Chapter Text
"SLEEPOVER!!!!" A loud voice shattered the quiet of the barn as Steven yelled at the top of his voice in anticipation. He was standing outside a large red barn, around the barn fields of green hills patterned the landscape like patchwork on a quilt. A blue gem in a dress and a small green gem with yellow hair were standing in front of Steven looking apprehensive at his outburst.
"What?" The green gem - Peridot - spoke in a nasally voice. Steven seems confused, as if unsure he was heard, "oh, I said; SLEE-mmff" Steven was cut off mid yell as Peridot clamped a hand over his mouth to stop the noise, "I heard you, what is this 'slip offer'?" Peridot said using quotation marks with her fingers when she said 'slip offer'.
"Sleepover," Steven corrected patiently, "a sleepover is when friends have fun and sleep in the same room in cool sleeping bags, and have pillow fights and-," Stevens voice had gotten faster as he grew more excited, but he was once again cut off, this time by the motherly voice of Pearl "Steven, we told you to wait" she said appearing over the hill and moving to stand beside Steven disapprovingly as she scolded him."Sorry Pearl, I was so excited!" Steven spoke in a strangled, hushed voice, stars twinkling in his eyes, he snapped out of it and stood up straight, puffing out his chest and putting his hands on his hips. "We will have fun." He spoke in a deadly serious voice, determined. A hand patted his shoulder comfortingly, "of course we will," the soft soothing voice of Garnet spoke as she looked fondly down on Steven. Steven smiled gratefully, not noticing Lapis and Peridot sharing doubtful looks behind his back
"I can't wait! Pearl said since you guys are here we can have a team sleepover!" Steven was addressing Lapis and Peridot outside the barn, standing beside Amethyst who had finally arrived. "It'll be awesome!" Amethyst spoke, then, lowering her voice, she added; "you should see, Pearl makes holograms of her dreams."
"I got lots of sleeping bags and pillows that dad lent me," Steven ignored her, holding up a bundle of cloth, ridden with dirt and ripped in several places, "he found them in the garage"
"are you sure that those are safe to use and not contaminated, I would hate to conceive any human germs" Peridot drawled, as if on cue the bundle rustled and a rat crawled out, scuttling around before crawling up Peridot's leg.
"AAAAAAAHH, GET IT OFF ME, it'll eat me alive," the rat clung on as Peridot furiously shook her leg in a desperate attempt to rid herself of the rodent. As soon as she stopped shaking it about the rat seized the opportunity to climb higher and furiously bit a corner of her hair, clinging on for dear life. Peridot immediately screamed and started running around in panic, hands waving in the air, Steven chasing after her to help. Amethyst sprawled on the ground, clutching her gut, guffawing in laughter.
Peridot's crazed rampage was brought to a stop by her bumping into a surface and stumbling backwards. Two strong hands steadied her and plucked the rat off her, Peridot looked up to see Garnet, Garnet dropped the rat onto the ground and it scampered away.
"Th-that's right, you better run!" Peridot screamed after it, the rat turned around and hissed and Peridot dove behind Garnet, screaming. After it finally left she sighed in relief and stood up facing a now panting Steven, tired after chasing her. "Maybe we should sleep on the floor," Garnet told Steven placing a hand on his shoulder. "But..." He trailed off staring reluctantly at the bundle of material, the sleeping bags shook slightly, "on the floor it is!" He spoke quickly, eyes widening in fear.
Everyone lay on the floor, watching the stars as Steven pointed out different constellations, though he was probably not the most educated himself. "And those stars that join together-" as he spoke he traced the shapes with his finger "-see how it makes a long shape it's called -eeerrr,- Snakius! And that one there that looks like a big triangle that's.... Pizzius," stars formed in Stevens eyes in wonder as he pictured the shape as a pizza.
"I think it's just a blob," Lapis voiced her doubts. "Are you sure these are scientifically correct?" Pearl asked, skeptically judging the stars.
"Time for bed now!!"
They all lay, Garnet face down on the floor, planked with her arms by her sides, Amethyst hanging upside down from the door like a bat, her drool dripping down and collecting into a mid air bubble above Lapis who was using her water manipulation to stay dry as she lay on her back.
Peridot appeared to be having trouble as she was twisted in an uncomfortable looking position as if she had been trying to do yoga poses but had failed miserably.
Pearl lay delicately near an awake Steven, her eyes closing slowly. As Pearl's eyes finally closed her gem glowed brightly, and Amethyst immediately opened one eye and ceased snoring.
Dropping down from her place on the door she startled Steven who toppled onto his side, eyes wide open still in a sitting position with his legs crossed. Amethyst picked him up and sat him back down, shushing him silently with her finger before crawling over to Peridot and whispering in her ear "Peri come on, you gotta see this."
When she successfully managed to untangle Peridot she rushed to Lapis dragging the green gem in her wake and proceeded to wake Lapis up.
Steven looked on with confusion written all over his face as they all sat gathered in front of Pearl, Amethyst reaching into her hair and withdrawing a box of popcorn, scattering the kernels as she pulled it from her white locks.
"How long was that-" Steven began curiously - and slightly concernedly - but Amethyst shoved her hand on his mouth causing him to tilt back at the slight force of her shove as she fixed her gaze intently on Pearl an eager grin stretching across her face.
As Steven turned confusedly to Pearl following the direction of Amethyst's stare, Pearl's gem - which was glowing a bright white - produced a hologram screen mid air, a cone of light led from her gem like from a movie projector and showed a circular screen mid air, lighting up their curious faces with a blur light.
On the screen they had a perspective of the inside of a human shaped hole flooded with light, the hole got closer until Steven realised that they were moving towards it. The screen became flooded with white as they reached the hole and suddenly they were on the other side of the hole, they were in a valley with no end in sight. The cliff face was dotted with many other holes shaped in this peculiar fashion.
"A kindergarten" Steven breathed out in wonder, his eyes training the shapes carved out of the cliff.
"shhh!" He was answered harshly as everyone watched riveted.
Suddenly a flash of pink and green stroked over the landscape to the new hole, the streak came to a halt in front of the hole to reveal it was a gem.
She was shaped pointedly with no hands, rather spikes, it reminded Steven of a crudely carved sculpture carved out of crystal. She had green skin and pink hair cut short and her face was settled into a frown as she kept her eyes on a touchscreen in her hands.
She wore a pink skin tight suit that covered every part of her body excluding her head and arms and a black diamond on the area of her abdomen.
On her feet seemed to be frisbee-like discs facing vertical, parallel to her feet and balancing on the ground.
From the hole emerged another gem about the same hight as the other gem with milky white skin and an oval gem on her forehead, she was different looking but there was no mistaking the pointed nose or short hair.
"Pearl!" They all breathed out in surprise and Steven suddenly felt a wave of guilt as if he were trespassing by viewing something forbidden.
The other gem was looking down at the screen with an almost bored expression "state your purpose." She spoke in monotone, not yet looking up "Pearl, facet 0x4.9, cut 2G, created to-," at this point Pearl, who had immediately snapped her arms in the Homeworld salute faltered as if confused. "To, er" she furrowed her brow in irritation and a hint of sadness.
The other gem looked up in confusion, her eyes widened as she seemed surprised at the sight of Pearl. "You're defective!" Pearl blinked in shock, her arms dropping to her side. "I-I" she stuttered forlornly.
The other gem blinked as if recalling herself, her hologram screen disappeared and she smiled warmly. "It's okay, I put the fun in 'dysfunctional'. I'm Tourmaline."
Suddenly the image of them standing together disappeared as the holographic screen went black. There were no walls just the blank screen, a gem appeared, long and sharp almost in the shape of a shard but still whole. The gem was falling through the darkness before it clattered to the floor, bouncing on impact, as if in slow motion the gem spun on it's point, as it turned they saw a face appearing on one of the sides like it was glass they could see through.
Tourmaline was pounding against the walls of the crystal, her face twisted in fear as she screamed but no sound came out and they couldn't understand what she was saying, it was like the gem muted the sounds.
Light caught the surface of the gem as it tilted slowly, blocking Tourmaline from their view. After the gleam left the gem and the could see the surface once more they saw a different face reflected in the gem.
Pearl.
Tears of grief were streaming down her face as she closed her eyes and shook her head in denial, letting loose a scream of anguish.
"Tourmaline!" In a flash the hologram screen dissolved to pixels and it was the current Pearl's scream which tore through the still night as she sat Bol upright, awake.
She seemed to be reaching out to something in the distance as if trying to grasp Tourmaline.
A beat, then Pearl stemmed to glimpse them in her peripheral vision because she turned her head and her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the gems beside her, staring at her horrified.
During the avid suspense of the hologram the others had somehow managed to get tangled up as if they had been clinging to each other as they watched, Amethyst and Peridot clung to each other as they sat glued to the screen, Lapis remained stoic but surprised as she sat in silence.
Steven looked horrified and forlorn staring at her with tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
"St-Steven! It's alright I just had a bad dream!" Pearl waved her arms about frantically in front of her as she tried to comfort Steven, scared her scream had startled him and caused him to wake.
"Who was she?" Steven voice was soft but carried such emotion it almost caused Pearl to cry herself, he sounded so lost.
"Wh-what?" Pearl's voice quivered as the grief caused by the dream was still fresh in her mind and she couldn't comprehend the reason for Steven's voice to waver so much.
"We saw her! In your dream hologram! Who was she?" His voice raised slightly in anger, or perhaps it was indignation, whatever it was it caused his voice to crack as he talked in a rushed tone before faltering at the last sentence.
Pearl looked shocked at this, indignant over the intrusion of her privacy, but exhaled slowly, calming herself as her expression fell at the thought of the gem.
"That was Tourmaline," her voice cracked, thick with guilt. "She was-" "A HOPPER!"
Pearl was interrupted by Peridot as she burst out her realisation triumphantly.
"I see now, she was a kindergarten supervisor - or as those on Homeworld call them - hoppers." Peridot spoke with an all knowing air of superiority.
"What's a hopper?" Steven asked curiously, Peridot was all to eager to answer and demonstrate her knowledge.
"They're gems designed for the purpose of supervising kindergartens and assisting in the creation of gems. They're the ones who make the kindergartens and hold all the information for the process of gem making,"
As she explained Peridot got up and began pacing like a teacher addressing students, she went into a corner cluttered with junk cramped into it and proceeded to dig around until she found what she was looking for.
A loud sound screeched as she began to drag a chalkboard full with drawings from the corner and place it in front of the doorway, rubbing out the previous drawings. Steven noticed it was the same chalkboard they used when Pearl and Peridot had their competition to see who would lead the construction of the drill.
"They're created with spikes instead of touch stumps, so as to better assist the climbing of the kindergarten walls.
She resumed her lesson and demonstrated by drawing a diagram of a gem with spiked arms like the gem in the hologram scaling a wall by driving their arm into the cliff and swinging higher.
The comic was crude and looked a bit like a children's drawing.
Peridot resumed her lecture like a teacher addressing students, "they check holes to see if they are sufficient control the gem drills, they have all the information on the process of gem making. They address the gems and are the ones to deploy them. She was-" "she was my best friend" it was Pearl who interrupted this time, her voice sounding sad and broken. "She knew I was defective but she didn't care and treated me the same, while others thought I was useless for being 'just a Pearl', she stood up for me. She believed in me. She told me that I was unique, that I could be more than just a pearl and I could be whoever I wanted to be. When the war came she believed what Rose and I were doing was right, and she helped us."
Pearl's voice was sad and weary, she created another hologram, this time showing Tourmaline in the kindergarten surrounded by a small group of gems, their features indistinct as they huddled secretively around her, stealthily crouching and looking around.
"She discovered gems she thought could help the war effort who believed in our cause, and in the dead of night she would send them to us as reinforcements through a secret route. We gained size."
As Pearl spoke the hologram showed the story, showing Tourmaline ushering gems through a tunnel.
"But one night she was discovered - by the Homworld gems." Pearl's voice was thick with emotion and she paused a moment in her grief before uttering the words with contempt.
The tunnel started shaking furiously and the gems looked around in surprise and fear when suddenly they were surrounding by larger more intimidating looking gems. Steven couldn't see any features, just large shadows looming over the smaller gems, circling them.
The other gems summoned their weapons as they backed up, Tourmaline took a few steps back in fear. Her eyes darted around looking for an escape and found one, the one of the tunnel was blocked off by the Homeworld gems, her face shifted as she looked as though she was contemplating what to do before it set in a grim expression, determination written all over her face as she narrowed her eyes in concentration.
As the tunnel shook more violently the larger gems stumbled creating a gap in the line of their ranks circling them.
In one swift movement Tourmaline kicked one foot in front of the other causing her gem located on the inside of her right shin to glow, the frisbee discs materialised once more and she grabbed the gems around her crouching down like a runner about to start a race.
As the gap widened she shot of, dragging the other gems along with her as she created a streak of green and pink whipping through the other gems like a ribbon, as she neared the tunnel exit her footing faltered causing her to trip, it seemed to be in antagonising slow motion of the moment like in an action movie as her face flashed with fear before, in a last effort, she hauled the gems she was holding before her, throwing them out of the tunnel and into a bright light.
Time sped up again as she fell onto the ground, rolling in the dirt before coming to a stop a small way from the tunnel entrance as the quaking tunnel collapsed leaving her with the malicious and callous looking Homeworld gems.
"The Homeworld gems threatened to shatter her if we didn't surrender"
The hologram flickered as the scene changed.
They were in a battle field, Steven saw lots of gems fighting around them but couldn't see any details, only a blur of shapes, a large shadow stood holding Tourmaline by the throat tantalisingly. The younger Pearl cried out with tears in her eyes before she narrowed her eyes and charged at the larger gem, her spear thrust through the gem's chest, poofing it immediately. As the gem disappeared Tourmaline fell, no longer being suspended. Pearl caught Tourmaline who had her eyes closed and lay still, weak from all the fighting.
They ran across the battlefield, Pearl dragging Tourmaline behind her, delivering swift strikes to any foes who came near.
A group of gems blocked their path. Pearl set Tourmaline down gently on the ground before she charged with a feral war cry, landing in front of the gems and attacking. Moving her spear expertly, twirling it as they shared parries and blows, her spear moved so fast it was a blur.
As Pearl fought a gem broke away from the rest and crept up behind her silently.
Tourmaline did however and kept up from her spot on the ground with difficulty, hindered by her weakness from being attacked.
She summoned her weapon again, kicking out her foot, and charged toward the attacking gem.
Pearl turned as her last foe poofed when she heard a short cry of pain from Tourmaline, who had jumped in front of the gem's advancing blade.
Pearl's eyes widened at the sight of the sword sticking out of her stomach, the gem behind her grinning evilly as Tourmaline burst into thin air, her gem clattering to the ground.
The hologram flickered, and disappeared.
"I tried searching for her but she was lost in the heat of battle" Pearl's voice was dry and raspy with grief as she kept her eyes trained on her lap.
"Wow," to everyone's surprise it was Peridot who spoke.
"But, she's a hopper, kindergartens are her life, everything you were fighting for was against everything she knew. And, she still joined you? And then when she sacrificed herself to save you, you lost her! You must feel terrible" she said disbelievingly, not noticing Pearl's uncomfortable expression.
A cough from behind the group brought their attention to Garnet standing there, no longer asleep. She remained stoic as ever, nodding towards the door.
The gems all stood, Amethyst moving the chalkboard out of the way of the door to see the now rising sun.
They hadn't realised how long they had sat there, caught up in Pearl's story.
They walked outside to watch the sunrise in all it's glory as the golden light touched their feet.
However this moment was ruined by the scraping noise of Steven pushing the chalkboard outside.
He placed it in the grass facing them and rubbed out Peridot's drawings as they watched him bemused.
"What are you doing?" Amethyst drawled.
Steven turned to the gravely and spoke, "I'm making a list, I wanna know about all the other gems in the war." "Steven," Pearl spoke in a mothering tone. "No! I need to know who else there was." He said, resigned and determined, slightly angry at the patronising tone they used.
Garnet studied him carefully, or not, it was hard to tell with those glasses.
She walked over to him before taking the chalk from his outstretched palm.
"I think Steven has a right to know she said seriously, writing on the chalkboard.
Snowflake
Biggs
Crazy lace
Misty Eye
Jade
She gave the chalk to Pearl who held it, slightly doubtful.
She held it up to the board, hand shaking so much she couldn't write anything and tears sprung to her eyes unbidden. Suddenly a small hand wrapped around her own, steadying her trembling, she looked down in surprise to see Steven smiling comfortingly up at her - mounted on Amethyst's shoulders in order to reach her hight of course.
Together the wrote down a word.
Tourmaline.