention of her name, Garnet grimaced and Amethyst looked surprised.

“You did whaaaaaat?” Amethyst grinned, “P. That’s totally hardcore! I knew that there was some of the old you still there!”

“No!” Pearl snapped, “no, that me is gone Amy…”

She sighed, it had been a long time since she called Amethyst that.

“I still have no clue who this ‘Jasper’ is, all I’m getting is that she is some sort of gang member and she has a grudge.” Pearl sighed and she began restlessly pacing, “not only that, Lapis and Peridot are hiding something! They know about the ‘Crystal Gems’, they know Jasper and they know me!” Pearl clasped her arms around her chest tightly and continued to pace. “They know who I used to be and now Jasper has a grudge against me AND now this ‘Earl’!” She opened her arms and looked down at herself, “so basically…” Pearl sighed and she stopped, she turned her head and looked at Amethyst and Garnet with nothing but a blank look. “… I’m fucked.”

Amethyst burst into laughter, “P! Dropping the F-Bomb! Nice to have you back.” Pearl scowled,

Garnet on the other hand wasn’t as light-hearted, she hummed and stood up from the couch.

“I need to apologise to you Pearl,” Garnet hummed, “I followed you out the bar and I overheard what happened between you and Lapis… But I never knew that you had scared off Jasper of all people.”

“Who is Jasper?” Pearl sighed, she grew more and more irritated, “do I know her? Is she some sort of fast-food worker? Some sort of creep? Who is she?”

“Not personally,” Garnet hummed calmly, “but I know that Rose knew her, they weren’t on good terms so that’s why Rose kept it from you… She knew what you were capable of doing for her…”

Pearl winced at that. She would have done anything for Rose. ‘Anything, even-…’ Pearl sighed.

“We’ll sort this out tomorrow,” Garnet fixed her shades, “we’ll fix the place up and call Peridot over with Lapis, then we’ll talk to her together.”

“But Garnet! They’re terrified of me!” Pearl responded, “how will they react once they figure out that I’m the ‘knife-wielding renegade’ that they’re on about?”

“No they’re not, they’re just scared of the idea of a ‘knife-wielding renegade’.” Garnet smiled quickly before looking over to Amethyst that was already getting a marker prepared for signatures. “We only have one person to thank for that.”

Pearl sighed, “okay… But what about Jasper?”

“We’ll sort it out tomorrow,” Garnet repeated, “it’s late right now and we need to get Amethyst into her room.” She put a reassuring hand onto Pearl’s shoulder, “don’t worry, we’ll sort this out.”

Pearl smiled slightly and they turned once they heard Amethyst wiggling as furiously as someone could with a broken leg.

“Ooh, ooh! Garnet! Pearl! Sign my cast!” Amethyst displayed her leg and the marker, “go on do it! You know you want too~” she wiggled again, “What’s the phrase? ‘Sign me like one of your Belgian buns!’,”

Pearl snorted and broke out in laughter, “It’s ‘paint me like one of your French girls’!”

“Meh, I like my version better.” Amethyst gave the marker to Garnet and she left a large signature beside her calf, Pearl then took the pen and just as she was about to put the pen down Amethyst flinched “Ow!” Pearl jumped and frowned at the chuckling girl,

“Amethyst.” She warned and then quickly wrote her name on Amethyst’s shin.

“Come on, bed-time.” Garnet picked Amethyst up with ease, “Pearl, get the doors.”

The taller girl nodded and lead the way to Amethyst’s room, opening the door into the small room that was packed with random objects. Just as Pearl was about to turn away Amethyst threw something at her, she quickly caught the fabric and she gasped when she discovered the old jacket she used to wear.

“I thought I lost this…” She smiled affectionately,

“Heh, Found it just before I hurt my leg.” Amethyst poked the cast as she sat on her bed, “ I think you looked cool in it.”

Pearl smiled and she tried it on, flipping the collar like always. A rush of nostalgia hit her and she grinned, “thanks Amethyst.”

“Hey don’t mention it.” She grinned and waved as Garnet closed the door.

They walked into the living room, Pearl was just about to tell Garnet to have a safe journey home when there was suddenly a furious pounding at the front door. Pearl and Garnet glance at each other before they opened it and found a yawning security guard called Skinny, that looked like she was rudely awakened, and a Peridot in tears.

“She demanded to speak with you guys,” Skinny said before she left, “just don’t tell Holly I done this! She’ll have my neck.”

As the guard left they focused on the whimpering Peridot.

“Earl?!” She pointed at Pearl, “what are you doing here?!”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Pearl responded in her ‘Earl’ voice,

“It doesn’t matter! It’s Lapis!” Peridot sniffed and hyperventilated at the same time, Pearl didn’t think it possible till now. Pearl felt her heart leap and instantly an intense fear wrapped itself around her.

“Calm down, start talking,” Garnet placed a hand onto Peridot’s shoulder,

“What happened to Lapis?” Pearl added, near panicking.

“Someone grabbed her and dragged her off!” Peridot whimpered, “I tried to do something! But I couldn’t do anything!”

“It’s fine,” Garnet hummed, she turned to Pearl and to the taller girl’s surprise… “Earl, let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Pearl and Garnet jumped into action and quickly ran behind the green girl who had already broken into a scramble to the stairs. They didn’t even say goodbye to Amethyst, or even acknowledge her at all, if Pearl had to guess she was probably watching that dreadful TV show known as ‘Lil’ Butler’, Pearl shook her head and abandoned that thought. Lapis takes priority and Amethyst will be fine on her own for now, she won’t be able to make anymore mess with her broken leg to put it that way.

They pass by the entrance and find skinny lounging in the security room by the office, once again she was fast asleep in her chair and clenching her mug. Pearl briefly remembered it to be one of many that most of the staff had as a small act of defiance against the manager, Holly Blue, who was a tyrant of a boss. If she knew that Skinny was sleeping on the job… Well… Pearl didn’t exactly know what would happen, probably a pay cut or maybe something else quite punishing. They didn’t stop to wake her and simply passed by her after snatching the keys from the front desk in a swift movement. ‘She wouldn’t be needing these right now’ Pearl judged as she opened the front doors and they ran outside.

Peridot led them back to the beach and stopped dead in her tracks. It was as if someone had pushed the pause button on her. She turned to them slowly, red in the face and panting heavily with beads of sweat on her forehead, she looked as if she was about to collapse at any moment. ‘She’s not really the athletic type,’ Pearl hummed to herself.

“She was grabbed here!” Peridot finally said after taking a long deep breath.

“And where did you see them go?” Pearl asked, her practiced Earl voice seemed to have gotten much hoarser and deeper. She knew that this was going to give her an extremely sore throat in the end but sacrifices had to be made and her voice was something she wouldn’t mind losing for a few days.

“Umm, well…” Peridot looked away from them awkwardly, refusing to met their eyes. She seemed almost as frazzled as that Dewey got when he was complimented or- Pearl shivered, spoke with her back in high school.

“You don’t know where they went,” Garnet grumbled, a hint of irritation in her voice,

“Look! I’m not a fighter!” Peridot voice grew raspy, “I see a bad situation and I run, that’s what’s kept me alive in this city for so long!” There was a thousand questions that Pearl could have asked about that statement, but at the moment she found asking them very inappropriate.

“No, no, we understand,” Garnet calmed her down, “you done the right thing by getting us. Now…” She fixed her shades and looked sternly over the scenery, “let’s try and find something that can point us in the right direction.”

“You mean, to look for clues right?” Peridot deadpanned,

“Same thing,” she tutted in response. Garnet turned to Pearl, the disguised girl jumped slightly when it looked like Garnet was about to say her actual name. Thankfully she had caught herself and bit her tongue, “Earl, try and find something at the beach, we’ll look at the buildings nearby.”

Pearl sighed in relief and nodded her head in acknowledgement, she looked to the beach in new-found determination. The smouldering wood from where there was a bonfire from Dewey’s party was giving off some light and smoke in the background. Drunken teens and young adults loitered around, either for warmth or just to clear their heads, Pearl scoffed when she seen some idiots still swimming in the sea. Then it hit her, Lapis had also gotten into the water and she was soaking wet when she came out, it was unrealistic that she was completely dry and she must have left some sort of wet trail in the sand. If Pearl was lucky, Lapis may have even went back to the sea at some point, despite how strange it sounded. Pearl cast her gaze to the ground, careful as to not step on anything that looked like footsteps and practically walking around everything like she was walking on eggshells whilst avoiding land-mines.

Each small branch could have been used as a weapon, something to grab onto and hit someone with, a stone could also have been thrown at someone and the particularly sharper and rough ones could cause some bleeding, even sand could do some damage if thrown into someones eyes. Pearl, shamefully, knew this all from experience.

As the search continued Pearl found herself getting increasingly frustrated, she remembered what Jasper had done, or tried to do, with Lapis and it sickened her. She remembered Lapis’s pained cry as her back hit the brick wall, the way the brute had stuck her grabby hands at anything soft and breakable.

She never found it surprising that once a drunken young man stumbled across her and began to make several drunken remarks that she raised her fist and punched him straight in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. Pearl took a step back when he looked up to her in fear before he scrambled away on all fours, Pearl gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, she was not in any mood to be sympathetic with some drunk beach bum.

Pearl however did have to calm herself down, she was becoming irrational and impatient, something that she despised about herself amongst other things. She scowled when she slowly started comparing herself to Jasper, in the eyes of a regular person, she was just as bad and if not, worse than the gang leader.

Times like these she was happy that she never had her knife, she couldn’t trust herself with it anymore.

Thankfully her ‘investigation’ of the beach gave her some good results for her hard work, she seen disturbed sand leading to, and then away, from the sea. At first it was ordinary footprints and it could have been anyones, it was the reason why Pearl overlooked it, but eventually she seen it lead into a scuffle with bootprints. It looked like whoever made the footprints was running away at first before getting caught and pulled roughly back. Pearl followed the trail with her eyes and seen it lead towards the small donut building.

It was a tiny establishment with an awkwardly big metal donut attached to the roof, quite fitting that it was called ‘The Big Donut’ she remembered how she would climb onto the building with Amethyst during the night to see if they could kick the metal thing off. Somehow the giant donut remained standing on it’s rusted bolts for all these years.

But that was enough reminiscing on the past, Pearl could faintly make out some movement in the small alley behind the Big Donut and before she could comprehend it or call Garnet and Peridot she was sprinting. With determination and some outrageous courage she had built up in her irritation, she ran passed the corner only to find an employee leaving the building.

She went cold as a pang of fear flashed through her, her only lead turned out to be a red herring and suddenly she was staring into a haze of anxiety and dark thoughts. Pearl pressed her lips into a thin line and took some steps back, turning around and away from the employee. Instantly Pearl felt like she was useless and caused more problems than solve, it was the same for Rose and now she had somehow mirrored that onto Lapis. Pearl clicked her tongue, it was as if she was scolding herself and she found that she had done this a lot once she left Beach City. She swore to herself and grimaced as she never should have gotten involved with Lapis in the first place, or at least, have gotten the courage to have told her the truth sooner.

‘I could have prevented all of this from happening.’ Pearl frowned.

But as she was about to step foot on the dampened sand of the beach she heard the smashing of glass and a muffled grunt behind a tall wall adjacent to the dumpsters where ‘The Big Donut’ would toss their expired products. She ran by the confused and slightly scared employee, who promptly locked the shop and ran off, and with a strong kick off the random boxes lying by the trash she leaped into the air and grabbed onto the top of the brick wall, hoisting herself over with minor strain. She paused and gained her breath slightly, in the distance she seen Garnet and Peridot running to where she was perched on the wall. A thought came into Pearl’s head, to stop and let them catch up, but she didn’t stop, she couldn’t stop. Pearl swung her legs over and jumped down before she could hear Peridot call out her supposed name of ‘Earl’.

Her landing was rough and slightly painful. Despite being well practised in gymnastics and even parkour back when she was with Rose, she was rusty and slow with her movements, Pearl stood up straight slowly and clenched her fists. She looked dead ahead to where she heard the suspicious noises and gasped.

There she found Lapis with some tall, lanky guy. He was wearing loose clothes that made him look like some sort of animal and his hair was a wild white blond, it was similar to Jaspers hair in a sense but all thought of some familial relations between them was forgotten when Pearl noticed how sickly green his eyes were, it wasn’t like Jaspers at all.

“You were so easy to catch y’know?” He chuckled and Lapis said something but it was muffled behind the boys hand. “You really have changed a lot, shame.”

Lapis was scowling at him and pushed his hand that was covering her mouth away, the boy was grinning wildly as if it was all just a game to him. Lapis looked just about to do something, either yell or punch him, but she simply looked to Pearl’s direction in surprise and gasped, there was some relief in her eyes. The boy followed her gaze after realising her sudden disinterest in him, his large grin seemed to disappear at the sight of Pearl and he let go of Lapis quickly.

The girl used this opportunity to push him away and they slowly backed off from each other, Pearl raised an eyebrow as the boy never looked away from her and ignored Lapis.

“Y-you?!” He gasped, but slowly his shocked face contorted slowly into anger the longer he stared at Pearl. “No wait… There’s something off about you…”

“Don’t care,” Pearl replied and looked over to the girl in blue who was creeping away from him slowly, “Lapis, are you alright?”

“Just peachy,” she scowled,

“Don’t fucking ignore me!” The boy gritted his teeth,

“We weren’t planning on ignoring you.” Pearl glanced to the side to find Garnet nailing her landing, the girl stood up menacingly and her shades gleamed in the streetlight.

The boys face went pale and he quickly turned around and ran off in the opposite direction without even leaving a remark. Lapis looked at him go, she looked enraged and at the same time confused.

Pearl could understand however, having a guy that potentially stalked you for the day, caught you and then ignore you in the end wasn’t something that happened regularly.

“Thanks,” she said after a moment of silence, “but I could have handled it myself.” She took a deep breath and looked back to Pearl and Garnet, her face much softer and there was a small smile adorning her.

“DON’T WORRY LAZULI, I’M COMING FOR MORAL SUPPORT!!!” They suddenly hear a raspy voice on the other side of the wall where Pearl and Garnet jumped from, they heard Peridot move things and strain herself before hearing a loud crash. “I’M OKAY!”

Lapis laughed and she walked up to Pearl and Garnet, “Wait there! We’ll be over in a minute!” Lapis called over to the awaiting Peridot. She then turned back to her rescuers as she rubbed a sore spot on her arm. “Thanks again.”

“No problem,” Pearl replied with a small blush, Garnet hummed.

For a moment Pearl believed that the tall woman would break and suddenly tell Lapis the truth about Earl, the dancer even raised an eyebrow at Garnet who remained silent.

“Let’s get back to Peri,” Lapis said as she turned to face the wall, “she’s probably worried.”

“I’M VERY WORRIED!!!”

Lapis smiled, “meet you on the other side.” she winked at Pearl and the tall girl felt like she was shot. She blushed heavily and watched Lapis run up the wall and effortlessly swing herself over, Pearl was very much enchanted. Her movement was elegant in a strange way and Pearl wondered if Lapis was a dancer or gymnast, her poise was something that many would strive to achieve after all.

“I’m going to go home now,” Garnet sighed, “it’s just around the corner for me… I’ll tell my parents that you said hi.”

“Wait, Garnet-“ Garnet stopped her by putting a finger on her lips, it was then that Pearl realised that she was speaking normally instead of using her ‘Earl’ voice, Garnet then indicated the wall and a timely ‘Are you coming Earl?’ rang like a bell.

“Later,” Garnet smiled and she began walking away.

Pearl grumbled and climbed over the wall, her landing was much softer but she could still feel like her knees were going to give out at any moment.

“Finally,” Lapis sighed with a smile, “I was wondering what took you.”

“Garnet went home,” Pearl explained, “I was saying goodbye.”

Lapis just nodded her head in response, “I guess Peridot and I will head home now too.”

Pearl watched Lapis turn and start walking away, Peridot looked at her nervously, her expressive eyes begging her to do something. The taller girl knew that she couldn’t just let Lapis go of course, there was too much mystery behind them and Pearl was nearly entranced by the idea of figuring out the little secrets. Not in a stalker like way, Lapis was like a complicated puzzle or formula that didn’t need solving. She was charming and complex, yet far too tempting to leave alone.

There was also the possibility of that creepy boy returning once they were alone again and Pearl didn’t want to cause indirect harm to the girl or any harm at all.

She took a breath and clenched her fist tightly. “Wait a minute,” Pearl stopped Lapis from walking away, she turned back to her with a confused expression. Momentarily Pearl thought she seen a hint of irritation and she was about to back out. But the look on Peridot’s face said differently, “let me take you two home, you never know if he’ll come back again.”

“Well…” Lapis looked unsure and she looked down to Peridot,

“Lapis, I never managed to help you at all before and we don’t know if you’re going to get attacked again,” Peridot explained and Lapis pouted slightly, “Just let him do this tonight.”

Peridot looked back to Pearl with a small hopeful look and Lapis eventually sighed, nodding her head and folded her arms, “okay, fine.”

The walk back to Lapis’s and Peridots place was mostly silent, Pearl was too busy watching for anyone to approach them from the darkness, almost daring anyone to approach them. This feeling of defensiveness for someone else was a feeling that Pearl missed, she glanced at Lapis who was rubbing her arm, Pearl frowned at the red mark the boy left on her.

“Does it hurt?” Pearl asked her, Lapis looked at her in slight surprise,

“I’ll be fine,” she replied, “it’s not that bad.”

“We’ll put an ice pack on it as soon as we get home,” Peridot answered and Pearl nodded slightly.

She wondered why that boy reacted to her in such a way, why he was so shocked and then so angry, he was acting as if he was tricked and deceived by a mortal enemy rather than got caught by a girl dressed in boys clothes. Pearl sighed, ‘who wouldn’t be angry when they’re caught doing the wrong thing?’

They finally arrive to a small block of flats close to the sea, Pearl couldn’t see exactly what the building was like in the darkness but she assumed it to be relatively small and rather run-down by how cracked the walls looked. Pearl followed them to the front door and Peridot loudly sighed sighed, “Thank the stars we’re back home safely!”

“The stars?” Pearl raised an eyebrow

“It’s her thing,” Lapis bumped her shoulder gently as she brushed by her, a small smile on her face. It made Pearl weakly smile and she rubbed the shoulder that Lapis bumped into fondly.

“You won’t believe how terrifying it was!” Peridot groaned, “and all that running! I’m not going to be okay tomorrow.” Pearl and Lapis laughed a little at that. Pearl then watched Peridot disappear inside of the flat and she could faintly hear some clicking and disk cases being opened, ‘She must be putting something on TV.’ Pearl hummed.

Lapis leaned against the doorframe and smiled slightly, “Not to completely change the mood but… I can’t remember the last time someone other than Peridot stood up for me.”

“No problem,” Pearl cleared her throat slightly, she could feel a sore throat coming on. “So what now?” She asked her,

Lapis stood up straighter and glanced inside the flat. “Well, probably going to do that CPH marathon with Peridot…” Lapis sighed sadly, “she deserves it and I think she’s already prepared everything.” She looked at Pearl with a smile and a light blush, “thanks for saving me… Again… I know I’m stubborn and I still think I didn’t need you there, but if something did happen…”

“I’m glad nothing bad did happen,” Pearl smiled and Lapis responded with her own small grin, “ so do you know him?” Pearl asked and braced herself for some answers.

Lapis wriggled uncomfortably and looked slightly unsure, it was like she was having a conflict whether to answer Pearl or to remain silent. Eventually she took a breath and answered. “His name’s Malachite, I’m… Familiar… With him.” Pearl hummed and sighed, ‘ex-boyfriend, must be by the way she so awkwardly said it.’ Lapis continued, “we got into an argument a little while ago and now he’s after me too.”

“You have a lot of people after you,” Pearl commented,

Lapis scoffed, “I try.”

“Do you think that they’ll try and get you here?” Pearl asked,

“Well they once did, and failed,” Lapis replied, “now they don’t know where I stay, so I hope to leave it at that.”

Pearl tightened her jaw, it wasn’t a good enough answer and she clenched her fists, “but what if they find you again? Haven’t you tried getting protection against them?”

Lapis laughed, “What? Beach City’s non-existent Police force? Everyone needs protection here Earl.” She sighed and looked down, Pearl gulped and watched Lapis’s expression change to that of irritation, “even if they were still around, they wouldn’t help someone like me.” The way she said it made Pearl think that she wasn’t necessarily referring to the police.

“Then let me protect you,” Pearl said it before she could stop herself. She felt like a glass window that had just been smashed violently and Pearl froze on the spot.

Lapis blushed and rubbed her arm some more, “t-thanks for offering, but I don’t think I need it.” She gave a small apologetic smile, “the times you rescued me weren’t the only times I was harassed you know? I can handle myself… I’m used to it.” Pearl frowned even more and this caused Lapis to chuckle, “don’t be like that! Nothing can be done after all.”

“But-!”

“Earl.” Pearl stopped talking as if she was called to attention, “you shouldn’t get to close too me.” her eyes were full of sadness and it only made Pearl want to know more.

“W-why?” Pearl felt her voice slightly break,

“They spared Peridot because she was useful to the gang,” Lapis glanced back to the girl in green, “she can be a fake eye-witness, is a tech expert…” She looked back to Pearl, “… A get out of jail card.” Lapis crossed arms tightened and Pearl could see her knuckles turn white, “but they won’t forgive you and they will stop at nothing to kill you or get you out the city.”

“I can handle it,” Pearl honestly doubted that and Lapis sadly chuckled.

Before she knew it, Lapis had leaned over and planted a small kiss on Pearl’s cheek. It felt like a nuclear bomb had went off in the taller girl’s head and she forgot all her stresses for that brief moment.

“Thank you,” Lapis said softly, “but I don’t think we’ll see each other again, it’s too dangerous to go to another party.” Pearl felt like a piece of her had broken off, it was a feeling that she was all too familiar with. But she took a sharp breath, ‘no, I want this to work, I’m not going to give up.’

“No,” Pearl breathed out,

“No?” Lapis tilted her head,

“This won’t be the last time you see me,” Pearl affirmed, “if you’re ever in danger or need help, I’ll be there.” She smiled slightly, “you have my number don’t you?” Lapis blushed and Pearl felt her own face go red, she cleared her throat, “if I’m not there, then Garnet or Amethyst will be.”

“How do you know Amethyst and Garnet?” Lapis asked,

“I’m…” Pearl stopped herself and then she sighed, “… We’re old friends.”

Lapis nodded her head and just like that Pearl bid her goodbye and walked away from them.

“Earl!” she heard Lapis call out and she glanced back, “I love the jacket.” Lapis smiled and Pearl grinned back. She then seen Lapis give her a small wave before closing the door behind her.

Pearl smiled slightly as she continue her way down the street and put her hands into her jacket pockets. She knew she could cut a few corners on her way home by jumping a few fences, but she was far too overwhelmed with everything that had happened. Instead she decided to take the long way and try to decipher some of the clues that Lapis left for her.

Pearl knew that Lapis had something to do with Jasper and her gang, meeting Malachite only solidified that fact. If anything, Lapis was probably in a relationship with Malachite, how she could like a creep like him Pearl could never know. But something still seemed off about it all, nothing gave her any answers to the bracelets that Lapis wore, they couldn’t have just been a fashion statement and Lapis even mentioned that they had some importance to her. The chain with the etchings was the chain that bothered Pearl the most, she wished she asked Lapis about it, but she didn’t know how the girl would have reacted.

She clenched her jaw and continued walking forward, ‘Perhaps if I see Malachite again, he’ll give me the answers I need.’

———

Lapis sighed as she watched Earl leave, she still felt the spark from when her lips touched his cheek and she brushed them slightly with a finger tip, but something still felt wrong. She grunted and locked the door, she felt Peridot’s eyes drill a hole in the back of her head and when she turned around she seen the green girl look at her curiously from the couch, she had already put in the very first episode and had already prepared her ‘theory notepad’ a small sketchbook that was partly filled with doodles and theories about the show.

“You okay?” She asked full of concern, “Is there something wrong?” she re-phrased. Lapis walked into the living-room, but she didn’t bother sitting on the couch and joining Peridot.

“It’s Earl,” Lapis said, “that’s what’s wrong.” She softly touched her lips again, “there’s something about him that I can’t put my finger on… It’s like he must be hiding something.”

She glanced out the window accusingly, she gritted her teeth and tightened her jaw.

Earl was like that one riddle that you can’t get out of your head and it repeats over and over, it’s only strange because the riddle remains unanswered. In general, Lapis felt like he was one of the only decent people left in Beach City that didn’t mind getting their hands dirty. Despite how boyish he was and his endearing grins it just didn’t seem genuine, ‘Is he in pain?’ Lapis thought when she remembered his hesitation to make the simplest of movements around her. ‘Is he showing off?’ She remembered the times when he seemed to forced and unnatural.

But what was especially bizarre was that Lapis never looked at boys before, or at least in the way she viewed Earl. She liked being alone, occasionally seeing a few people now and again and Lapis huffed in irritation as she admitted to herself that she’s just a recluse. Due to this, many friendships and potential interests never worked out, especially with what she had with Jasper and her gang.

But what made Lapis go cold was that Earl made her want to be part of the world again, and that scared Lapis more than anything.

“-we all hide something,” Lapis heard Peridot finish some sort of rant and she realised that she blanked out for most of the conversation. “You weren’t listening weren’t you?” Peridot deadpanned and folded her arms. Lapis simply scoffed at her, this caused her room-mate to huff mildly and frown, “look, if you’re so obsessed with him, you can just follow him home and question him there!”

‘Follow him?’ Lapis brought her hand to her jaw and a small smile came to her face. She grabbed her jacket again and slipped on her sandals as she ran up to the front door and unlocked it,

“Lapis? Lapis?” Peridot watched her rush away, trying to get her attention, “Lapis I was joking!”

“don’t wait for me!” She yelled back to Peridot as she ran out the front door, she never even waited for Peridot’s reply but she could faintly hear her gasp at the possibilities of Malachite or Jasper finding her.

Lapis silently ran along the street, dodging trash cans and tried to stay out of the street lights. She didn’t even know if she was going the right way or not, but she had to try, there was so much that she had to know about Earl and she was itching to try and figure out what was so strange about him. She continued rushing down the street, no longer did she hear bottles breaking and footsteps around her and she knew confidently that she wasn’t being followed. But the longer she ran the more and more she doubted herself. Lapis scowled, she was running in the middle of the night down the street chasing after some mystery boy. If it didn’t sound like a movie then it definitely sounded like the start of a horror story, at any moment something could jump out at her and Lapis, despite well-versed in punching people in the face, was not so good at surviving a monster in the darkness.

Despite this she never stopped, she felt like she was getting closer and closer to the end goal, ‘just a few more lunges’ she told herself as her legs began to get heavy and her breathing got deeper and more ragged.

Lapis grinned in victory when she seen a tall figure with the familiar leather jacket and red cap in the distance. She slipped behind the wall nearby and peeked her head around the corner, Earl hadn’t noticed anything yet and continued to walk down the empty street obliviously.

Silently, Lapis would sneak behind him and it was only a few houses down until Lapis accidentally kicked an empty glass bottle. She felt her heart lurch in her throat when Earl turned around and narrowed his eyes, he walked back slightly and looked around. Lapis snuck into the alley and remained crouched behind some trash can, eventually she heard him huff and continue on his way, she sighed in relief and began to follow him again and creeped out of her hiding spot. Paying closer attention to where she put her feet.

However when Lapis peeked her head around the corner of the alley, her eyes widened at the figure that approached them.

———

The sound of another bottle dropping came from up ahead, Pearl lowered her cap slightly and narrowed her eyes. She stopped in the streetlight and heard the tapping of boots against the ground ahead of her, she took her hand out her pockets and clenched them defensively and raised her head higher as Malachite came into view, his green eyes wickedly glinting in the light.

“It’s you,” she spat as she seen him come closer into the light, her voice began to strain.

“I should be the one saying that,” he grumbled,

“What do you want?” She asked irately.

“No,” he shook his head, “what do YOU want?” he growled, “why are you helping Lapis? What are you trying to get at?”

Pearl frowned, “what’s your problem?” she gritted her teeth,

“My problem? It’s just some asshole stopping me from doing what I want,” he glared at her,

“You can’t just expect to be able to do what you want,” Pearl widened her stance.

“Oh I can,” he grinned menacingly, “I can and you can’t.” He raised his arms dramatically, “we run this city! We do! If you don’t keep that pointy ass nose out of it then you won’t live to see tomorrow!”

Pearl rolled her eyes, “nice threat, did you get it out of a ‘threats for dummies’ book? Or perhaps a movie?” Malachite gritted his teeth, “I don’t care what you run other than you running away once I break all of your ribs and cripple your hands for the rest of your little life,” Pearl felt her fists shake slightly with how strong she was clenching them, she hadn’t felt like this in a long time, “Lapis can take care of herself, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit and watch!”

Malachite grinned evilly and Pearl wondered again how Lapis even get together with the creep. He pulled out a knife and flashed it in front of her, its sharp edge was glistening in the streetlights. She wasn’t as scared as she thought she would be, as she calmly looked at him whilst monitoring the movement of the knife. He was toying with it for now and it made her roll her eyes.

She was prepared for him to stab and slash. In fact, she had everything planned out in her mind, one mis-step for the boy that she judged to be inexperienced, by how he was standing and holding the blade, and she’ll have him howling in pain.

It has been a long time, yes, but she hasn’t forgotten how to fight.

“I know where you live,” he cackled and Pearl raised an eyebrow, “I know who you live with, I can hurt you whenever I want to. Remember that.”

Pearl scowled as he put the knife back behind his back and walked away, he was nothing but a coward.

That was the last thing she thought before she felt a crack to the back of her head and she smacked the pavement painfully, as her eyes closed with a grunt, she went out cold.

———

Lapis tried to control her breathing as she watched Malachite walk away, she barely seen a small woman dressed in a red torn jacket and gloves sneak up behind Earl with a baseball bat. She hid her gasp behind her hand as she seen her swing the weapon and hit the back of his head with a sickening crunch, Lapis shut her eyes as she heard Earl’s head whack against the pavement and then a low chuckle from the woman. Lapis opened her eyes and watched as the thug walked away She froze when she seen an eyepatch over the red woman’s left eye and she knew instantly who it was.

Jaspers right hand.

The gang members never stayed long as they quickly ran off in opposite directions, leaving Earl lying under the streetlight. Once Lapis knew that the coast was clear and the thugs left, she rushed over to Earl and carefully lifted his head. He wasn’t bleeding thankfully and he looked to be alright, other than some scuffs on his cheek. Lapis took a deep breath and prepared herself as she lifted him, most boys were heavier than girls, especially the tall ones and Lapis knew that she had to drag him somewhere safe before taking him to hospital. But as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and lifted him, she found him almost as light as a feather. Lapis didn’t complain however as if made it easier to carry him and she slowly began to make her way back to her house before Jaspers gang could return to finish the job or do something even worse.

Lapis opened the front door with a shove, “Peridot! clear the couch!” she said as she dragged Earl inside. Peridot gasped but was quick to help, she shut the front door and helped Lapis lift him, Lapis had to admit that they worked effortlessly as a team.

“What happened?” Peridot asked as she turned off the TV with a click of the remote,

“Malachite and Eyeball happened,” Lapis replied as she regained her breath,

“What?” Peridot gasped, “w-will he be okay?”

“I sure hope so,” Lapis replied, she glanced at the sleeping boy, “it doesn’t look too bad but we’ll have to see once he wakes up. He was hit with a baseball bat.” She sighed and stood up, she then noticed the boxes of Camp Pining Hearts on the floor. Lapis felt slightly guilty in that moment, she rubbed her arm again, it was tender and no longer hurt, “we’re still up for that marathon later right?”

Peridot smiled and then nodded, “definitely! Just maybe after Earl wakes up…” Her eyes sparked for a moment, “maybe we can even get Earl to watch it with us!”

“Maybe,” Lapis laughed, “ but for now, lets go to bed.”

“Yeah, that would be good too…” Peridot yawned.

As Peridot left into her room, Lapis pulled a blanket over Earl, part of her wanted to take his cap off and maybe even investigate him for anything suspicious. But she kept her hands to herself, she felt that that would take it too far and she wasn’t that desperate for answers. That and she would feel like some weirdo doing it.

She turned off the lights and walked into her room, closing the door behind her. Lapis pulled off her jeans and hung her jacket on the bedpost as she dropped herself on the mattress with a yawn.

Jasper would probably go looking for Earl, that was a definite fact that Lapis knew. If Eyeball had already made her way back to the base and told her of what she done to Earl then Jasper would have been interested in actually seeing the evidence.

Lapis remembered the texts that Jasper had sent her after she was saved the first time, the threats of destroying his life and then coming after her to finish what she started.

It was times like these that Lapis regretted ever leaving the gang. Sometimes she missed causing havoc and doing what she wanted in a town that had no police force, but now it just felt wrong. She looked at the bracelets with a sad sigh, ‘I really need to get rid of these.’

Chapter Text

Pearl woke up and groaned, her head was pounding and her neck was stiff. She barely opened her eyes and winced at the light that greeted her. ‘Where am I?’ She got up slowly and painfully, holding her head as if it could fall off at any moment, she hissed and bit her lip but winced in the action of doing so. It felt like a really bad hangover and she actually thought for a moment that she got drunk at some point in the night before during the party and that everything was a terrible dream.

She started slow and laid back down, ‘I’ll get my bearings. Then I’ll do something.’ Pearl looked about and found herself lying on a burgundy couch, there were wires and Disks on the floor, she could make out the logo of a show on one of the boxes but she didn’t want to strain herself and try to read the cover. She could faintly see in the corner of the room an art easel with a painting sitting on it, Pearl thought it looked like a picture of the country side, but she really couldn’t tell from where she was.

All she knew that wherever she was, it wasn’t Amethyst’s place and it certainly wasn’t outside. That left the question of where was she and who it was that dragged her here. Pearl’s hands clenched slightly, ‘Did someone see me? Do they know my secret? Not that it’s difficult to notice that I’m a girl… I am pretty light.’ She took a deep breath and calmed herself, her hat was still on her head and she could feel her phone in her jean pocket, the leather jacket that she was so proud of was even untouched judging by the fact that her pockets were still sealed.

Pearl let out a surprised gasp when she heard a door creak open and the sounds of someone walking into the room, she prepared herself to jump out at them and to run for the window as the nearest exit. It could have been a freak wanting to do strange and bizarre things for all she knew.

The figure walked to the window and Pearl slowly sat up, she could recognise the blue hair from anywhere. The girl opened the curtains slightly and she jumped when she finally noticed Pearl watching her curiously, nearly tripping up and falling on a disk case pile by the window. Pearl blushed slightly and tried not to stare or ogle at Lapis, she never expected the girl to expose so much skin and Pearl briefly wondered if she was bothered in any way by wearing such short shorts and her signature blue crop top.

“Y-You’re awake!” The girl breathlessly chuckled but her face was full of worry as she came closer. “I- Uh… Found you passed out- This uh… This morning! and I um… I brought you here,” Lapis fumbled about and nervously crossed her arms, Pearl let out a breath when she seen the bruise on her arm, no doubt a remainder from the mark Malachite left on her.

It was obvious that Lapis was lying, she must have come up with something on the spot with how she practically stood on her toes when she spoke. It was as if she wasn’t truly grounded with what she was saying.

“Where am I?” Pearl asked, her voice now failing her. She tried to swallow and clear her throat only to cough, she likened it to how people sounded when they emphasised how thirsty they were in the desert.

“This is our place… Mine and Peridot’s,” Lapis explained, looking around nervously, “Y-You were rather close by when I found you.”

Pearl brought her hand to her head, she really didn’t want to press Lapis for some solid answers and her head ache grew worse just by thinking about bring it up. But the more thinking she done, the more worried she became until finally she paled as she remembered about her job interview today at the dance studio.

“What time is it?!” She whipped her head around and just had enough time to stop herself from using her regular voice. She winced at the whiplash she gave herself.

“It’s 9 in the morning,” Lapis tilted her head slightly, “is something wrong?”

Pearl sighed in relief, ‘I still have time.’ She pulled the blanket off her legs and stood up painfully.

“Whoa! Hold on there!” Lapis grabbed her arm before she nearly toppled over, she sat her down slowly, “let me go get you some painkillers, or maybe an ice pack. You did get a baseball bat to the-“ She clasped her hands over her mouth and Pearl raised an eyebrow, “nothing! Nothing! Forget I said anything!”

Lapis ran off before Pearl had the chance to stop her and she hummed curiously. If Lapis’s little slip up screamed anything it definitely had to have been that she saw what happened to her before she blacked out. That means that Lapis must have followed her and judging by the fact of how paranoid she was yesterday before she met Malachite it answered a lot of questions.

‘She’s suspicious of me’ Pearl grimaced, well, not that there was anything that wasn’t suspicious about her.

When Lapis came back Pearl noticed that she never once looked at her directly, she handed the glass of water and some pills expertly and stood back from her. Pearl raised an eyebrow at her again.

“You followed me last night didn’t you?” She said finally as she finished drinking the water and pills.

“I… I…” Lapis continued on stubbornly, looking everywhere but Pearl. She was darkly looking at the floor now, like she had a problem with it or as if she had just seen something there that triggered her.

“I understand,” Pearl sighed and put the glass down onto the nearby coffee table, Lapis looked at her skeptically, never fully turning towards her and strangely Pearl felt hurt by this gesture. “I am… Strange… To be around.”

“No you’re not,” Lapis sighed, slumping slightly and relaxing her tense shoulders, “I’m the strange one, I was just over-reacting… I’m sorry.”

“If it wasn’t for you I would probably be dead in a ditch,” Pearl sighed again, ‘and you would have discovered where I live and probably that I’m a girl.’ She forced a small smile, “so don’t be sorry.”

Lapis remained silent, but her arms dropped slightly and she had a small smile on her face, despite appearing to be a sad one.

Pearl finally stood up from the couch, much more slower than before. Her head was still pounding but she hoped that it would go away eventually, the painkillers would definitely help once they start working in a few minutes and an ice pack once she got back would be helpful.

“I need to go,” Pearl said to her and Lapis nodded slightly, “Amethyst will probably be wondering where I am and if she never broke her leg I’m sure that she would have knocked down all the doors in Beach City.” Lapis chuckled slightly and Pearl grinned, “I guess I’m thankful of her injury this one time.”

Lapis’s smile soon disappeared however and she once again refused to meet Pearl’s eyes, “I’m sorry,” she said and her bare feet shuffled about on the carpet, “I never wanted this to happen to you and I never knew that Malachite would do something like this.”

“Hey, it’s fine.” Pearl tried to comfort her but the girl shook her head and huffed.

“No it’s not!” Lapis finally burst, “you got hurt because of me and that’s something that I can’t stand!”

“I can handle it,” Pearl tried again,

“I don’t want you to handle it in the first place!” Lapis retorted, Pearl on reflex took a step back in surprise, “I never wanted you to get involved… I just…” She took a deep breath and collected herself, looking at Pearl sadly and never had the tall girl have to fight with herself like this to not give the girl before her a hug.

“GOOD MORNING!” The door opened and a somewhat obnoxious voice rang out as Peridot stepped in, she looked rather well rested and was dressed in strange alien shorts and a large green hoodie and by Lapis’s confused expression Pearl could deduce that this wasn’t normal behaviour.

“Morning Peridot,” Lapis said glumly,

“Did I miss something or-?” Peridot glanced between them several times,

“No… Earl was just leaving, right?” Lapis looked to Pearl with and almost pleading face.

“Yes… Yes I was,” Pearl replied just as glumly, “I’ll tell Amethyst you said hi.”

“You would?” Peridot gasped, “I mean, of course! Wouldn’t want to keep you.” She cleared her throat and blushed slightly.

Pearl nodded briskly and made her way to the front door, but she stopped before leaving and turned to Lapis one last time.

“You know what happened between me and Malachite,” she began, “and because of that, you know that I’m in this with you.” Lapis nodded sadly, “I won’t rest until I get them behind bars or out of town, and neither should you.” Pearl fixed her cap, “I’ll see you two around.”

She walked out and shut the door behind her. Pearl’s slow stride eventually became a quick sprint as she ran for Amethyst’s place, she already wasted enough time and her interview would start in less than an hour. Despite her promises and conversations with Lapis and Peridot, she was not prepared to give up the initial reason of why she was in Beach City and that meant her life as ‘Pearl’.

———

Lapis sat onto the couch slowly and hugged herself, she felt her skin crawling again and she shuddered slightly. “I am such a screw up,” she mumbled out.

“Huh?” Peridot glanced at her as she came back with a mug of coffee, Lapis always wondered how on earth she could stand all that caffeine… And how she managed to make it in literally seconds.

“Why am I such a screw up?” Lapis turned to her green room-mate near desperately,

“But you’re not a screw up,” She replied and sat down beside Lapis, “if anything, we both have a screw loose.”

Lapis rolled her eyes and ignored the feeble attempt at a joke. “But I done the exact thing I swore never to do!” Lapis groaned, “Again.”

“Yeah, but technically it’s Earl’s fault too,” Peridot took a sip of her mug and tried to get herself comfortable, moving the couch pillows and wiggling constantly.

“Only because I made it his fault,” Lapis sighed and buried her head into her lap,

“Okay, no offence but you need to stop that,” Peridot frowned, she grumbled slightly and shifted her weight again, casting the couch pillow a glare.

“Stop what?” Lapis peeked at her curiously,

Peridot huffed once she found another position beside Lapis. “You can’t keep saying that everything’s your fault, because it’s not,” Peridot kept looking down into the muddy mixture with a relatively serious expression, “if anyone’s at fault, it’s Jasper.”

“But I was the one that agreed to see her!” Lapis wrapped her arms around her knees, “I could have just said no.”

“But you didn’t know what she was going to do! And you thought that you could fix the problem!” Peridot grumbled, she expressively waved her arm and almost dropped her green alien mug, “listen, I know that you blame yourself a lot because of your past…” Lapis looked away and frowned bitterly into her knees, “but you need to accept that there’s some things that you can’t do anything about or change.” Peridot gently touched Lapis’s arm and the girl looked at her, Lapis’s eyes had gotten much softer in slight surprise and a small smile was making itself known after Peridot awkwardly grinned at her, “so just promise me that you won’t keep blaming yourself.”

“Well…” Lapis grinned wider, “maybe I won’t blame myself for everything…”

“Well… That’s much better!” Peridot grinned and began drinking her coffee contentedly again.

Just when Lapis thought that peace had been restored, Peridot grumbled slightly and started to wiggle uncomfortably. Lapis turned to her and raised an eyebrow at her room-mates strange behaviour escalated to a ridiculous degree, ‘she’s been doing this the whole time, what’s gotten in to her?’ Just as she was about to ask what was wrong the smaller girl reached behind her and she took out a phone from the pillows.

They looked at it for what felt like an eternity before actually making any movement and recognition of what they just found. The phone was immaculate and that was a telling tale that it certainly wasn’t Peridot’s, who's screen was always cracked and chipped. It had a lovely floral phone case that certainly didn’t scream Lapis either.

There was only one option left of who the phone belonged to and before Peridot could laugh Lapis took the phone, fearing that Peridot would break it if she accidentally dropped it.

“I never knew a guy like Earl has such a girly phone!” Peridot almost spilled her coffee, “maybe that’s why you feel so strange about him!”

That was an amusing prospect, but when Lapis looked at the phone she shared a much different explanation and dread started to creep into her. She watched her reflection on the darkened screen go pale and her eyes go wide in shock.

“Or he has a girlfriend,” Lapis nearly whispered out and Peridot instantly stopped laughing with reaction time as fast as a light switch. Lapis sighed slightly and lazily dropped her arm holding the phone beside her, she didn’t even know if she liked Earl at first and now that she had these complicated feelings towards him it certainly doesn’t help. All she could now think is that now she was potentially making him cheat in a stable relationship.

Something that she could have never imagined herself doing.

“W-well he MIGHT have one! You don’t know if he’s single or if he has a girlfriend!” Peridot tried and Lapis let out a loud groan, “…yeah it does point him to having a girlfriend doesn’t it?” Peridot defeatedly added,

“Look, lets just go to Amethysts and give her the phone… Who knows? Maybe she’ll answer why the phone is so girly.” Lapis tutted, “It could even be her phone!”

“Um, no,” Peridot instantly shot the idea down, “Amethyst’s phone is not that pretty, I know that for a fact.”

“Seriously?” Lapis said and raised an eyebrow, “just ask her out already, she’s at home all day since she went to the hospital.”

Peridot’s face flared up a bright red, “M-maybe I will! I’ll go with you even!” She stood up after gulping down her beverage quickly. “No better time than the present!”

Lapis laughed and rolled her eyes, “and I thought you didn’t like her,” she said sarcastically with a joking voice,

“Shush! The heart is a turbulent place!!” Peridot blush went a deeper red, “and I’ve never said that in my life!”

“Oh really?”

“Well I’m sorry that she’s better at video games than you!” Peridot crossed her arms and began tapping her foot angrily, she had a rather ferocious pout on her face, Lapis laughed at the display.

“Okay, okay casanova,” Lapis snorted, “but don’t you have a late shift today?”

“I’m pretty sure that they’ll forgive me,” Peridot grinned innocently, Lapis simply rolled her eyes.

Once they had calmed down and were preparing to leave, Lapis turned to Peridot with a request.

“Do you mind if I go to the front door alone?”

Her hands were clenched and she scuffed the floor slightly. Lapis hated to be like this, she tried to swallow the nervous bubble whenever she could around those ‘Crystal Gems’ she never wanted to seem weak by asking Peridot to accompany her everywhere. This was something that she had always hated about herself, the constant battle of ‘who’s better?’ that she would have with Amethyst and any patrons in the bar. She wanted to seem menacing, unreasonable and above all, powerful. To Lapis’s displeasure, it worked.

She couldn’t walk down the street without one or two people giving her a strange or nervous look by how she carried herself. People knew that she was with Jasper, and people still think she is with Jasper to this day.

Peridot made Lapis seem weak. In a way, she liked that when she walked with her to work and she was treated like just another regular person minding her business. But never around that bar, never around them.

“Well…” Peridot hummed, “Sure, I do have something I want to do near there…”

“Oh?” Lapis raised an eyebrow as she opened the front door and followed her outside,

“I managed to find a dog in need of a home!” Peridot grinned, “well, she’s more of a puppy and is a big softie.”

“Really?” Lapis nearly chuckled in surprise as she locked the door behind them, “What’s her name? What breed is she? Are you even sure it’s a ‘she’?”

“Her name is Pumpkin!” Peridot grinned as they began walking, “I can’t remember her breed but when she grows up she’ll be about as big as my hip and no, I’m not certain on the gender.”

“That’s a rather small non-binary dog then,” Lapis grinned,

“Yes, well- HEY! Was that a height joke?!”

“You tell me half-pint,”

“I can still kick you in the shins you know?” Peridot scowled, she eyes her mischievously,

“Point taken,” Lapis grinned, “now, lets go deliver this phone.”

———

Pearl locked the door shut behind her and tried to catch her breath. She yanked off her cap and very nearly threw it to the ground in some repressed anger that she built up. Everything just seemed irritating to her as she realised of what she got herself into and the mess she made it out to be. Pearl slumped against the front door and she glanced at the small clock that she got to work, sighing in the process.

‘I have plenty of time, the run was worth it.’ She stood up straight and strode past the living room where she could see Amethyst sitting on the couch. She had her leg up on a pillow and was drinking a can of something, Pearl hoped that she would have the decency to at least throw it away once she was done. Despite being injured there are somethings that she ought to be able to do.

The tall girl tutted slightly, the place was really cleaning up well. She raised an eyebrow slightly, Amethyst couldn’t have been the one to clean up the mess, well, at least not alone. Someone had to have been helping her unless it just magically disappeared, she wondered who this cleanly angel was and Pearl rolled her eyes when she seen the woman in the kitchen. Bismuth. ‘Of course! How rude of me to forget her.’

She managed to slip by them without much word other than a wink that Amethyst gave her, Pearl groaned slightly, ‘she’s going to say something about this to Bismuth, I just know it.’ Taking a deep breath, Pearl made her way to her room and took some fresh clothes and a towel before taking a quick shower. She had to get presentable for that interview, it was too important to her and it could literally change her life for the better.

Even if she didn’t like the sponsors of the studio.

Pearl scowled as she washed the dirt off her body and felt the water soothe her back and her head. The diamond company is one of the biggest funders of the state and even though she had disagreements with them and what they do to their employees she knew that things change. The recent news that she has heard about them show that they’ve actually started giving better wages and donating a lot more to the arts, ‘what a suspicious change of heart.’

But if they didn’t change, well, she would never have been given an offer in the first place.

Pearl left the shower, dressed and prepared, she let out a small pleased tut once she seen herself in the mirror, she had missed her old clothes and even smiled slightly. She threw the dirty clothes in the Laundry, feeling as if the weight of the world had been lifted from her, but hung her cap and jacket on one of the pegs in her wardrobe.

She took a breath before entering the living room.

“Hey P!” Amethyst pointed her fingers at her and gave her a coquettish grin, “I think someone got lucky last night~!”

“What?” Bismuth chocked slightly and spluttered out some of her drink, “First off, Hi Pearl! How you doing? Keeping well? Long time no see!” Bismuth grinned, “Secondly, Pearl got a what?!”

Amethyst laughed, “the old Pearl we know and love is back!” She inquisitively brought a hand to her chin. Pearl just frowned and crossed her arms, “Where’s your jacket?” Amethyst asked,

“The ‘old Pearl’ isn’t back, sorry to burst your bubble,” Pearl snapped,

Bismuth hummed, “you say that… But when you talk like that I’m getting mixed views.”

Pearl straightened out her arms and huffed, she had just remembered Amethyst’s earlier remark, “and nothing happened between us!”

“You and who?” Bismuth rubbed her head in confusion, “is anyone going to catch me up on what I missed? It’s only been like two days and I feel like I’ve missed the end of the world!”

“Oh right!” Amethyst grinned and before Pearl could stop her- “Pearl got a date with Lapis!”

“THAT Lapis?” Bismuth raised an eyebrow, “the ‘bad vibe’ must be her type…”

“Hey!” Pearl blushed, but she didn’t deny it.

“Yup! and the catch is, Lapis thinks she is a boy!”

Pearl blushed even more as Bismuth burst out laughing, she felt herself sink further and further into the ground and the large woman patted her knees and wiped tears from her eyes. Pearl soon recovered when she remembered the inviting ice pack to heal her aching head, Amethyst watched her curiously as she went into the kitchen and came back with some ice wrapped in a towel. Pearl sighed as she pressed it into the sore spot.

“Whoa, okay, what happened?” Amethyst lost her grin as Pearl slumped onto the couch beside her, Bismuth had already calmed down and watched the exchange curiously. Pearl remained silent to Amethyst chagrin, “Seriously,” the purple girl continued pressing her, “seeing you come back with an ice pack is giving me major flash-backs, something must have happened and that’s why you didn’t come home last night.”

Pearl scoffed out a grin, “since when did you become a super sleuth? Was it Garnet?”

“Just answer it,” Amethyst rolled her eyes.

That was when Pearl made the best and the worst decision in her life. She opened her mouth and just began talking about everything that happened, how Peridot came by crying about Lapis, about Malachite, what happened with Lapis when she walked her home and finally what happened on her way back. Amethyst’s and Bismuth’s curious and interested expressions slowly morphed into that of a serious one, near the end of Pearl’s long winded tale they had refused to look at anything other than the blonde. It was the most interested that Pearl had ever seen them, but that was probably not true, there were plenty of times where they became this determined. Pearl had just forgotten them.

“So then I woke up at Lapis and Peridot’s place,” Pearl sighed, the ice had melted slightly and she was getting uncomfortable with the feeling of water dripping down her neck so she removed the ice back from her now soothed head. “Lapis had seen what happened, she seen me with Malachite and she said she seen me get hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat. She was the one that dragged me to safety.”

“You took a baseball bat to the head?! and you’re fine with that?!” Bismuth huffed,

“No, I’m not fine with it,” Pearl gritted her teeth, “and I’m lucky that I can even think straight,” Pearl replied, ‘even though it was never straight to begin with,’ “the strength of the swing must have been dragged down by something, so I’m just going to assume that whoever done it was short.”

“Dude, Imagine if it was Jasper,” Amethyst paled, “your head would be a watermelon.”

“Ugh, thanks for the unpleasant imagery,” Bismuth cringed,

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Pearl stood up and walked over to the kitchen, leaving the ice pack in the sink, “I just want to clear my head before I leave for my job interview,” Pearl said and looked at the small pile of junk left in the corner, she recognised it as the one she threw the knife into and she gulped.

“Cleaning?” Amethyst asked,

“Yes,” Pearl tutted and she took the wheels out the pile, “do you even own a bike?”

“Heh, not anymore.” Pearl didn’t want to think to deeply about that.

“Let me help,” Bismuth came over with a grin and picked up the wheels and a metal box that looked to be for tools, all of which were missing. “So you don’t strain yourself.”

“Thanks,” Pearl replied and cast her a smile, she picked up some more cards and after stacking them she moved them to a small box that she used to manage Amethyst’s hoard. This box contained Disks of different kinds, books, tapes and the odd gadget or toy.

Amethyst provided amusing commentary and sometimes she would even tell stories about some of the junk she wasn’t willing to throw away. Some of it did in fact make Pearl laugh despite how revolting some of the stories were sometimes.

But their clean up halted when Pearl seen something long and shiny catch her attention. Prying it out carefully, she beamed when she recognised the hilt with her initial engraved in it.

“My old fencing rapier!” She exclaimed, it was slightly bent and the tip was broken as she continued to examine it. Pearl remembered defeating many people with it back when she was still in the tournaments and she was certain that she had lost it a long time ago.

“Yeah, I kept that,” Amethyst cleared her throat as her face went red, “J-Just take it! It’s yours and I didn’t want to throw it away…”

“And Why~?” Bismuth asked with a grin,

Amethyst grumbled, “it reminded me of Pearl.”

Pearl grinned and her eyes grew misty, she could feel the tears coming on. She went over to Amethyst who was still on the couch and hugged her, despite Amethyst fighting against it, she gave up and smiled as she hugged Pearl back. They laughed as Bismuth came over and hugged the both of them, being careful not to pressure Amethyst’s cast as she lifted them slightly.

———

“Have I mentioned that I don’t like how mysterious Earl is?” Peridot broke the silence as they walked up the hill, casually watching people and the scenery go by and liking the sea breeze ruffling their hair. The nice day was almost like a bandage for what happens during the night, people think that it’ll get better due to how lovely it is and how many nice (if not naive) people that support Beach City, only for night to set and everything return to the way it was.

“I don’t know…” Lapis hummed absently,

“Well, I don’t,” Peridot said bluntly, “I don’t understand why being mysterious is a desirable trait, it feels like they don’t trust you enough to tell you anything.” Lapis looked over to her and watched her dramatically wave her arms. “I mean, it’s like they’re a stranger despite how well you think you know them!”

“I agree, I also don’t like it,” Lapis replied, “but I do feel like solving the mystery, trying to find his secret… Well, with respect to him of course!”

“You’re starting to sound like a stalker,” Peridot joked,

“Yes, hilarious joke Peridot,” Lapis rolled her eyes and pouted, “but seriously, finding out about someone like Earl is interesting.”

“I’ll admit, he is someone that I’ve never met before… I thought that the mysterious vibe died out long ago once social media was invented.” She cringed slightly, “everyone posting there nowadays… Even me…”

Lapis simply hummed and never responded, then a strange thought came to her, “am I mysterious?”

Peridot gave her a bemused look and narrowed her eyes, “yes, yes you are the definition of the ‘mysterious girl’ that you see in all those movies.”

“I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult,” Lapis glanced at her, “but what about me is mysterious? I’m just a person.”

“I don’t know anything about your family, others don’t know about you and Jasper, and nearly everyone but a few didn’t even know that you were in their gang.” Peridot counted her fingers to emphasise her point and Lapis couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“I don’t have a family,” Lapis replied, “I was an orphan, just like Jasper… I can barely remember what it was like living at that age.”

“You knew Jasper when you were kids?” Peridot raised an eyebrow, “I bet she was a bully.”

“Sort of,” Lapis replied bluntly, “well, yeah she was.. But she had a bad upbringing before I met her… We ran away from the orphanage though and just lived in the streets.” ‘I had to have learned how to climb and fight from somewhere.’

“Why on earth did you run away?!” Peridot gasped,

“Listen, I can barely remember why myself! But I know that it was Jaspers idea, I was young, didn’t want to get beaten up… and that’s what probably happened.” Lapis huffed, “but when we were both desperate we began staying at the light-house.”

Lapis looked to the building over-looking the city, it stood tall on the cliff and what used to be majestic and clean was now vandalised with graffiti and only gave a sense of dread emanated from it. The lighthouse was now practically Jasper’s home as that’s where the gang meets up in the night, she clenched her fists tighter and scowled.

“And she never left.” Lapis spat out the words like poison,

“…W-We’re here,” Lapis seen the apartment from a distance and she relaxed slightly, Peridot cleared her throat  “I-I’ll get out your way.” She took a step back, “maybe we can talk more later? After you give the phone and I go collect Pumpkin.”

Lapis tilted her head slightly, “maybe.”

———

The hug ended suddenly when the door knocked loudly, it was a forceful knock but it didn’t seem to be in a particular hurry. Pearl looked at Bismuth and Amethyst curiously and tried to decipher if they knew that someone was coming over. Her thoughts went silent when the door knocked again and she jumped slightly.

“I’ll go answer it,” Pearl sighed, not like Amethyst or Bismuth could answer the door in the first place. Amethyst could barely walk in her cast and she could never let a guest like Bismuth open the door for her.

Pearl stood up and lightly walked over to the front door, she opened the door carefully, the hallway might have been tidy and clean by Amethyst’s standards, but Pearl was still overly cautious of the pile of magazines and books that Amethyst probably read once and forgot about.

She hoped that it would have been Garnet so that she could talk about what happened last night without having to cover her voice and everything she does. Pearl even briefly wondered for how long she could keep the act up ‘Maybe I can act like a guy forever,’ she mused.

But fate had given her a different response.

Pearl froze when she came eye to eye with the girl in Blue, she watched Lapis’s face look at her first in relief but then she slowly started to frown as her eyes looked over Pearl with confusion and the taller girl couldn’t even say anything in her defence. She felt like she was a statue for Lapis to critique and her hands slowly began to shake.

“Earl?”

Chapter Text

Pearl couldn’t move. It was as if time had stopped and she was watching a slow motion of her impending doom, Lapis had started frowning and Pearl couldn’t even splutter out a response to defend herself or come clean.

“Sorry Lapis!” Pearl could hear Amethyst hastily burst out from inside the house, she finally moved and took a step back so the short girl was somewhat visible to Lapis. “Earl isn’t here!”

Lapis raised an eyebrow and glanced at Pearl, she did not look convinced.

“Is Earl a cross-dresser?” she asked bluntly, ‘she hit the nail on the head there!’ Pearl could hear Amethyst burst out laughing.

“M-my name’s Pearl,” she finally introduced herself to the girl, ignoring her earlier statement. If only her true reveal wasn’t under such pressured circumstances. Pearl blushed slightly as Lapis’s face brightened up from hearing her name, it was as if she had realised something for the first time and the small look of delight was enough for Pearl to brush-off the earlier incident.

“Wait.. You and Earl-“ Pearl panicked at the thought of being found out so suddenly,

“I’m his twin,” she said it before she even thought about it, if it had been any other person she would have face-palmed so hard she would have been left with a permanent hand-print on her face. Amethyst seemed to have quietened down after that, ‘probably realised how big a hole I had just dug myself’ Pearl nearly groaned.

“O-Oh, I’m Lapis,” She coughed slightly and looked away with a slight blush, Pearl raised an eyebrow curiously and then persevered through another moment of awkwardness.

“Why don’t you invite her in?” Bismuth suggested, “This place is completely unrecognisable!” Pearl watched her wink in her direction and she instantly knew that this was because of the whole ‘Earl’ thing she found out earlier.

Pearl looked back to Lapis, reading her expression carefully, Lapis blankly looked back with her eyebrows slowly tightening, her fists were still clenched and now her knuckles were turning white. Pearl cleared her throat.

“If you’re not comfortable, you don’t have to…” She said and she surprised herself by using a deeper voice than usual, in fact, it’s become so strange to talk normally around Lapis that it may have physiologically affected her.

Lapis looked at her and gave her a small smile, she shook her head slightly.

“Maybe for a moment,” Lapis replied.

The taller girl tentatively stepped back and opened the door wider, Lapis quickly glided inside. She walked in such a way that it looked like fabric was flowing behind her, making Pearl’s eyes follow her movements. ‘Maybe one day I’ll ask if she can dance…’ She closed the front door. ‘Maybe… She’ll even dance with me.’ The thought made Pearl’s chest grow warm.

“Lapis!” Amethyst grinned, “haven’t seen you around lately,” She wiggled a pen and indicated her cast.

“‘lately’ before, or after you broke your leg?” Lapis asked a little coldly, but she took the pen and left a signature on Amethyst’s cast.

“Oof, got me there,” Amethyst grin waned slightly and Pearl found herself holding back a chuckle. Something like this was a new experience for her, it wasn’t regular that Amethyst’s jokes were shot down so coldly by anyone besides her and Peridot, all whilst slowly draining her positivity and will to continue.

“Burn,” Bismuth commented,

“So what brings you here?” Amethyst asked, “looking for your ‘boyfriend’~?” she said it a teasing, sing-song way.

Lapis blushed, “he’s not my boyfriend,” she pouted slightly, “but yes, I’m looking for Earl… I thought he lived here.”

“Yeah, it’s the name thing,” Bismuth spoke up and then finally introduced herself, “Earl… Umm… Lives out of town and visits Pearl.” The girl in question could applause at the mastery of a lie the large woman came up with. But when looking over at Lapis she felt her heart in her throat, she looked disinterested all of a sudden and simply had a blank look on her face, she would just have to assume that she bought it.

“So, um,” Pearl cleared her throat, she looked to Bismuth and Amethyst for support,

“Oh yeah,” Amethyst nodded and winked at her understandably, “why’re you visiting suddenly?”

“Hm? Oh yeah,” Pearl watched Lapis produce a small phone from her pocket. Her heart and everyone else’s dropped when they recognised it as Pearl’s mobile phone. “Earl left this, I don’t know if it’s his but I somewhat doubt it.”

“Isn’t that your mobile Pearl?” Bismuth said and she was greeted with two unpleasant scowls along with a curious gaze from Lapis.

“It’s yours?” Lapis turned and Pearl slowly took the phone from her, buying time for her to pound at her brain for an explanation.

“Earl, he um… Lost his phone, so I gave him mine temporarily.” She smiled slightly, “I thought he had left with it.” She let out a small sigh and prayed that Lapis would understand, but her frown only grew.

“Wait, you just gave him your phone?” Lapis asked bemusedly,

“He said it was an emergency,” Pearl put the phone into her jean pocket and cleared her throat again, she couldn’t wait until this was all over and she could get some tea.

“Oh, I see,” Lapis gained a small smile, it quickly disappeared as she glanced at everyone, “I’ve got to go now, just tell Earl once he gets back that I said ‘Hi,’.”

“Will do!” Amethyst playfully gave her a small salute.

Pearl was surprised at just how quick the girl left, she went flying out the door before another word was said. She shut the door and let out a loud groan.

“Twin Brother?!” She felt like tearing her own face off,

“Calm down, it’s not the end of the world,” Bismuth tried to reassure her but Pearl shook her head.

“No! This is catastrophic!” She clenched her temples, “just what am I going to do now?! I can’t deal with being two different people!” Pearl cautiously stepped to the window and opened the curtains, she glanced at Lapis leaving and then slumped on the wall.

“This will all get sorted out eventually! You have a plan right?” Bismuth asked, Pearl noticed the small shake of Amethyst’s head,

“No, no I don’t.” Pearl sighed and stepped away from the wall, “but I’ll think of something…” She glanced at her phone skeptically, “…Eventually.”

———

Lapis rushed out of the house and walked down the street in a fast pace. The whole thing was incredibly uncomfortable and tense, ‘Pearl was beautiful.’ She concluded, this only resulted in her putting a hand on her forehead and groaning slightly. It was too weird, Earl disappears and suddenly she learns that he has a twin sister? Not only that, now just thinking about either of them made her head hurt.

She tutted and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, ‘no time to think about this now. It’ll just have to wait till later.’

As she continued to walk down the street she spotted Peridot turn the corner and begin to walk up the hill, her face was bright with a large happy smile cemented on her. In the green girl’s hands there was a relatively large box, the way it wiggled slightly and that she was having difficulty carrying it could only tell Lapis one thing.

“Hi!” Peridot stopped looking at the box in her hands when she nearly collided into Lapis, “how’d it go?”

“You won’t believe what I discovered,” Lapis began, “I met Pearl.”

“Amethyst’s new room-mate? So what’s she like?” Peridot hummed, “and did you give Earl his phone?”

“One question at a time,” Lapis lifted her hand, “Pearl was the owner of the phone.”

“Oh…” Peridot looked at Lapis sadly, she was pitying her despite not even knowing anything.

“She’s not his girlfriend.”

“Oh?” Peridot’s eyes lit up again,

“She’s his twin,” Lapis replied and Peridot seemed to gawk,

“Seriously? That sounds-“

“Suspicious? Yes it does,” Lapis ended it for her and watched the girl struggle with the box in her arms, she sighed slightly, “I know that you wanted to visit Amethyst, but it looked like I caught them in the middle of something… And you have your hands full…”

Peridot narrowed her eyes, “true…” The box rattles slightly in her hands and Lapis could have sworn that she heard a whimper, “anyway, what’s this Pearl like? Anything like what you thought?”

“She is so much like Earl that I thought he was cross-dressing,” Lapis replied with a small grin, “she’s also pretty cute, but I don’t know how I feel about that when all I see is Earl…”

“That sounds complicated,” Peridot tried to say but the box suddenly opens and a small ginger puppy poked their head out of the box, “umm… Surprise!?” Peridot chuckled.

Lapis smiled slightly and petted the small canine, she felt their collar and read the small name tag, just as Peridot said, the word ‘pumpkin’ was very clearly printed on it.

“Do you need some help?” Lapis chuckled as the puppy began to whimper and scuttle around the cardboard box.

“Are you asking me or pumpkin?” Peridot asked, her eyes glanced to the puppy and then back to Lapis worryingly, “I don’t have a lead…”

“I’ll just carry her… Him… Them…” Lapis corrected herself as she picked the puppy up, she chuckled as Pumpkin began to lick her face slightly.

‘Maybe everything will get better from now on…’ Lapis thought as they walked back home.

———

Pearl put a hand to her chin, lowly grumbling to herself and began to pace. She didn’t pay any mind to the two pairs of eyes that watched her, all she could focus on was Lapis. Things were getting far too complicated, now even if she did reveal herself to Lapis there would still be the underlying doubt. ‘I took it too far.’ She groaned and hid her face behind her hands.

“I’m such an idiot, I should have just listened to Garnet or told her there and then,” she muttered,

“You are many things, an idiot is not one of them,” Bismuth said,

“Depends on who you ask,” Amethyst grumbled, Pearl cast her a scolding look,

“You were in shock, none of us expected Lapis to suddenly come here, she’s never done that.” Bismuth explained, Pearl gave them a doubtful look, biting the inside of her cheek as she frowned, “Listen…” The large woman began again with a gentle sigh, “I know this means a lot to you and there is still time.”

“Then she’ll never talk to me again…” Pearl sighed, “I don’t want that.”

The girls looked at her wordlessly with a look of surprise, Pearl’s cheeks grew red and she looked away with her fists clenched.

“Woah, you’ve fallen this hard?” Amethyst commented,

“N-no, I just-!” Pearl huffed, “yes, yes I have.”

“It’s the bad girls, I’m tellin’ ya,” Amethyst chuckled and wiggled her eyebrows at Bismuth, “but seriously, it’s not the end of the world. Why are you so worried about Lapis anyway?”

“Look, I just… She needed help! I couldn’t leave her, and now, I can’t walk away from this.” Pearl walked away from the two and grabbed her equipment bag she meticulously prepared the previous day. She glanced at the clock and sighed defeatedly.

“I need to go.”

She left them without another word and without a glance, only with the click of the door shutting behind her.

Pearl briskly walked by the beach, her head held high and her ears attentively listening to the sounds of the waves hitting against some of the rocks speckled across the shoreline. The smell of saltwater was something that she missed whilst she was away studying abroad, unfortunately, the smell of grease and fries being cooked in the nearby vendors was something that she could have done without.

Her walk eventually led her up a small hill where an extravagant looking building stood, the front was nearly all made from glass that made it sparkle when the reflection of the sea was cast over it. The material almost looked like crystal, this was to be expected however as the diamonds were not modest about their success.

Before she walked any further, Pearl glanced back and looked at the various buildings surrounding the studio. One of the establishments in particular caught her eye, it was worn down, but still looked to be managed by at least one person. ‘Beach City Fencing’ was eloquently written on a sign that was severely vandalised, another sign asking for more members was also broken and painted on. It was like the instructor was begging and like the building was begging with them. It almost broke Pearl’s heart seeing something she once loved dearly turned into a dump. ‘I wonder if they even do tournaments anymore…’ she sighed and continued her way up to the now rather menacing, crystal building.

Pearl opens the glass door, if it had been any other person they would have ran into it due to how clean the near invisible glass was. Inside she finds a small counter, but no-one managing it. The fact that a diamond establishment had an employee that was slacking off was something unheard of. She heard some faint unrecognisable music come from further along the hallway but she chose not to go and explore, she would see everything eventually given she had some patience left in her.

Pearl turned when she heard some light foot steps creep towards her carefully. She watches the corner and then spots two dancers approach her, one in yellow, the other in blue.

“We leave for one second and she’s already here!” the yellow one grumbled, “I blame you for this.” She turned to her companion who just gives her a polite smile in response.

“You’re Pearl, correct?” The blue one asked her with an infectious smile.

“Yes, that’s right,” She replied with a small nod of her head,

“Well, let’s go get this questionnaire over with,” The yellow one crossed her arms and pointedly looked into one of the rooms in the corridor,

“Questionnaire?” Pearl echoed,

“Yeah, I mean it’s pointless to even ask you it when we’re so understaffed that we’re taking anyone that can shake their hips and pretend to dance.” Yellow scoffed, ‘Ah, so that’s why I managed to get in here.’ Pearl tightened her grip on her bag.

“Just be patient with her,” Blue said in a hushed voice just as Yellow waltzed into the room, Pearl gave her another small nod and they followed the obnoxious dancer.

The room was just a regular office, it looked very similar to a meeting room where you go into when interviewing a business. That is if Amethyst’s horrible show taught her anything.

Yellow pointed impatiently to the lone chair in front of the table as she and Blue sat across from it. Pearl never wasted any time and quickly found her place before Yellow had the opportunity to shove another snide remark into her face.

“Let’s begin,” Yellow’s voice reverberated across the room, “to save confusion due to having three Pearls, which I never thought possible, in this room. I go by Yellow and she goes by Blue.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Blue Pearl quickly pipped in before Yellow Pearl had any opportunity to add anything more.

“Likewise,” Regular Pearl replied,

“Ahem,” Yellow scowled and Pearl couldn’t keep the small frown from showing on her face, Blue prepared a small clipboard with a pen at the ready. “Question one, why do you dance?”

‘Well, they certainly aren’t going easy with the questions.’ Pearl took a breath and thought carefully about her response, partly because she really needed it, but also because she started to like making Yellow angry.

“Because I love it,” Pearl started, “dancing has helped me through many hardships. It’s become a big part of my life.”

“Clearly,” Yellow remarked and Pearl had to fight a grin when Blue pinched her, making the dancer in yellow jump with a yelp.

“Your application mentions your success at fencing,” Blue took over as Yellow cradled her arm and looked at her in betrayal. “Why do you choose dancing instead?”

“O-oh, well,” ‘she got me there…’ Pearl cleared her throat slightly and thought about her answer, she noticed that Yellow looked at Blue with an unclear expression, yet the dancer remained peacefully smiling. “Fencing was only ever a hobby for me, it was my gateway to start dancing again when I was younger.”

“Yeah, but why did you choose dance?” Yellow asked, “I mean you’re a multi-tournament champion!” she expressively spread her arms,’I don’t know if she’s complimenting me or aggravating me… Probably both.’

“I don’t think that I would get anywhere with fencing, especially not here…” Pearl sadly sighed and she could have sworn that Blue and Yellow looked at her with a melancholic expression.

Yellow huffed, “that’s good enough for me.”

“Agreed,” Blue put the pen down and dropped the clipboard on the table, Pearl glanced at it and just seen a sheet of blank paper with what looked to be a small sketch of something on it. “That’s enough questions.”

“Wait, so, um…” Pearl watched in confusion as Blue and Yellow stood from the seat,

“Hm?” Yellow raised an eyebrow, “oh yeah, welcome to the team I guess. You’re our fourth member. Congrats.”

Pearl eyes widened in alarm, ‘Fourth member?’

“Fourth member?” Pearl mumbled as she stood up and trailed behind the dancers as they walked out the room.

“Well, yeah,” Yellow frowned, “you don’t get many wannabe dancers in a shit place like this.”

Blue pinched her again, “language.” She scolded and Yellow hissed painfully as she tried to hide her tears. “But yeah, this place is pretty bad…”

“We were going to give you one of those tours that you get. But we’re seriously behind schedule and I now have to teach two classes of ballet all whilst rehearsing for a show in ocean town and so much more.” Yellow sighed, she began walking briskly down the corridor, “So just wait out in the lobby for now!” she threw back an order at her.

“Another dancer who’s lucky and got a clear lunch will tour you. She should be there to meet you in any minute.” Blue added quickly before sprinting down the hall and ran up a few stairs with elegant leaps.

Pearl let out a long breath and sat on one of the couches as she waited for this mysterious third dancer to appear. It still baffled her, such a large, diamond owned studio like this and there was only three dancers looking after it. Perhaps there was a cleaner or something, but with the way Yellow said it… it was unlikely.

Even so, deep down she knew what was the cause of this shortage of employees.

Jaspers gang.

Everything lead back to her, from the vandalism, to the paid off cops, to Lapis and now even her job. It was like everything in Beach City, now old and new had a small parasite residing in it. Something that no one wants to talk about yet everyone knows what and who it is.

‘I bet that’s also a reason why they only asked me two questions… I shouldn’t have said anything about fencing in the first place.’ she put a hand onto her forehead.

“Pearl?”

She heard a voice call her name and she instantly looked up to see who it was. A smile came to her face when she seen Rainbow Quartz looking at her with utter joy and surprise, Pearl couldn’t help but give her a big hug. Being rumoured to be Rose’s half-sister, her hugs felt nearly exactly like Rose’s, minus the rose perfume.

“Wow I never expected to see you here!” She grinned, “well, I DID, but still!”

“It’s good to be back,” Pearl gave her a small smile as she grabbed her bag and Rain led them down another hallway,

“You’re a terrible liar,” Rain gave another small smile back,

“Everything’s so different,” Pearl sighed, “I still can’t wrap my head around it all.”

“It is a lot to take in…” Rain paused for a moment.

Pearl never ever thought that a moment of hesitation could press against her brain so much throughout the entire tour, not that she didn’t pay any attention. The building was fascinating, with several dance rooms, office’s, common rooms, a large cafeteria and a stage. The building was a scrapped project that the diamond company had, Rain explained the original intent of a building that housed several different studios and have them work together in harmony. Only the dance studio became up and running before the whole Jasper catastrophe.

Perhaps that was why Rain paused, because of Jasper. So, with some courage, Pearl asked her.

“Why did I… Stop?” Rain hummed and raised an eyebrow, she had bought herself a bottle of water from the vending machine in the cafeteria and Pearl flinched slightly as the sound of money slotting loudly into the machine, echoing across the vast emptiness of the hallway.

“When I mentioned that everything was too much, just before the tour,” Pearl emphasised, “you looked like you were going to say something.”

Rain looked at her with a grave expression and she quickly looked away, “I forgot.”

Pearl rolled her eyes, “you are a terrible liar.”

Rain remained silent, but Pearl remained persistent. Her eyes never left the tall woman and she smirked slightly as Rain grew very self-conscious as she drank the bottled water. Eventually she sighed and but the bottle onto the nearby bench and sat down, Pearl quickly joined her.

“I was going to mention Rose…”

“Oh…”

‘Oh.’

“I know how you felt about her… and just now you come back and she’s gone. It must have been painful.” Rain gently put her hand on top of Pearl’s limp one lying on the bench.

“I tried not thinking about it.” Pearl looked away, she could feel a tight knot forming in her throat. “Telling myself that she’s out touring with that rock-star…”

“But you know she’s not, right?” Rain asked gently with a quivering voice, and Pearl slowly nodded her head. “Did they tell you how she died?” Pearl shook her head and looked back at Rain, her eyes where going pink as tears were about to escape at any moment. “Childbirth.”

“Child…-Birth?” Pearl echoed, the knot grew tighter and her eyes started to sting. ‘That does sound a lot like Rose.’ Pearl shuddered, “and the child?”

“Steven,” Rain said, “she named him Steven, he lives with Greg at the carwash.”

Pearl could have laughed breathlessly, but it came out as a small, depressing hiccup. “Greg and a carwash… Something I would never have imagined to hear together.”

“Times really do change,” Rain awkwardly chuckled,

“I’ll have to visit them at some point,” Pearl sighed, “I have to see Steven at least once… It’s what Rose would have wanted.”

Rain slowly nodded her head, “she would… But maybe you should hold off on that visit.” Pearl looked at her quizzically. “It’s not safe right now, the carwash isn’t up and running yet so it acts like a cover against… Well…”

“Jasper.”

Rain nodded her head, “but try to keep that name to yourself, the last person I seen uttering that was a drunk that ended up in hospital when he was found nearly beaten to death in a ditch.” Pearl absently nodded her head, “Pearl, I’m serious.”

“Alright, I understand.” She wiped her eyes and glanced down at the time on her phone. She had somehow managed to spend two and a half hours running around the insanely large building and if she remembered correctly it was time for her to leave.

Rain walked her back to the lobby and Pearl was surprised to see Blue and Yellow nearly lying onto of one another on the couch, they had lunch out on the small table but they looked far too tired to eat anything yet to hungry to actually get any rest. ‘They are so overworked.’ 

“Hello White,” Yellow remarked and Pearl jumped slightly,

“Excuse me, but, White?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Listen, we’re all Pearl’s, you get a nickname too.” Yellow sat up but instantly flopped back down again, she gave off a strange whimper.

“It’s because of your blouse,” Blue briefly explained through her delirium, “it’s just so crisp.”

“Oh, thank you?” Pearl continued to awkwardly stare at them and then she glanced at Rainbow with a determined look. She sighed defeatedly.

“Let us take some of your shifts for today,” Rain said and Pearl smiled at the surprised looks of delight on the dancers faces. “I don’t mind doing some unpaid overtime this once.”

“But White has only just started! She doesn’t have-!”

“I brought a change of clothes,” Pearl quickly cut Yellow off, “and yes, I can dance so I can take over some of the ballet lessons you need to give. You do need to rehearse for a show after all.”

Yellow looked like she was going to cry, “I- I’ll allow it this once, but once you start you will have a lot more to do then ballet lessons!”

“Wait a minute, that means we’re free!” Blue gasped,

“For now…” Yellow scowled, “we still need to do the ritual that is cleaning.”

“Do you want me to help with that too?” Pearl asked,

“Well once you start you will,” Rain chuckled, “but right now, handling two ballet classes is more than required for an initiation.”

“The ballet classes are both an hour long and back-to-back,” Blue explained,

“Still up for it?” Yellow teased,

“I’ll try my best,” Pearl took a deep breath,

“One is a class of beginners, the other has more experience but are practicing pirouettes.” Blue sat up straighter and picked up a carton of fruit juice.

“Okay. I can manage that much.” Pearl smiled.

When Pearl was finally done and dressed back into her regular attire, she let out a content sigh. It really wasn’t that bad, sure there were some students that had difficulty in performing some basic moves. But Pearl really couldn’t blame them when Rain explained that some of the students never had the time to practice at home for many different reasons.

Pearl left the building with a hug from Rain, an approving handshake from Yellow who made it way more awkward than it should have been and a few documents that Blue had printed out with a small smile.

The day was a success.

Pearl grinned at that, finally, finally, she was doing something worthwhile. Something she loved doing. She carefully put the documents into her bag as she walked down the hill, only to stop when she seen the fencing building again.

She took a deep breath and quickly zipped up her bag.

As the building grew bigger in the slow approach, Pearl could finally see the damage done to the intricately designed exterior. Plants were overgrown, stone slabs and windows cracked, several windows even had protective bars put outside. She shivered as she walked inside.

The inside was even colder than the cool weather outside. At least everything looked near enough the same since she last visited, it was just darker, dustier… Lonelier. The chocolate brown wooden floors didn’t have the polished shine it once had and the furniture had seen better days.

But amongst the ruckus, she heard the clanging of metal and every so often a loud beep. Curiously she followed the noise to a new branch in the building, obviously built sometime after she had left. She opened the gymnasium door and watched the light from inside blast away the darkness of the corridor. She walked in slowly and smiled slightly when she seen two fencers currently sparring, the masks were fastened securely and Pearl had no idea who could have been under them… Now that she thought about it, there is one person.

“Stop, that’s the spar over,” Pearl heard a recognisable voice ring out from one of the fencers,

“Already?” Pearl grinned, she recognised that voice too.

They pulled off their helmets and introduced their faces to the world. Opal was wiping some sweat off her face and Smoky was panting off to the side. Out of everyone in the whole of Beach City, Pearl never knew that Opal would have started fencing and that Smoky joined in.

“Am I interrupting something?” Pearl smiled and walked closer, Opal and Smoky jumped at first but soon grinned widely.

“You just keep surprising,” Opal commented, possibly a friendly remark at her sudden leave and then sudden reappearance. “Smoky, do you even remember Pearl?”

“Of course I do!” Smoky grinned,

“Well look who’s all grown up now,” Pearl smiled, “you make me feel old.”

“Ha! Do I need to get you a walking stick grandma?” She cheekily stuck out her tongue, “or maybe some tea?”

“Tea? Yes, but hold off on the walking stick.”

“So what’s the surprising occasion?” Opal interjected. Ending the war of the young and the old. ‘Old-ish.’ Pearl corrected.

“More like this is surprising, what about your archery and yoga?” Pearl smiled, turning to her friend.

“Someone needs to keep this place running,” Opal tutted as she put her helmet under her arm, “memories too I guess.”

“I just volunteered for the fun,” Smoky winked, “poking people with pointy sticks is satisfying.”

“Please,” Pearl scoffed, “poking people is an art form.” Smoky chuckled at that.

“So are you looking to join again? We really need help, I don’t really know anything about fencing.” Opal burst out in a calm and well-mannered way,

“Yes, I am actually.” Pearl could see the delight in Opal’s face, “but what happened to everyone? I remember that Jade was the instructor last time I was here.”

“Oh,” Opal’s face dropped, “Jade and nearly everyone left Beach City. I’m guessing by the look on your face you already know why.” Opal wasn’t wrong, unknowingly a scowl had spread across Pearl’s face and even the forever optimistic Smoky looked down at the ground sadly. “We can’t even do tournaments anymore… Not even the solo ones.”

Pearl looked to her determinedly, “well, that’s going to change. When is the next Solo tournament start?”

“Some time next month in Ocean Town,” Opal replied,

“Wait, you’re not seriously-“ Smoky tried,

“I am,” Pearl cut her off, “If I win, I can get this place some attention it needs.”

“But then those thugs will just mess this place up! Have you seen what the outside is like?!” Smoky gasped, “We have bars on the windows! Bars! On the windows!”

“I know,” Pearl tightened her jaw, “but I’m not going to just give up.”

Smoky just looked at her in bewilderment and slight awe.

“Be careful Pearl…” Opal said, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

———

Lapis groaned as yet again Jasper had found a way to contact her mobile, she deleted more messages of pure hate as she sat on the couch with pumpkin falling asleep on her lap. The messages, as always, were never ending and honestly Lapis had grown bored of them. ‘The threats really don’t work when its the same text message over and over again.’

She sighed as she continued pressing delete on the screen. It would have been fine if it was all in one conversation but no, Jasper just had to have been extra and spam the same message multiple times on several different conversations. ‘How did she even do this?’ Lapis gently petted Pumpkin and the dog made an affectionate nuzzle into her.

Her text adventures did come to a close when she found an interesting string of messages.

“COME TO THE LIGHTHOUSE.” Was cemented instantly into her mind, this was different from all those other messages asking her to come back, this was something new and terrifying.

Lapis simply deleted all the messages and yet again Jasper as a contact. She really needed to lie down and take her mind off of this pathetic attempts of frightening her. Even though that’s what she told herself, Lapis couldn’t lie that it hadn’t worked.

Gently putting Pumpkin onto the floor, Lapis stood up and walked into her room. Pumpkin followed her closely until they got bored and went away to find Peridot.

So many thoughts were in her head that it was so difficult to swim through them, from Jasper, to work and to how shitty life could be. But then something surfaced and Lapis imagined seeing an anchor in the distance. Pearl and Earl. The mysterious twins who smashed their way into her life as elegantly as they could, she couldn’t disagree that she felt some sort of attachment to Earl and now that when she tried to think of him she only thought of Pearl. It made things really confusing.

They were far too similar, the way they talk, the way they stand, the thing they do with their hands when they’re nervous or confused. Something about them was off. ‘Are they the same person?’ Lapis thought, ‘well, that could explain a lot.’ She sat up from her bed and grumbled.

‘Why would one dress as the other? What would that achieve? Are they trying something?’ She cupped her head and sighed, that theory was just bringing up more questions than answering.

‘But what if they are the same person?’ ‘Who would be the real one?’ ‘Who do I want to be real?’

Lapis nearly slapped herself, she couldn’t think like this, theories weren’t her strong point and she couldn’t be able to find a long red string in a tiny hay bale rather than a needle in a hay stack.

But there was one person that knew her theories more than she knew herself.

“Peridot?” Lapis tapped on the door and walked in, she seen the green girl looking into her laptop with Pumpkin playing with a tiny ball on the floor.

“Oh Lapis! You want to the the Camp Pining Heart Leaks too?” She grinned,

“What? No! Don’t you dare!” Lapis looked away before anything was spoiled,

“It’s okay, you’re safe for now… But just remember I’m armed and dangerous.” Peridot maniacally laughed.

“Yeah, Yeah,” Lapis sighed, “Look I need your help.”

“What would you do without me? The great and lovable Peridot?” She closed her laptop and with a small smile and a roll of Lapis’s eyes she slung her legs over the edge of her bed. “What can I do you for?”

“I think that Pearl and Earl are the same person,” Lapis said and she sat down on a random chair that Peridot kept in her room.

“Okay, what?” Peridot gawked,

“I’m serious!” Lapis huffed, “They’re both mysterious and so similar!”

“But you barely know Pearl,” Peridot added,

“So? I barely know Earl.”

“Touche.”

Lapis reached round and grabbed Peridot’s theory notepad from her desk, careful not to disrupt one of her robot projects. She gave it to the girl and passed her a pen. “You’re good at theories, help me clean up my thought process.”

“I thought you didn’t like my theories,” She narrowed her eyes,

Lapis looked sheepishly away, “I kinda do… I don’t like it when you talk about it for hours though…”

“Well!” Peridot huffed, “If you don’t want then-“

“No! Please, I really need your help on this!” Lapis nearly pleaded, “you know I’m terrible at mystery stuff.”

“Seriously? You say ‘it’s the butler, or the wife, or the detective’ nearly all the time, how could I not see the true Sherlock in you?” Peridot laughed and opened her notepad to a random blank page.

“Haha Watson, now help me with this.”

“Okay,” Peridot replied, she threw the ball that Pumpkin was playing with, making the puppy chase after it and giving them some space on the floor.

Before they knew it, they were constructing graphs, comparing the twins and even created important details such as Pearl has never been seen other than that one time at Amethysts.

“She could just be busy,” Lapis suggested,

“The fact still stands,” Peridot huffed proudly,

“Fine,” Lapis grumbled.

They were about to continue when they heard some footsteps and the ominous clanking of metal outside. Lapis and Peridot glanced at each other in pure terror before they rushed to the windows and shut the blinds and curtains tightly, turning off all the lights.

Every so often a loud ‘clang’ would punctuate the silence, Lapis held her breath as the clanging would change to metal scraping together. Peridot held Pumpkin tightly, who was whimpering in her arms as the sound grew louder and louder.

They hid when it finally reached their window.

But then it got quieter and then disappeared all together.

This wasn’t the first time that Jaspers gang had done this, but it was still terrifying. It was like they were looking for her, wanting to hurt her with a metal pipe and beat her half to death.

Lapis watched Peridot crack and shake a glow stick, they nervously smiled and continued their theories.

That night, Lapis didn’t feel safe enough to sleep.

Chapter Text

Pearl winced at the light that entered her room and she groggily got up from her bed. She looked down at herself and slowly processed in her brain that she was just wearing a random shirt instead of the nightdress that she would normally wear, her jeans were lying haphazardly on the floor in a pile with her socks and that her curtains were wide open. She yawned and stretched out her muscles, feeling the satisfying creaking of her joints popping and opening.

She slowly got up and grumbled at the aching in her legs, arms and everywhere.

Work definitely was as strenuous and tiring as Yellow had warned her and fencing practice right after was definitely taking a toll on her body. After every working day she could always be found somewhere in Amethyst’s now clean house, rubbing ice on sores and putting plasters over scrapes and blisters. Somedays like this one, she just flops onto the bed and instantly goes to sleep without getting dressed or closing the curtains. But at least it was satisfying when she gets a free day to do whatever she would like.

As Pearl had a shower and got dressed she wondered about what it is that she should do today, it was her first break after a week of hard work so it must be special in some way. ‘As tempting as sleeping all day is, it’s not good for the muscles.” She clicked her tongue in disappointment. Bidding her bed goodbye in a more than dramatic way as she cleaned up after ‘past Pearl’.

She grinned as her feet walked across the carpet and floorboards, no more crumbs and useless junk that would stick to her soles or trip her up, no more dust that made her sneeze. The kitchen was brighter and the white tiles made her grin even more.

Amethyst was probably still sleeping or wasting time in bed like usual. Pearl’s grin dropped quickly at the thought of her, it was hard around Amethyst and it was only getting harder. The younger girl loved to be active sometimes and laze about another, but too much of one made her more than a little unhappy. But whenever she would see her, there was something in her eyes that conveyed exactly how she was feeling despite her cold and emotionless exterior. Pearl sighed and the slight sound echoed through the room like an empty cave as she opened the fridge.

Disappointment.

That’s what she was feeling. Her downcast eyes, slightly furrowed brow and gritted teeth spoke louder than her blank, uninterested voice.

Pearl couldn’t know this for sure however, she was not the best at reading people like Garnet was, but at least she tried to understand when the issue was right in front of her. Perhaps Amethyst was missing her habit of collecting everything, or maybe she feels stuck. ‘Does she blame me?’ Pearl frowned and she slammed the door of the fridge shut. She wasn’t hungry.

Grabbing her keys and her phone, she was about to reach out for her jacket and red cap. The dancer stopped herself and retracted her hand slowly as if backing away from a threat. Her open palm clenched into a fist in an instant and she frowned.

After a deep breath and a slow exhale, Pearl calmed herself down.

She hasn’t been ‘Earl’ in a week, it was impossible with her schedule and the last time she pretended to be him she got a baseball bat to the head and exposed herself to Lapis. It was slightly sad that she couldn’t wear her jacket, but it was for the best. Some memories are best left untouched.

Bypassing the disguise, she continued her way out the house and began walking down the sandy street.

Earl had successfully disappeared.

She smiled sadly at the thought, she missed the feeling of being her old self when she acted like him and getting closer to Lapis more so. But she just had to doubt that.

Pearl stopped at a small cafe that Garnet had recommended to her, she had hinted at how ‘sweet the cake’ was but Pearl knew it was because the cafe was where Lapis worked full time. Normally Lapis would have some time to talk in the evenings when Pearl came in and bought some iced tea and that was near perfect for Pearl to silently judge how things were for Lapis.

So far, Lapis seemed to have forgotten all about ‘Earl’.

This time was different however, Pearl walked in and sat down at her usual spot. But there was no Lapis in sight to collect her order, only some teen who didn’t really care about their job came over and irritated Pearl beyond belief. Once she finally got her order after what felt like decades, she glanced round the cafe, trying not to stare too long in one place. She was lucky that she seen a girl with a green hoodie ordering a coffee just across from her.

Pearl raised an eyebrow, with that unique hoodie, it couldn’t be anyone other than Peridot.

‘But what is she doing here?’ Pearl hummed, only when the green girls order was fulfilled and she was drinking her coffee slowly, looking at her phone. Pearl made a move.

She took her drink and slowly approached the booth, trying not to scare Peridot in the process and trying to think things through. Certainly Earl had met her, but she never met her REAL self and that made her more than a little nervous.

“Hi,” She greeted her, Peridot looked up and almost dropped her cracked phone into her coffee. “You’re Peridot right?” She slowly asked, of course she knew that it was Peridot, but at least she needed to look believable.

“Earl?” Peridot raised an eyebrow, “are you a cross-dresser?”

A flashback of Lapis sprung into her mind. Pearl awkwardly cleared her throat, “um, no… My name is Pearl, his… Twin.” She forced it out and gave a small smile all too quickly. Peridot looked at her skeptically and Pearl felt a nervous sweat go down her neck, “Amethyst told me about you. So I thought I would introduce myself.”

“Oh, yeah right, sit down!” Peridot seemed to brighten up at the mention of her room-mates name and Pearl settled herself with a now developing grin when she realised that the sudden change must have been some sort of crush or admiration. “and I’m Peridot,” She stated firmly, “did Amethyst really tell you about me?”

‘Er… No .’

“Yes,” Pearl smiled and took a sip of her tea,

“W-what did she say?” Peridot blushed slightly and Pearl panicked ever so slightly, ‘Yeah, what DID she say Pearl?’ she shut the little voice up, she did not need the sass right now.

“S-she mentioned that you… um…” Pearl frowned slightly, ‘think Pearl think!’ she took a drink of tea to give her some time, she would have to go for the one thing she DID know about Peridot, “that you like Camp Pining Hearts.”

“She did?” Peridot continued,

“Well… She never went into any detail.” Pearl quickly added, if she could see herself now, she would pat her own back.

“T-That would be understandable,” Peridot cleared her throat, “we don’t know each other that well, but I’m surprised she told you that over everything else.”

“I-it was whilst we were watching some sort of show she likes,” Pearl added, “I never paid much attention to it.”

“I see.” Peridot took a sip of her coffee and picked up her phone from the table,

“You’re Lapis’s room-mate right?” Pearl yet again asked a question that she already knew the answer to. The green girl looked up at her curiously and slowly, she then nodded slightly. “Well is she okay? I haven’t seen her today.”

Peridot lets out a long sigh and sits back on the padded seat, her reply was taking far too long and Pearl felt her patience thinning ever so slightly.

“She had to get some time off,” Peridot replied,

“I can see that, but that’s not what I asked,” Pearl replied and she pinched herself at her own rude remark. Peridot must have been hesitant to answer for the sake that she doesn’t know who Pearl is, and for spreading other people’s business. But the way she darkly glanced at her phone, it must have involved Jasper.

Peridot remained silent and Pearl had already found out what had happened just by adding that thug into her thought process, she leaned in slowly, voice hushed, “I think I can guess what’s happened.”

“You… What?” Peridot looked at her, baffled by her sudden confidence.

“It’s her isn’t it?”

Peridot’s face dropped, “how do you know about that?”

“My brother, it’s easy for me to get answers from him.” Pearl smiled, she can at least have some fun with her alter ego and make up a nice brother-sister relationship.

Peridot huffed and drank a big gulp of her coffee before placing the cup down a little too loudly. “Lapis is stressed beyond belief,” she began, “every day she is on her phone deleting messages and threats, changing contacts and phone numbers. You know who is doing it.” Pearl nodded, “and, more irritatingly, she misses Earl.”

‘She… Misses Earl?’ Pearl felt her heart drop at the same time as her chest grew warm. ‘So she hasn’t forgotten…’

“It’s impossible to mention him around her now that she gets irritated just by the thought of him.” Peridot expressively raised her arms, “and she won’t even TRY to call him because she thinks that she’ll just call you instead!”

“But I could get Earl to come here!” Pearl replies as Peridot took another gulp of coffee,

“Exactly!” Peridot coughed and spluttered as she drank too quickly.

Pearl frowned slightly as she watched Peridot recover, she had thought that the whole Earl ordeal was over and done with and she swore never to bring him back. But the fact still stood that Earl was vital if she wanted Lapis to be safe from Jasper, even if she didn’t like it.

“I’ll get him to call,” Pearl said slowly, “I promise.”

———

Lapis groaned and threw her phone to her bed with an aggressive swing of her arm. Every second. A new message, Every Minute. A new threat. Every Hour. Ten deleted contacts.

She couldn’t handle this anymore, she sat on the floor with her head in her hands as she listened to the constant buzzing of her silenced phone, she threw paper to the side with another forceful swing and began reading through the notes she and Peridot created a week ago. The diagrams and the bullet-points of random facts about the twins did not help her figure out who they where nor did spending some time with Pearl in the cafe. Even Garnet wasn’t that helpful.

She lay her head back onto the bed and closed her eyes, ‘Am I a stalker right now?’ She hummed, it certainly felt like it to the blue haired girl, a normal person wouldn’t obsess over some boy and his sister. She supposed that it could be a crush, but due to the strangeness of the situation she, in fact, had a crush on two people. That possibly were only one person.

She chuckled pitifully at herself, it was like she had imagined both Pearl and Earl to be one person that she dubbed ‘Arl’ just to seem more creepier than she already was. Suddenly she felt something warm run down her face and she let out a strangled cry, ‘I CAN’T do this anymore!’ she sniffed as the vibrating of her phone became the white noise she heard every single day at the back of her head.

“I just want…” Lapis paused, she didn’t know what she wanted exactly. Her pounding head and short temper where clouding her own thoughts and everything she done just became an impulse, even Peridot had enough of it as she left her alone in the mornings.

Lapis sighed sadly and wearily turned her head when she heard some whining and scratching outside her door, she opened it with a reach of her arm and Pumpkin came in, settling themselves onto Lapis’s lap whilst licking her face.

“I’m okay,” Lapis cracked a smile for the canine but a whine simply greeted her, “we’ll go on a walk once this is all sorted, okay?” She rubbed their head and Pumpkin panted happily.

Now with the puppy lying on her lap and wagging their tail, Lapis took a deep breath.

“I’ll be fine,” she muttered, “I’ll get through this.”

The lighthouse was an unpleasant memory for Lapis, Jasper had promised her freedom there when they were children, but it only became another prison. Lapis wondered what would have happened is she never ran away, sure Jasper would still be the same, if not worse than she was now. But she could have had a family, better friends, maybe even met Earl or Pearl under better circumstances.

Maybe even-

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone, Lapis looked at it on the bed wearily. She stood up slowly and Pumpkin sprang off her lap, the dog watched her happily as she creeped towards the mobile.

Jasper had never called Lapis’s phone before, so this would be a first of many if it was her. But as Lapis’s eyes read the screen, her eyes shot up in excitement and a hint of dread.

———

Pearl left the cafe once she finished her tea and chat with Peridot, briskly waving the other goodbye through the window, she decided to return home with a specific purpose. As the sea passed by her and she walked up the hill, Pearl pulled put her phone and called Lapis. She cleared her throat in preparation as she waited for the call to get through, she hoped that the girl hadn’t done something stupid that she would regret later.

“Earl?” The voice croaked from the other end, Pearl instantly recognised it as Lapis’s relieved voice and with the amount of sniffles and cracks in her voice, it was a certainty that she was either ill or crying.

“Lapis,” Pearl responded in her Earl voice, it felt strange doing it again and she hoped that it sounded good enough to be believable. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” she quickly replied, the voice was on high strings and Pearl heard her huff afterwards. She must have been irritated with her, which was understandable when she… He, disappeared suddenly.

“Lapis, I know that you’re not okay,” Pearl replied, “talk to me, let me help.”

“Earl…” Pearl heard Lapis sigh, “where have you been?”

“I-I’ve been?” Pearl hesitated, “I’ve been too caught up in my own world… But, I’m back, and I’m staying till this is sorted.” She said determinedly as she slowed down her pace when she seen her apartment block draw closer.

She heard Lapis let out a shudder of a sigh, “No.” She finally said and it felt like a punch, “I don’t want you to get in the way, I can handle this.”

“Lapis,” Pearl groaned, “you can’t handle it alone! Tell me what you are going to do at least!”

“I’m,” Lapis paused and Pearl felt her breath get caught in her throat, “I’m going to see Jasper again, see if I can get her to stop.”

“You remember last time don’t you?” Pearl felt fear rising through out her body and her hand shook slightly, “please, I’m begging you, don’t do it.”

“You can’t stop me,” Lapis replied and Pearl almost tripped herself up as she kept walking, barely paying attention to anything but Lapis. “I’m going to end this and I don’t want you hurt.”

“I don’t want you hurt,” Pearl huffed, “let’s go together then, strength in numbers.”

Pearl eagerly awaited the girl’s response as she suddenly went silent. But just as Pearl reached the door of the apartment block… “The Lighthouse.”

“Wait for me at the beach,” Pearl added and then Lapis hung up.

Pearl wasted no time as she opened the door and went to her flat. Upon entering she discovered Amethyst glumly sitting on the couch looking through some magazines, she looks up and watched Pearl quizzically as the girl shut the front door behind her.

“So, What’s ruffled your feathers?” Amethyst grumbled,

“Stop referring me to a bird please,” Pearl huffed, “I need to be Earl again.”

Amethyst slowly dropped her magazine onto her lap, “listen Pearl, I know it was fun but Garnet’s right. You Have to tell her the truth.”

“I know I do!” Pearl clenched her hands into fists, and then sighed sadly, “but I need to do something first.”

Amethyst simply shrugged but Pearl could tell that she was concerned, at least a little bit. She dressed yet again in some of Amethyst’s clothes and grabbed her cap and jacket, but before she left yet again, she walked into the kitchen. Amethyst watched her curiously and Pearl felt her eyes dig into her back once she turned away to reach above the overhanding cupboards.

There it was, the black handle and the decorative case. Pearl frowned as she traced over the Rose, ‘This is the last time that I‘ll ever need it.’ She told herself as she wrapped the belt around her bare waist and hid it under the large shirt.

“Pearl, just what are you planning?” The dancer turned to see a frightened expression on Amethyst’s face, she knew the history that Pearl had with the knife.

“The end. Amethyst.” Pearl scowled as she walked out the flat, “the end…”

Pearl continued her way to the Beach and spotted the familiar girl in Blue look ominously at the pathway leading to the lighthouse, with a quick fix of her cap, Pearl approached her cautiously.

“We’re actually doing this?” Pearl huffed and Lapis jumped in surprise,

“Earl.” Her eyes had dark rings and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, she looked tired and like she had been crying for a few hours.

“I can call for Garnet, give you some time to get it together,” Pearl offered, Lapis let out a tired grin and nodded.

They sat down on a nearby bench and Pearl called Garnet, who once again was enjoying a cake in a cafe and that once again, had to give the said cake back.

As they waited, Pearl sat down closer to Lapis and watched her worryingly. She was leaning back with her eyes closed, trying to get some rest and Pearl oddly felt very protective of her in that moment. A glare for every passerby, a scowl for those staring at them and probably a punch if anyone tried anything.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to get violent so soon as the familiar sight of Garnet approached them and after a small nudge to Lapis, they proceeded to the lighthouse.

———

The walk to the lighthouse was disturbingly long, it unnerved Lapis to no ends and seeing the tower grow bigger in the distance was giving her shivers.

“Are you okay?” She turned to the voice and Earl was watching her carefully. She did look like shit and she wondered why on earth that he would give her that look, the expression of care and worry. It made her blush slightly and she looked away.

“I’m okay,”

“We can do this later, we don’t even have to do this.” Lapis continued to look at the path ahead of them,

“No, it’ll only get worse if I don’t do something,” Lapis replied, she gave him a small smile, “I’ll be fine.” She watched Earl give her a small nod and her smile went wider.

‘He was actually here, he never forgot about me,’ Lapis grinned slightly, she knew that this feeling was wrong in a way. Mostly she was confused, she never looked at boys till now and the only ‘relationship’ she had was one with Jasper. Like everyone, you can tell what you like and don’t like, who you like and don’t like, but Earl bypassed all of that. She didn’t know exactly if she liked or didn’t like him. Lapis would have thought the same way about Pearl, but she did genuinely like the sister better.

Pearl was so hardworking and she always made time for things, specifically coming into the cafe or planning future events. She never disappeared and reappeared later, she was consistent and precise. Interesting and new despite being old-fashioned.

But that made Lapis feel guilty, it was unfair to Earl that despite him saving her life and everything that he has done for her, just for her to start falling for his sister.

Lapis’s inner monologue was cut short by one question.

“Why is she targeting you so badly?” Earl asked her,

She nervously fidgeted with the bracelets around her wrist, “I know them personally.” Lapis finally gave out and told him, there was no point in hiding it any longer.

“You knew them personally?” Earl raised an eyebrow, “is that why you can’t call the police?”

Lapis nodded, “I was a member a long time ago, Jasper was… A friend.” The words tasted bitter in her mouth and they continued climbing the hill, “she gave me a few of these…” She pointed to her wrist, “One is a tally system of how many people we ruined, others are just gifts.” She traced over a chain bracelet with engravings on the links and the other plain chain.

She looked at the tall boy and he looked back at her seriously, it almost made her trip on some random trash littered around the path, “I-It never worked out, I left them years ago!” Earl nodded slightly, but Lapis couldn’t shake the feeling that she had messed up big time.

Eventually their frightful journey ended up as a stealth mission, they ducked behind the fence that looked like it was about to fall down as soon as a small gust of wind had hit it. Lapis peeked through a small gap in the wooden planks and watched the front door of the structure cautiously, holding her breath as she nudged closer to the fence.

Outside there was only one thug guarding the door, Lapis felt a rush of relief when she discovered that it was not in fact Eyeball that was the look out. Instead the small woman that was watching the ruckus and acting above it all was none other than the two-faced Navy, Lapis felt her blood boil when she seen the recruit filing her nails half-heartedly.

“We can take her out if you want,” Garnet whispered to her, causing the blue haired girl to jump.

“If we can tie her up or hit her in the back of the head she will leave the door unguarded,” Earl added in an attempt to elaborate.

“With pleasure,” Lapis replied and looked back to the guard with a frown.

With a plan set, Lapis swallowed her nerves and walked up to the clearing, she gritted her teeth when she seen Navy notice her.

“Oh! You’ve come back!” The girl said happily, but Lapis knew it was only an act. She stayed her ground and watched Navy inch closer to her, she was saying something but Lapis had blanked it all out.

Silently, Earl and Garnet had snuck around the fence and ganged up on the now vulnerable short girl. Navy didn’t even see it coming, a small, sharp movement to the back of her head and she was face flat in the dirt.

“I thought that move was only in movies,” Lapis hummed,

“It is,” Garnet replied, “but we made it real.”

“We just have experience,” Earl awkwardly chuckled,

“Right,” Lapis chuckled,

They did not expect for the door to suddenly open and another thug came outside, this one Lapis didn’t recognise. ‘A new recruit,’ Lapis scoffed.

The goon simply stared at them with a shocked expression, before they could call anyone else and raise the alarm, Garnet gave them a swift hit to the back of the head with a lunge and they keeled over. Yet again, face flat on the dirt.

“You really have to teach me that,” Lapis remarked,

“No time, some of them seen us,” Garnet grumbled and she looked at the windows at the top of the structure,

“I’ll go for Jasper, give you some time with the others,” Earl raised his shirt slightly and Lapis held her breath as she seen him produce a knife.

She didn’t have time to question or to think as Earl rushed inside, leaving them to deal with a few other recruits in Jaspers gang.

———

Pearl didn’t have any time to waste. She had to go in, find Jasper and beat her half to death if she could, all before Lapis started to piece together the little details and accuse her, him, whatever, of being the knife wielding renegade that Peridot mentioned.

If Lapis could truly work this out was a very debatable subject, sure she is quite smart and has some common sense, but at the same time Pearl would get a glimpse at how ridiculous the whole thing was. It was like a wild theory instead of a possible fact to Lapis of Pearl’s identity as Earl, at least that’s what the dancer hoped.

The inside of the lighthouse was surprisingly spacious with multiple rooms, she couldn’t tell if they were recent extensions or prebuilt with the intents of being a living space. One room had a pool table and several cheap shot-glasses and beer cans littered around tables and the floors and led to a staircase.

She stopped in her tracks when she seen Jasper descending the said staircase, as if planning to run out the back of the lighthouse. Either to circle around Lapis and Garnet or to run away, Pearl wasn’t going to let her get away. Before the woman had her chance, Pearl threw one of the cheap glasses and it smashed on the wall, inches from the larger woman’s face.

Finally she turned to face her and there was fury in her eyes.

“You.” She narrowed her eyes and Pearl found herself mimicking the thug, she kept the grip of her knife loose, yet tight enough to not drop it and hid it behind her as they slowly came closer. “I’ll kill you!” Jasper spat and finally charged at her with a blood-curdling roar.

Time had went slow again. Just like the last time, just like a long time ago. The angry veins and red face where highly detailed on Jaspers face and body, pulsing with hot blood, perfect targets for a knife. Taking a deep-breath, Pearl lowered her body and twisted herself around the larger woman before any damage was done.

She felt satisfied when she felt the friction against her blade as it dug into the thugs arm, giving her a deep cut. She even made a mental note to sharpen the blade once she got back home.

Unlike the usual howl of pain Pearl was so used to, a loud growl was heard and before she had time to react a large arm had slammed her against the pool table. The cheap glasses broke into glass splinters and cut Pearl’s exposed arms, she felt the wind get knocked right out of her and she gasped as her head pounded slightly.

Wordlessly, with no taunts or aggressive remarks. Jasper had grabbed her throat and shoved her back down onto the table, Pearl’s eyes went wide as she seen what Jasper was holding in her other hand.

Pearl couldn’t raise her arm holding her knife with how Jasper held her down, but at least she had one free arm to battle against a shard of glass that was aimed for her face. They grunted as adrenaline coursed through them, Jasper was developing a sick sneer as Pearl’s strength started to give out and the shard cut the bridge of her nose.

“You should have never messed with me,” Jasper grinned as the glass dug deeper.

The dancer was saved however when she managed to kick Jaspers knee, freeing her knife and slashed her abdomen as she pushed the glass out of her face.

Pearl took deep laboured breaths and watched Jasper keel over, cursing, swearing and spreading more obscenities. As the large thug looked back at her with her menacing yellow eyes now wide with a mixture of shock and joy, Pearl gasped and touched her head. Her red cap had fallen in the heat of the fight.

“I should have known it was you!” Jasper laughed, “The new dancer, the new fencer! Do you remember when you scarred me? When you ripped Eyeballs eye out?”

Pearl shuddered, but her knife was still trained on her. Her hands were shaking.

“Why are you hiding away?” Jasper tilted her head, “guilty about something?”

“Shut up,” Pearl rasped out, her voice still affected from the choking Jasper made her endure,

“Oh it’s Lapis isn’t it?” Jasper grinned, “I’ve heard from that snivelling brat Malachite how obsessed you are with her, what would she think if she knew that you were the one responsible for so much hurt in her life?” She clicked her tongue and the dancer jumped.

“What?” Pearl paled, her memories flashing before her as she tried to remember if she met the girl in the past.

“Terrified of getting hurt, running into you, perhaps she would be the first one that you would kill.” Jasper stood up straighter and pressured her wound, Pearl frowned and gritted her teeth, “I suppose the rumours about you never helped… She hated you.”

‘She’s just trying to get into my head,’ Pearl panted, her grip on her knife tightening, ‘ignore her.’

“So…” Jasper chuckled and Pearl glared at her, “What if she found out?” Pearl felt her breath trap in her throat and she tensed.

‘I can’t let Lapis find out.’ It echoed in Pearl’s head, she felt herself fall deeper into a darker pit of despair and if she wasn’t in the presence of Jasper she would have certainly broken down.

“What are your conditions?” Pearl glared at the thug who grinned.

“Let me go, oh and… Where’s Rose?”

Pearl felt herself freeze, she couldn’t simply let a criminal walk out unpunished and if she told her about Rose then there would be something less for Jasper to worry about. More attacks could happen in vicious succession and if she found out about Steven…

“Clocks ticking…” Jasper dramatically began copying the sounds of a clock and Pearl shut her eyes.

“Rose isn’t in this state,” she muttered, her voice breaking, “but she’ll come back one day.”

“Hmm,” Jasper sighed and sat up off the table she was leaning on, Pearl shivered as she was not in the least hindered by the deep gashes on her body. “I guess I’ll wait for her a little longer then… If she was alive that is…”

Pearl felt herself go cold yet again, ‘she knew, she knew and she was just playing with me!’ She shook her head and got off the pool table, increasing the distance between them.

“Go. Now.” She said through gritted teeth as she put her knife back into it’s case.

“Thank you kindly,” Jasper mocked her and ran out the room.

Pearl collapsed onto the table, punching it angrily as she scooped up her hat and put it back on. She hadn’t solved anything, in fact, she only managed to get herself blackmailed by one of the most powerful criminals in Beach City.

She jumped when she seen Garnet enter the room, she had bruises over her arms and her knuckles were bleeding.

“She got away.” Pearl shook and on impulse she took out her knife and slammed it onto the pool table. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

“There’s still time,” Garnet informed her, “Jasper was just messing with you.”

“I know!” Pearl huffed, “but now that she knows who I am…”

Garnet stayed silent, she glanced back briefly and took out her phone. “Get out of here, I’m buying you time.”

“What?” Pearl looked at her in disbelief,

“Go to Amethyst’s, if Lapis seen Earl now and then Pearl later then you’ll have more than Jasper to worry about.” Garnet had finished pressing the phone’s screen, calling for the police no doubt.

Pearl huffed with a frown, but she took back her knife and slipped out the window.

‘I hope Garnet covers for me long enough.’

———

The inside of the lighthouse hadn’t truly aged a day, Lapis sighed sadly as she noticed the scratchings on the walls and the beaten furniture. Just seeing things like this was unnerving, each corner of the place had an unpleasant memory attached to it, either a regret or something that Jasper had done. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a calming breath.

Everything was over.

Lapis panted as she finished tying the thugs together, she was battered and bruised but otherwise content with the fact that there wouldn’t be anyone to bail them out of jail this time.

She grinned as she found Garnet standing in the games room, she watched her silently finish her call and put the phone into her pocket. But Lapis’s smile slowly dropped when she seen Garnets stern expression and who was missing.

A flash of anxiety went through her and she pondered if Earl had gotten himself hurt or worse.

“Garnet?” Lapis came closer slowly.

“Jasper got away, Earl’s following her,” the stoic woman replied, “she won’t get away this time.”

Relief spread through Lapis and she sighed slowly. Her aching arms were now burning with muscle strain and she felt like collapsing with how heavy her legs had become.

Settling herself down on the only chair not covered in glass, Lapis relaxed and waited for the police to find them. The possible headline’s made her grin ‘NOTORIOUS GANG: JAILED’ or ‘PEACE IN BEACH CITY’ meeting the police wasn’t something that she was looking forward to however.

She could tell that Garnet understood that, the tall woman even prepared an escape route for when the cops did finally show up at the front door, breaking the peaceful silence.

But after several minutes of empty waiting, the only thing that broke the silence was a dull ring-tone. Lapis watched Garnet pick her phone up yet again and answer the mobile without even looking at the screen.

“Garnet.” She spoke.

Lapis was prepared to blank out again, but the usually expressionless Garnet had caught her attention and that was of the concerned frown that spread across her face. She clicked it off eventually and approached the blue-haired girl.

“It was Amethyst,” she began, “Someone’s broken in.”

Lapis felt her heart drop.

———

Her lungs heaved as the dancer managed to make it into the apartment and slam the door behind her. Pearl rushed passed her room-mate that tried to distract her with numerous questions, entering her room whilst practically stripping on her way there and pulling on old clothes that she didn’t mind covering with blood.

She hissed in pain as the adrenalin rush wore off and she could finally feel her warm blood rush into her mouth. ‘I need to deal with the taste for now.’ Pearl cringed at the metallic taste as she hid her cap and jacket.

“Pearl! Seriously you need to stop!” She heard Amethyst gasp as she rushed back into the living room.

“Do you have your phone on you?” Pearl asked and binned the shirt she wore earlier, now covered in blood.

“Yeah but-“

“Good, call Garnet,” Pearl instructed her, “tell her that someone broke in.”

“Pearl, wait-“

“Also that Earl ran after them,” Pearl added,

“Pearl!” Amethyst gasped, “you need to slow down!”

“No, I need you to do this for me,” Pearl came closer to the shorter girl but she only watched her flush face go pale, “please Amethyst.”

The girl looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she shuddered as she finally pulled out her phone and began calling Garnet.

“Hey Garnet, listen, someone’s broken in… Pearl’s in bad shape, get over here.”

Pearl finally sighed in relief, the incredible rush that she had just been through was finally slowing down and she could relax-

A sharp punch into her cheek made the dancer fall back and she hit her head against the counter and landed in some cardboard boxes filled with some extra things Amethyst was looking through. Now she could relax.

“HOLY SHIT!” Amethyst jumped and looked back at her as if she was possessed by the devil, “What the hell did you do that for?!”

“Just play along…” Pearl mumbled, she could feel the blood in her ears and her head pounded painfully, she had hit herself a little too hard. Amethyst had tried to go and help her, but only ended up getting stuck on the floor as well.

They chuckled painfully at just how strange everything was, had Pearl known that this is what would happen when she returned, she may have reconsidered.

Several minutes pass and the front door opens, Garnet and Lapis rush in and Pearl felt herself frown as Lapis paled once she seen her. Amethyst had played her part well and told them everything that they needed to hear, everything Lapis needed to hear.

Her head was dizzy and she felt faint as Lapis helped her up onto the barstool as Garnet put Amethyst back onto the couch.

Everything was happening too quickly for Pearl to process, she even thought for a moment that her head was resting on Lapis’s shoulder. Something she was concerned about when she didn’t want to get blood on the girl’s clothes.

“We need to take you to a hospital,” Lapis said slowly as Pearl was regaining her senses, pressing tissues into her cuts as the girl in blue covered the cuts on her arms with numerous bandaids or bandages.

“No, I don’t need to, I’m fine,” Pearl spluttered out, wiping more blood off her nose. It had already began clotting and despite how dramatic it had been earlier the cut wasn’t as bad as some of the other wounds she had.

“But-“ Lapis tried,

“Enough trouble has been caused by you one day,” Pearl said harshly. She gasped at her own tone, she never meant to say it so aggressively, but with the constant noise around her and how exhausted she was it all blew up in one moment.

Lapis stepped back dejectedly, her face contorted slowly into a sad pout and her eyes grew heavy.

“I-I’m sorry, I-“ Lapis sighed, “I won’t cause any more, I’ll go.”

‘No, don’t!’ But Pearl’s lips remained sealed, she shivered as she heard the front door close.

“That…” Amethyst sighed, “That was just like you…”

Pearl never thought that Amethyst’s words could sting so much.

———

Sitting on the sand, huddled to herself like a ball. Lapis hadn’t been like this in a long time.

Slowly the run was setting and the people were leaving, giving her enough privacy to shed a few tears. But like her friendship with Pearl, even the silence was temporary.

Lapis shuddered as a ginger dog ran up to her and curled into her side.

“BAD VEGGIE! DON’T JUST RUN OFF!” Lapis turned to the voice and discovered Peridot running to them, but the girl’s sprint kept slowing more and more until she was creeping towards them.

“Lapis?”

“Peridot.” She wiped her eyes,

“I uh, I thought you were with Earl… Dealing with Jasper?” Peridot slowly crouched down beside her,

“I was,” she replied and looked out to the sea, her free hand curling around the loose sand.

“Something happened,” Peridot nudged slightly closer, sandwiching Pumpkin between them.

“Jasper ran off, and…” Lapis felt her voice break slightly, a few stray tears escaped and she quickly wiped them away. “I think she broke into Amethyst’s and Pearl’s place.”

Peridot paled, “What?! W-What happened are they okay?!”

“Pearl was hurt… Badly,” Lapis sniffed, “…she said that I’ve caused enough trouble.”

The girl beside her went silent as she slowly pet Pumpkin. Eventually Peridot let out a long sigh, “sometimes, people say the weirdest of things, or do the weirdest of things when they’re hurt.” Lapis looked at her with sore eyes, “I don’t know Pearl that well, but I would never expect her to say that and actually mean it…”

“It doesn’t give me any confidence,” Lapis replied, “I wish I never met her… Then it wouldn’t be this… Hard…”

“Hey,” Peridot regained her attention and she gently put a hand onto Lapis’s shoulder, “it’ll get better.” She smiled, “I mean, it already has, many of Jasper’s thugs are in jail now.”

“Not all of them…” Lapis grumbled,

“So what? There’s like only five of them left!” Peridot beamed, “I didn’t think we can even get one into jail!” She then sighed, “you need to stop being so hard on yourself…”

Lapis remained silent and looked back to the sea ahead of them, the sounds of the waves calming her nerves and the sea breeze ruffled her hair, “okay…” She replied slowly and finally stood up, looking down to Peridot. “I’ll try.”

Chapter Text

The sunlight was warm against Pearl’s back as she walked along the beach, the sand had snuck inside her shoes as always and she resorted into just going barefoot. The feeling of the sand grains and the gentle hum from the sea played together harmoniously, it almost made her forget the heavy duffle bag she carried. Pearl shifted the weight slightly with a shrug, but the strap still dug in and strained with her equipment.

She sighed gently and took a deep breath of the ocean air.

It had been a few days since the confrontation at the lighthouse, Jasper was still shambling about somewhere in Beach City and despite knowing that their main base of operations in the lighthouse was over for good, Pearl couldn’t help but feel paranoid in the evenings.

Jasper’s amber eyes were ingrained into her memory ever since their fight and the fact that Jasper recognised her made her shiver in fear. Pearl had always known that Rose liked her little secrets and Pearl had said nothing more at the time, but she just never realised that one of those secrets could be potentially life-threatening.

That wasn’t the only concern to the dancer, she kicked the sand in disregard. It was Lapis, she was worrying everyone lately and that was something new according to Bismuth and Sardonyx in the bar. Pearl was here long enough to learn about the deal that Lapis had with her friends in the Crystal Gem bar and now having the people she supposedly hated being concerned for her was otherworldly.

Amethyst had a neat little ‘theory’ that this change was brought about due to Pearl’s involvement with Lapis but Pearl also felt like it was also due to Peridot and her apparent crush on the injured, recovering hoarder.

Pearl flinched and jolted as she stepped and cracked a seashell, with a scoff she carried on her way. But seeing the seashell split in half was almost like a metaphor. A very depressing one at that.

‘I just step on things all the time, playing with feelings, getting myself involved…’ She sighed sadly and began walking faster, she didn’t want to think about it any more, she didn’t want to think about what a mess she had created.

Lapis was someone that Pearl, in some ways, could relate to. At first the similarities were mere coincidences, something that could easily be over-looked and branded as a fun relatable fact. But when backgrounds and relationships became involved Pearl joked to herself about it all just being like a movie set up. A very cheesy one at that.

Now Lapis avoided her like the plague, it felt like getting stabbed every time Pearl came into the small cafe as she was ignored by the only hard-working waitress. It got even worse when Pearl began meeting Peridot frequently here and there, either by the green girl spending time with Amethyst or by meeting up in the cafe. According to Peridot, Lapis was doing some very questionable things in her free time but refused to specify as to what. The dancer stressed about the subject and hoped that Lapis wasn’t doing anything related to Jasper or getting herself hurt.

Pearl tightened her grip on her bag as she put her shoes back on, mentally preparing herself to go up the hill and pass by Lapis’s and Peridot’s home. She took a deep breath and walked up to the pavement, tutting at the satisfying ‘tap’ her shoes made on the stones bordering the sand she was walking on.

Her hand reached into her pocket and brought out her mobile, she passed by her failed text attempts to contact Lapis (as herself) and tapped on Garnets name.

“Any leads?” She wrote and sent the message.

Something that she could never comprehend was her friends excellent predictions and evaluations of things that people would normally ignore. If she hadn’t been so busy, Pearl would have loved to join in Garnets small investigations and try to figure out her secret to the apparent ‘future vision’ she had.

She smirked at the prospect.

The reason Garnet was, well, Garnet, was due to the mysteriousness she always had around her. Pearl grumbled at the idea that she just liked the mystery, if that’s what having a crush on Rose and Lapis ever taught her.

Passing by the small building only reminded Pearl of just how badly she messed up, it was like she was holding her breath whenever she passed by it. It was an ongoing debate in her mind if it was because of her and what she had done or due to the memory of getting a baseball bat to the head that made her dislike the main street she used to get home.

As she passed the main door and continued walking she felt a wave of relief and sighed.

If only she had been watching where she was going at the time.

Pearl felt a sudden shove into her side, she panicked slightly when her brain instantly brought up Jasper or Malachite, maybe another thug looking for revenge. But she knew that she wasn’t going to the ground alone. With cat-like reflexes she grabbed the figure and pulled them down, she gasped when she seen the blue hair but she couldn’t do anything.

Gravity is a force that she just can’t seem to beat after all.

They landed on the hard ground with a painful ‘thump’, it did not do any favours for Pearl’s already aching back and as she sat up she hissed slightly. When the tall girl opened her eyes she was just inches away from Lapis’s face, she could feel the girl’s breath on her cheek and she blushed as they just sat there for a bit. Just, awkwardly staring at each other.

Suddenly Pearl seen a spark or realisation in Lapis’s eyes and with a blush she jumped back and quickly climbed off of her.

“I-I’m so sorry!” She watched the girl cringe at her own voice as she reached down and pulled Pearl to her feet. “I should have watched where I was going, I’m just… Spaced out like that you know?”

“No, it’s okay,” Pearl replied tentatively, “I wasn’t watching where I was going either.”

“I uh,” Lapis looked up at her shyly and with some strain tried to pick Pearl’s bag up,

“I can do that, you don’t need to.” Pearl tried to give her a small smile but her heart was in her throat and it turned into an awkward smirk. Lapis just watched her motionlessly for a moment and Pearl looked back with just the same amount of shyness.

“How’s your nose?” Lapis asked and Pearl felt the compulsion to cross her eyes, the bandage had been nothing but a hassle; it had caused teasing from Yellow, overbearingness from Blue and even more teasing from Amethyst. Not to forget that it got very itchy and uncomfortable when she was fencing and once her work was done at the end of the day.

“It’s okay…” She lied,

Lapis gave off a small scoff, “you don’t have to lie to me, I know how much a bandage sucks.” Pearl looked at her sadly and averted her eyes, “I wanted to make it up earlier…” Lapis continued and Pearl lifted her gaze slowly, “but I feel like I’ll cause nothing but only more trouble.”

Pearl bit her tongue. What Lapis was saying was true, but Pearl asked for the trouble in the first place and she was the one that got involved in things that she should have just backed away in.

In the sad moment of silence, Pearl took time to look at how Lapis was doing without all the make up she wore at work or the long sleeves. She felt terrible when she seen just how tired Lapis looked, she had messy hair and clothes that looked like she just threw on. She felt her lip quiver when she seen Lapis’s wrists, a bracelet was missing and for some reason she couldn’t tell what one it was. But there was something missing. Not only that, Pearl paled at the sight of red marks.

Lapis’s hand curled around her wrist and Pearl’s eyes looked back up to her face, she looked guilty and almost disgusted, Lapis wouldn’t look at her and her eyebrows knitted into the perfect ‘ashamed’ face that always sounded unrealistic in the books.

“I can leave if you want.” Pearl jumped at her voice and she could feel her bag strap slip slightly from her shoulder’s curve.

“What?” Pearl said with a dry voice,

“I mean, I only cause you problems and now Jasper…” She hung her head, “you won’t have to see me again.”

Pearl watched her turn and she suddenly filled with panic, her mind was racing with all the different possibilities that could happen with the words Lapis uttered. She couldn’t stop thinking about how tired she was, the red marks, how she just gave up.

Her bag dropped as she lunged for Lapis’s hand, she let out a breath as she felt Lapis tense and slowly start to hold her hand. She didn’t know what to say and Lapis refused to turn to face her, but that gave Pearl some time to think as she looked at the hand she held.

The bracelet she was missing, it was the one with the blue stone.

Lapis Lazuli, literally lost a Lapis Lazuli.

Pearl didn’t care that it was just a coincidence, this was a sign that she had to do something. She didn’t want to lose the warm hand she held.

With a feather light touch she rubbed the back of Lapis’s hand and she watched Lapis slowly turn her head.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Pearl slowly said, she watched Lapis frown again as Pearl thought harder, formulating what she felt in words. She hated this, she just wanted to hug her and keep her close. But yet she knew that doing that won’t solve anything and only hurt Lapis more.

“Why?” Lapis responded, “Jasper… She… You…” Her eyes kept jumping around the whole event, from the hand holding hers, to Pearl’s eyes, to something in the background (most likely the poor bag that was chucked of Pearl’s shoulder in her panic).

“I want the Jasper thing to be over,” Pearl answered, “but, I don’t want you hurt. I don’t want anyone hurt.”

Lapis hung her head again in shame and Pearl gently rubbed her hand, slowly the delicate touched went northward and before she knew it Pearl touched Lapis’s wrist. She looked up to see Lapis’s reaction, possible hear a hiss of pain, but she was emotionless. Her eyes went down again.

“I like your bracelets…” Pearl seemed to echo herself and she tried to forget her time as Earl. “They must be important to you…”

“… I lost one a few days ago… Just after what happened.” Pearl glanced up to watch Lapis, but her expression remained the same,

“Then let’s go find it.” Pearl smiled as Lapis finally looked up.

Slowly, Pearl took a step backwards and Lapis followed her. She picked her bag up with her free hand and slowly she led Lapis to her front door.

“Do you know where it could be?” She asked her slowly,

“Maybe the beach,” Lapis replied,

“Then let’s go,” Pearl began leading her by the hand,

“But-“ Lapis tried,

“I’m going to help you find it,” Pearl replied, “and, I’m going to apologise.”

“Why?” Lapis asked again as Pearl led them towards the beach, “you didn’t do anything.”

“I obviously did Lapis,” Pearl replied with a sigh, “you know that I reacted harshly and I said something that I didn’t mean… I don’t want you hurt because of something I said.”

Lapis hummed quietly and they didn’t share anymore words until they got to the soft sand.

They stayed on the beach for several hours, watching the sun slowly dip below the horizon and leaving a burst of yellow’s oranges and purples before it finally disappeared past the dark sea.

Their search was for nothing.

But even then, when they are empty handed, Pearl had to disagree on that statement because she did find something. She found an opportunity and that opportunity made her find Lapis’s smile as they kicked sand at each other on the beach or distracted themselves with colourful pastel seashells. Lapis was confident that she could fashion some sort of bracelet with the smaller ones but Pearl knew that she was still distraught. It was like she lost a piece herself and the irony wasn’t really that funny.

“Perhaps we will find a Pearl before we find your bracelet,” Pearl chuckled as they walked along some rocks, she watched in amusement and worry as Lapis balanced herself along the rocks and walked alongside her. With each step she took Pearl could hear some pebbles fall and slowly she would look up at Lapis in building concern.

“I have already found a Pearl,” Lapis replied with a laugh,

“Really?” Pearl looked up and raised an eyebrow, Lapis looked down with a grin and winked at her. Pearl felt her cheeks heat up, “oh very funny.”

“Maybe we’ll find a new star by the time we find it,” Lapis murmured, Pearl sighed and looked up.

The one thing she loved about Beach City. Sometimes when the sky is just clear enough, she could see the whole galaxy. All those twinkling lights, so far away from it all and unbothered by this world’s problems.

But today just wasn’t one of those days, there were dark clouds hiding the beauty of space and she felt herself grumble out “perhaps we’ll find any star at all before your bracelet.” She looked to Lapis who was still expertly balancing on the rocks, Pearl swore that she must have taken some sort of class for her balance to be this good. “How are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” Lapis looked down at her,

“Balancing that well, aren’t you scared to fall?” Pearl elaborated,

“No, I just surf a lot.” Lapis twirled slightly and chuckled, but her smile turned into a frown, “Well, I used to surf a lot.”

“So that’s why your balancing is good?” Pearl raised an eyebrow,

“Well… I can teach you to surf, maybe then you can judge for yourself.” Lapis smiled again and Pearl smiled back.

The dancer felt a small blush coming on again but she noticed how shaky Lapis had become, it went by so quickly and she didn’t know that this time their fall would be this lovely.

Pearl felt her back hit the sand with another ‘thump’, she felt Lapis land on top of her and her hands holding her shoulders tightly, their knees bumped into each other painfully and their lips smash together.

Like any fall, it was sore at first. Pearl felt as if she had just burst one of her lips or knocked out a tooth by the force of Lapis’s landing. But it was like she lost all of her control in that moment, she wrapped her arms around Lapis’s waist and felt the other girl’s hands gently cup her cheeks.

They pulled away slowly and carefully, almost forcibly. Lapis looked down at Pearl in surprise and her cheeks were glowing in the moonlight, Pearl watched her slowly open her mouth in attempts to speak and if Pearl had gone completely mad, she wouldn’t have let her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Lapis said and Pearl felt her heart stop beating as her stomach flipped.

But despite being on the verge of tears, she brushed it off.

“It’s fine.”

But it’s not fine.

Pearl watched Lapis slowly climb back up to a sit and Pearl sat up slowly too.

“Are you okay?” Pearl asked with a wavering voice,

Lapis nodded slightly, “yeah, I’m okay.” Yet again het gaze is downcast, “you?”

“I’m okay,” Pearl tried to smile but really she just didn’t want to be looked at by Lapis. She clenched her hands and widened her eyes when she felt something inside her palm, she pulled her hand up and opened it slowly. The sand spilled out slowly, making a small pile to the side, Lapis watched her curiously.

As the last of the grains cleared Pearl felt herself gasp at the small blue stone that sat on a long black string. She looked to Lapis in slight shock and the girl was no better than she was.

“You actually found it,” Lapis chuckled and Pearl handed it to her. She watched Lapis wrap the string around her neck, something she felt like she should ask was why, but she felt like it would have been inappropriate. “How do I look?” Lapis grinned,

There was so much that Pearl could have replied, but she just didn’t have the heart to say.

“You look… Nice.” She then marvelled at Lapis’s smile.

Pearl kept quiet on their way back, she merely nodded when Lapis offered to escort her home and when she did speak it was when she was telling Lapis goodbye. Once the door closed she lingered there and let out a long breath of air.

“Was that Lapis?” Amethyst asked from the kitchen this time around and when Pearl went to investigate she found her room-mate balancing on a barstool eating some leftovers from last night.

“It was,” Pearl replied as she put her bag down and grabbed a teacup,

“Oh so are you two okay again?” she asked and Pearl may have let the cup hit the counter a little too hard, “Oooohhh, I see.” Amethyst chuckled, “Welp, good luck!” She quickly scoffed her meal and shuffled away after leaving the dishes in the sink.

The dancer was about to complain but she felt a soft buzzing come from her pocket alone with a small tune. She opened it and found Garnet had replied to her previous text, the news made her narrow her eyes.

“What’s up?” Amethyst asked with some concern,

“It’s Garnet, she’s found where Jasper is.” Pearl put the phone back into her pocket, she then dialled Lapis’s number as she peeled off the bandage on her nose and replaced it with a simple, smaller one. She knew that i would be painful when she has to peel it off, but that’s something that she was willing to risk at the time.

———

The door closed behind her gently, it was a first in a very long time of just letting the door slam. Frankly Lapis wondered how most days the hinges stayed intact.

“I’m home,” Lapis said with a strange smile, she heard Pumpkin bark and run up to her in excitement, she gave them a pet before walking to the living room.

“You’re back?!” Peridot jumped, “I didn’t here you come in, where were you?” Lapis seen that she was doing something with paper and a lot of pens but she felt almost out of sorts in that she didn’t really care what Peridot was doing.

“With Pearl,” Lapis sighed and flopped onto the couch, possibly disturbing whatever project Peridot was working on. She felt Pumpkin brush against her leg and sit on the floor.

“What happened?” Peridot raised an eyebrow, as she returned to her construction.

Lapis grinned at that as she remembered the moment; the feeling Pearl’s hands on her waist as they kissed, the faint taste of strawberries that it left her with. It almost felt like a dream.

“Something amazing,” Lapis replied with a blush, “well, hopefully, I mean um.” Suddenly she got a grip on herself and she felt her face heat up even more.

She never meant to fall off so embarrassingly from the rocks, especially from losing concentration when she seen Pearl blush. Her hands creeped up to her face and she groaned.

‘I’m such an idiot…’

“It can’t be that bad, Pearl is… Well…” Lapis watched Peridot through her fingers, the girl was trying her best to describe someone so complicated. “Well, I know that she was concerned as much as everyone else was.” Lapis sighed, “look, all I know about Pearl is that she’s an annoying perfectionist and is easily flustered. She also isn’t that close to Earl.”

Lapis’s eyes widened “what do you man by that?”

“Well, she hasn’t mentioned him like ever unless someone asks,” Peridot replied and Lapis continued to watch her with her project.

Earl and Pearl. Lapis had almost forgotten that they were separate people and not this person that she had in her mind. Frankly, she wanted to know if anyone else had this problem when it came to twins.

Twins, something else that didn’t sit right with her.

“Peridot, have you ever seen Pearl with Earl? Either in a picture together or-?” Lapis asked slowly,

“Um, no?” Lapis heard her crack something and stick something on her construction. “Why would I know?”

“Seriously?” Lapis raised her eyebrow, “you have been to Pearl’s and Amethyst’s place nearly every day.”

“Well-!” She blushed and her hand crinkled the paper she was holding,

“Seriously, after all of this ends I am personally going to lock you in a room with Amethyst until you confess,” Lapis said with a snort, “but don’t you think it’s strange? We only see one of the twins at a time?”

“You do have a point…” Peridot looked away, it was as if she was avoiding eye-contact,

“Do you think-?” Lapis sat up straighter,

“Didn’t we go through all our theories already?” Peridot awkwardly chuckled, “I mean, thinking that they’re the same person is a little weird.”

“You used to be all for that conclusion,” Lapis replied,

“Yeah, well then I got to know them,” Peridot replied with a huff.

Lapis watched as Peridot looked at the time on her phone, she stood up abruptly and picked up her mysterious invention and put it into the cupboard with all her other things, Lapis grinned in amusement as she ordered Pumpkin to defend it with his life.

“I’ve got to get going.” She said as she put on her shoes and jacket,

“This late? I thought you hated human interaction,” Lapis raised an eyebrow and followed her to the door, she watched the girl take a leash and clip it onto Pumpkin’s collar.

“Ha, ha,” Peridot scowled, “I’m going to go see Amethyst, I haven’t seen her all day, also, I’m going to take Pumpkin for a walk.”

“Well, be careful,” Lapis said with a concerned expression, “if you don’t feel safe-“

“What are you? My mother?” Peridot scoffed, “I can handle it Lapis, besides, you’re the one that should be worried.”

That statement hit Lapis harder than she ever expected, it felt like a bell that was constantly ringing in her ears and repeated itself ominously. She had forgotten the dangerous situation that she was in with how focused she was on figuring out Pearl and Earl, it was all she ever thought about now and that was concerning.

But she hadn’t been this happy in a long time, thinking about teaching Pearl how to surf or how Earl impacted on her life. Nearly half of Jaspers gang was in jail, if that didn’t say anything then nothing would.

Lapis was brought out from her daze when a ringing came from her pocket, she felt her heart lurch when she seen who the caller was.

———

“So where is this place?” Pearl looked around the darkened streets, they had walked a mile or so out of Beach City and journeyed up a small hill, she had barely caught herself from slipping on some of the steeper terrain and the lack of light did not help her footing.

She looked at the company around her. Garnet was leading as always accompanied by Bismuth who must have started helping her at some point but she felt like it was the wrong time to ask, Lapis was behind her and was also looking at the surroundings.

“There is a barn at the top of this hill-” Bismuth replied as she tried to catch her breath, “I’ve managed to find-“ She gasped, “some of Jaspers gang here-“ she gasped yet again, “I hate hills.”

“The only people left in Jaspers gang are the Ruby sisters and Malachite,” Garnet hummed, “apparently we got all the quartzes back at the lighthouse.”

“Well, that’s re-assuring,” Pearl grumbled,

“I wouldn’t underestimate them,” Lapis finally spoke up, “Eyeball is capable of killing someone, she just hasn’t succeeded yet. Army is violent and Malachite…” She shuddered,

“Well, we won’t have to worry about them once we’re done here,” Pearl glanced back to her and smiled.

It was strange, just hours ago she wished that Lapis wouldn’t look at her and she felt like her heart was broken all over again after the kiss. But now, it was like she was a different person and in a way she was to Lapis.

‘I need to get a grip of myself,’ Pearl scowled inwardly, ‘I’m Pearl, I’m Pearl and I will always be Pearl.’

“So, why does Jasper’s gang have all these little hideouts?” Bismuth asked as they stopped for a breather, she was sat down on an old tree stump and was stretching her legs out.

“The lighthouse was our- I mean, her, place,” Lapis replied, “it was already abandoned.”

“And the barn?” Bismuth added,

“Broke in and made themselves at home, no-one’s been to that place in years.” Lapis crossed her arms and looked down at Beach City wistfully. “I didn’t know that they actually made it a hideout.”

“Are there anymore places?” Pearl asked carefully,

Lapis gave her a unrecognisable expression, but slowly she breathed out and sighed, “There’s another place, a small warehouse just outside Beach City. I’ve never been there, but that’s where most of Jaspers business takes place.”

“I’ll have to look into it later,” Garnet hummed, she looked up and Pearl could see from the reflection of her shades that the barn was well lit and just above them. “Now’s our chance, let’s go.”

Bismuth was about to stand but Garnet pushed her down, everyone looked at her in confusion, “you stay here-“

“But-!” Bismuth almost whined,

“We need a back up and you’re it.”

“Oh come on!” Bismuth huffed and sat back down, “Just go.”

They ran up to the barns wall quietly and quickly, Pearl glances at Bismuth who stayed in the hiding place. Although Garnet called her a backup, she would really just be the one to call the police once they deal with whoever was in the barn and would be the one to address the said police officers.

Something that they really should have done when it came to the lighthouse.

With some hand signals, Garnet told them to spread out and deal with them one by one. If they done it right, no one would know a thing until they’re passed out on the floor. Pearl turned to Lapis who pointed up to the small ledge just above them, it took some awkward hand gestures and a small game of charades to finally understand that she wanted a boost.

Dubiously, Pearl helped her up and watched her smaller frame scamper up the wall with ease. It still stunned her at how lithe she was and she briefly wondered how many buildings Lapis had managed to simply climb into as if she flew in.

Once Lapis was safely on the ledge, Pearl rounded the back corner and she felt a grin when she seen Malachite wandering about kicking a can. Eventually he stopped with an angry huff and leaned against the small wooden fence surrounding the barn, it was so tempting to attack him there and then but she had to wait for Garnet’s signal.

It would be a short and sharp whistle that would be loud enough for everyone to hear.

She watched Malachite start pacing yet again, it was like watching a growling dog fighting against a leash.

“Stupid Jasper,” She heard him grumble, “thinks she can just- Ugh!” He kicked the can again.

“Watch your tongue or I’ll cut it off for you,” Pearl heard a voice from inside and she paled, she knew that voice from back when she was still with Rose. A voice she wished she could forget.

Pearl’s attention was back on Malachite when he scoffed and kicked the can again. She shook her head, she couldn’t let a voice from the past disrupt her focus. If anything, it was perfect that she was here, they could go to jail all at once.

Suddenly a short and sharp whistle came from within the barn.

Her body moved by itself and she lunged at Malachite with deadly accuracy. The boy didn’t even see it coming as she pushed him to the fence and then proceeded to repeatedly smash him against the feeble wooden frame. She stopped only when the fence broke from the strain.

Malachite looked up at her in fear and shock before his eyes closed and he passed out.

Pearl turned around when she heard a struggle from inside, she rushed to the aid and as she entered the light a dusty red figure rushed out. It was like time had slowed for a brief moment as they shared a glare at each other, two blue eyes, to one angry brown.

The woman was in shock at first and then it contorted into a angry scowl.

She watched her rush out in shock, the image of an eyepatch burned into her memory, the feeling of a knife in her hand.

“Earl? Earl are you okay?” A voice cleared Pearl’s mind and she looked up to see Lapis looking down at her from the floor above. She bit her tongue and gave her a confident nod, trying to hide a quivering lip.

“Sorry, she was stronger than I anticipated,” Garnet walked up to her with a bruise on her cheek.

“It’s okay, she’s the only one left other than Jasper.” Pearl lowered her cap slightly.

Once Lapis had jumped down, they returned to Bismuth outside and called the police. They didn’t bother to stay any longer than they had to.

The walk down the hill was silent, it was like always, just a comfortable silence. Pearl looked up to the sky as she cleared her mind, the dark clouds from before had cleared and she sighed at the stars in the sky. It was probably midnight by now, she grumbled at how tired she would be the next morning.

‘Pearl will hate this…’ Pearl scowled, ‘No… I hate this already.’

“Stop,” Garnet halts and Pearl almost walked into her, the same could not be said for Lapis who walked into Pearl’s back absently.

“What is it?” Pearl felt her voice waver,

“You two need to talk,” Garnet said and Pearl felt her face pale as her heart dropped,

“About what?” Lapis asked,

“It’s obvious,” Garnet hummed, “Stay up here for a bit, I’m going home.”

Pearl felt herself shake in panic as Garnet just abandoned her. Right now, she could tell that she was Pearl and she hated it. She followed Lapis to a small fallen tree and sat on the bark as they watched the City and the sky.

“Do you know what Garnet wants us to talk about?” Lapis asked her,

She felt herself tense and she bit her tongue, she had to tell her now.

Lapis must have mistaken her silence as a denial and she sighed, “I don’t either…”

‘Now, or never.’

Pearl turned to Lapis after taking a deep breath (that she lost as soon as she seen Lapis look back), she watched Lapis slowly gravitate closer to her. Her breath brushed Pearl’s lips and slowly her voice began to waver.

“Lapis… I have to…”

Before she could finish, Lapis had pressed their lips together and Pearl couldn’t deny that she didn’t deepen it. This kiss was different from the innocent one she received at the beach, yet her hands still found themselves on Lapis’s waist and the other girl’s hands found themselves on her cheeks.

It was perfect…

But…

It was wrong.

It was all wrong, it wasn’t Pearl kissing her. It was Earl kissing her and that was what Lapis knew at the moment, that was probably all she knew and Pearl couldn’t just keep lying to her about that. Lapis deserved better.

Pearl pulled away and withdrew her hands as quickly as Lapis withdrew her own hands from Pearl’s cheeks. The girl’s face was flushed, confused and unhappy.

“Lapis, I’m-“

“I’m sorry.” Lapis stood up and walked away without another word, she didn’t let Pearl finish and the taller girl couldn’t even catch her breath to call out to her. Pearl was left only with a lingering warmness and the feeling of emptiness.

Eventually Pearl found her way back home and she shut the door hesitantly.

“Hello Pearl.”

She froze, that voice wasn’t Amethyst’s or Garnet’s. The air went cold as she turned and looked into the living room, finding Amethyst on the couch and Peridot beside her.

“I’m guessing you’re surprised?” Peridot raised an eyebrow, “you didn’t think that you could fool me now did you? The great and lovable Peridot?”

Pearl had lost her voice and she entered the room slowly taking off her cap and looking at the floor in shame.

“So Amethyst told you,” Pearl coughed out, her voice hoarse,

“I didn’t need her to tell me,” Peridot sighed,

“Um, yeah you did,” Amethyst added and Pearl gave her room-mate a small glare, “Listen, I just hinted at it! I never knew that she was this smart!”

Peridot blushed slightly, “Oh why thank you.”

Pearl rolled her eyes, “so what happens now?”

“Well, I promised Amethyst I wouldn’t tell Lapis,” Peridot gave Amethyst a small affectionate smile, “so you’re lucky this time…” Pearl let out a relieved sigh.

She watched Peridot stand slowly after giving Amethyst a hug, Pearl almost missed the sleeping puppy in Peridot’s arms as she walked to the front door.

“Time for you to go already?” Amethyst chuckled,

“It’s passed midnight.” Peridot chuckled, “besides, Pumpkin’s asleep.”

“Okay, be safe!” Amethyst grinned, and Peridot grinned back.

However, the girl stopped before the actually left and turned to Pearl with a serious expression.

“Before I forget…” Pearl looked at her again and Peridot’s scowl returned, “Lapis is my best friend, I won’t keep lying to her because of you and I won’t hurt her because of you.” Pearl felt her words sting, “you need to tell her eventually or you’ll lose Lapis for good and break her heart.” Pearl gulped and then she heard Peridot continue, “Actually, I assume that no matter what you’ll do now you’ll break her heart.”

Pearl felt herself shudder as Peridot shut the door behind her. She didn’t let Amethyst have the satisfaction of saying ‘I told you so’. But by her room-mates expression as she returned to her room, she didn’t think that Amethyst would even say that now.

The white door shut behind her and Pearl felt tears surfacing, as she threw her jacket and cap onto the floor and climbed into her bed. She hugged the pillow tightly and hoped that it would muffle her stressed crying.

———

Lapis groaned and face planted on the couch. By now it was a regular occurrence in the house and if she didn’t do it at some point she would have to evaluate her own sanity. She stayed like that for ten solid minutes before the door opened and Peridot walked in.

“What happened?” She asked, yet another tradition in the house. The girl in blue grumbled into the couch. “What? No way!” Peridot chuckled, “then what did you do?” Lapis grumbled again before she lifted her head and stared at Peridot. “So what did you really say? No couch grumble.”

“I said-“ Lapis blushed, “I kissed Earl.”

Yes. That happened. Lapis planted her face back into the couch, she whimpered slightly at the memory of it. Everything that happened, the hands on the waist, the taste of strawberries.

It was Pearl.

Or at least it felt like it was Pearl, she groaned again. ‘Why can’t I think of one? Why do I always think of both of them?’

“And what’s so wrong with that?” Peridot eventually replied, but her voice was a little different, it was… Worried.

“I’m positive that Earl and Pearl are one person,” Lapis huffed, “I couldn’t stop thinking of Pearl when I kissed him! Then when I’m around Pearl, it’s like I’m talking to Earl! I had to push him away and get out of there.”

“Well, you’ll figure it out eventually,” Peridot replied, not looking at Lapis in the slightest.

“… You’re very helpful aren’t you?”

Peridot remained silent.

Lapis groaned into the couch one again before she righted herself, she was about to have yet another debate of the existence of an ‘Arl’ the combination of Pearl and Earl. But before she could even speak a low buzzing came from her pocket.

Peridot looked at her strangely and Lapis pulled out her phone, studying the message and the sender.

She looked to her room-mate with a shudder.

“It’s Jasper.”