Chapter Text
~Pearl~
It had been three days since Gem had been found to be corrupted. Three days since Pearl had last spoke to her best friend and it had also been 3 days since Pearl had last slept. She had been searching non-stop for a cure, and now she was sure she was close to finding one.
As her eyes ran across the page, they started to close. She rubbed her eyes, desperately clinging on to her consciousness. Frustrated with herself for not being able to shake off the exhaustion, she closed the book on her lap and rested her head on the book case behind her. She fell asleep instantly.
Rustling, woke her. She opened her sapphire eyes and was met some blood red ones. Her heart raced as she realised who they belonged to.
"Gem? " Pearl asked, her head was filling with possibilities of why she was here. Gem didn't look surprised or even annoyed that Pearl had woken up, instead she smiled.
"Hello! Fancy seeing you here" she giggled. Pearl frowned, she sounded drunk. Pearl itched her head and tried to sit up. Gem pushed her back and rested one of her knees on Pearl's chest.
"Yeah, it'd be better if you stayed still actually". Gem glanced at the book on her lap.
"W-why? " Pearl stuttered. Gem smiled at her, showing off her pearly white teeth.
"Why do you think I'm here? " Gem gestured around her and Pearl's breath hitched. Scattered around the bookcases were piles of TNT.
Pearl tried to turn her head, to see how far the door was but Gem grabbed her chin and tilted it back to her. "You don't have to die as well, you know" Gem's grin grew. Pearl swallowed.
"I will never join you" Pearl said through gritted teeth. Gem sighed and stepped back, whilst she shook her head.
"Fine, just know that you chose this" Gem sounded dissappointed. She heard Gem's footsteps retreat and the door opened and closed. Pearl looked away and braced for the explosion that never came.
She frowned, her breathing was shallow as she slowly got up. Her chest ached from where Gem had kneed her. She grabbed the book from her lap and crawled out of the room.
She shut the door and was instantly thrown through the air. Her ears rung and her head pounded. She rolled onto the ground and grabbed the ground in an attempt to stop.
She landed on her back and coughed, clutching her chest. She sat up and looked around, shocked. Her eyes found the blown up wreckage and she took a shaky breath, trying to digest what had happened.
The library had exploded, but delayed. Either Gem had messed up or she had done it on purpose to save Pearl. With a start she realised that the book had dissappeared. She stood up, slowly and started to search for it.
She spotted it almost instantly and jogged over to it. She cursed as she bent down to look at it. The book was burnt to a crisp. She stood up and kicked it, out of frustration.
~Gem~
She watched Pearl storm off from the trees. It was hard to make Pearl mad and Gem had succeeded. A small part of her felt a twinge of guilt as she watched her leave. Had she really needed to blow up the entire library?
She shook her head and took off, flying back to the crystal cliffs. She went the long way to avoid running into Scott, who would almost certainly be heading there to help Pearl. She couldn't be bothered to listen to another speech from Scott about why Xornoth was evil.
She knew he thought he was right and he didn't mean to be rude but it still annoyed her. He should respect her choice of what side she's on, just like she respects his. Sure, she had tried to steal the crystal a few times but still.
They didn't understand what she did, and that wasn't their fault, but they'd see soon. Gem couldn't wait for them to see the truth. All the chaos she planned to cause was just a small part of her plan.
She landed, swiftly, and made her way to her study. She scowled at the papers from the old magic school. She pushed down the regret of closing the school and made a mental note to burn the papers later.
She slumped into the chair and opened her notebook. She wrote a few things in it and read a paragraph before closing it and popping it back into the draw. She made her way over to the bedroom and lay in her bed.
She knew it was pointless to try and sleep but she still lay there, staring at the ceiling. It used to be covered in glowing crystals but now it was bare. She turned over, not wanting to think about the past. How naive she'd been.
Not everything was as clear as good and evil. She rolled out of her bed and stalked out of her room. Their was no point wasting her time trying to sleep if she knew it wasn't coming.
As much as she loved helping Xornoth, she did miss sleep. She had never asked Sausage or Joey if they had had trouble sleeping when they were subjects of Xornoth.
She may as well move onto phase two of her plan. She loaded up on rockets and set off for Fwhips. She didn't bother trying to sneak in, instead she went towards Fwhip's voice. He was sitting in a random House, trading with villagers.
She flung open the door, smiling at Fwhip's shocked face as she sat on a table next to him. "Gem! " he cleared his throat. "What're you doing here?" He was doing a terrible job of hiding his nervousness.
She shrugged, trying to give him some time to hopefully warn the others. "I just wanted to see my dear old brother" she sighed, resting her face in her hands. He shifted, uncomfortably in his seat.
"I uh- heard what happened at Pearl's earlier" he spoke slowly. She nodded, grinning slightly. "You're here for similar reasons, I presume" Fwhip swallowed. Gem avoided his gaze and tilted her head to one side.
She pretended not to hear the incoming flapping of wings and instead focused on acting suspicious. She fiddled with a flint and steel, not even trying to hide the glint in her eye as Fwhip's face filled with fear.
He stood up with a start and backed away from her. She didn't even look his way as he left through the door. As soon as she heard the door slam she moved from the window and instead started her escape through the back.
She heard Fwhip talking to someone, it sounded like Scott. She rolled her eyes, of course Fwhip had called him for help. She dug through the back, creating a little peek-hole to see if anyone was coming.
She got to work tearing up the floor and replacing it with tnt and then covering it again. She readied her flint and steel in her hand as she heard footsteps come closer to the door.
Her breath hitched as she heard Pearl's voice outside. Why was she here? No, no, no. She couldn't be here. Not now. Her hands were shaking as she weighed up her options, she could go ahead with the trap and let Pearl get hurt again or she could not set it off and escape now.
The second one was preferable but less convenient, there was a chance that they would catch her as she left for Scott's. This was the perfect diversion but . . . Pearl. She couldn't bring herself to harm her again.
The door opened. Pearl's gaze met her eyes and then flickered to the flint and steel in her hand. Her eyes widened in shock. "Pearl, you need to leave" Gem said gently.
~ Pearl ~
Gem said it so sweetly that Pearl almost believed she didn't want to hurt her but Pearl knew better than that. She'd already had a taste of tnt that day and didn't fancy seconds.
Pearl nodded as she slowly backed away, she eyed the flint and steel. She got to the door before finally looking Gem in the eye. "I know this isn't you but... why tnt?" Pearl exclaimed. "The old Gem would use more flare, now I know you're desperate" Pearl laughed without a trace of humor.
"This is the same Gem". Gem scowled.
" No, no it's not" Pearl shook her head. "The old Gem wouldn't purposely hurt me" and with that Pearl left and slammed the door shut. She burst into silent tears as soon as she locked eyes with Scott and Fwhip, who had definitely heard the whole conversation.
Scott rushed over to her and embraced her. "We'll get her back" he promised. She rested her chin on his shoulder and they stayed there for a while. Seeming as the explosion didn't go off she suspected Gem had left.
The confidence had been a charade, she'd been trembling the whole time and hoped Gem hadn't noticed. The last thing she needed was Gem taking advantage of her reluctance to hurt her friend.
"Let's go to mine" he wiped a tear from her face. She didn't say anything as he picked her up and they flew across the silent sky. By the time they arrived at Scott's she wasn't crying anymore and instead trying not to fall asleep. The last time she had slept it hadn't ended well...
"Here we go" he put her down and guided her to her room. She thanked him and said goodnight. She waited until he had gone before she slipped out. She knew that Gem's plan had been to distract them whilst she went to Scott's as soon as she had seen the tnt.
The question was if she had still come here even after her plan failed. She guessed she had based on Scott's hurry to go. Scott was no fool, he knew Gem was here and obviously had a plan.
She did her best to guess where Scott had gone and followed from a distance. She spotted him in the distance, he was meeting up with Fwhip who had also stayed. He was whispering something but Pearl couldn't hear.
She tried to get closer to listen but tripped over. "Ow" she yelped. Scott and Fwhip's heads immediately turned to her. It took a second for them to realise who she was in the dark but when they did they walked over.
"First off, are you okay Pearl?" Fwhip asked as he helped her up "and second, why were you eavesdropping?" Fwhip showed no annoyance, just puzzlement. Pearl just shrugged
"We were just saying that in the morning, we will arrange a meeting with the other empires about Gem" Scott explained. Pearl chewed her lip, embarrassed to have been caught but also grateful for their understanding.
"Soynds good, I'll uh- go back to bed then" Pearl lied. She waved at them, ignoring the suspicion in Scott's eyes as she left. As soon as she turned the corner she sprinted away from them. She didn't really care if they heard her or not she just wanted to get away from them.
She finally came to a stop a minute later, when she ran out of breath. She stopped and tried to catch her breath. She peered at her surroundings, realising where she was. "The meeting room" she breathed.
She hadn't been in it since they had defeated Xornoth together. She admired the artwork that ran along the walls. As she looked around her eyes stopped on a glass case. Inside it was a red crystal.
Instantly she whirled her head around, making sure Gem wasn't hear to steal it. She wasn't here but that didn't stop her uneasiness. She decided to stay, Gem was sneaky but she wouldn't steal it when Pearl was guarding it.
She nestled into the least uncomfortable chair she could find and kept her eye on the crystal. She stayed their all night, she didn't sleep a wink. Fwhip found her in the morning and didn't say a word as he dropped off a mug of hot chocolate on the arm of the chair.
She nodded her thanks and sipped it slowly. Eventually she got up, just before mid day, and went to find Scott and Fwhip. She found them in the library, discussing something. She cleared her throat as she arrived so they didn't think she was spying. Again.
"How are you doing?" Scott asked as he turned to look at her. She ignored him and asked what they were doing. Scott didn't seem to mind and showed her the letters he had been working on.
"And these are... to every empire?" Pearl checked once she had finished reading them. Fwhip nodded and gathered them up in his hands.
"I'll send them off now" he told them. He pushed past Scott and left quickly. Pearl frowned and glanced between them.
"Is he okay?" She asked.
"After a night cooped up together, nerves tend to fray" Scott shrugged. Pearl nodded and excused herself. Scott looked sad as she left but didn't attempt to stop her.
She passed the day tending to the crops and animals, trying to distract herself from the problem at hand. In two days the other empire leaders would arrive and discuss Gem.
By the end of the meeting they would have a vague plan of how to help her. Pearl was nervous for the plan as it would likely involve hurting her, intentional or not. As much as Gem scared, annoyed and frustrated her she didn't want to hurt her.
Night came and Pearl resumed her spot in the meeting room, looking over the crystal. The night was long and boring but by the time the morning came she was still awake. As long as Gem didnt get her corrupted hands on the crystal then she wasn't a massive threat.
She was a nuisance and tad sadistic but Xornoth was the bigger problem. If he was revived then he wouldn't stop until the world was in flames, corruption across the land. All empires would fall, including Gem's.
She rubbed her eyes and got up. She tried her best to avoid Scott and Fwhip, they were preparing the rooms for the empire leaders who may want to stay to see the plan through. Her heart dropped even thinking about the plan.
She finally ran into Scott in the afternoon, he seemed anxious as he was biting his nails and pacing the halls. She tried to sneak away before he noticed her but he must have heard her because he called her name.
She paused and turned to face her. He smiled softly in greeting. "Are you coming to the meeting?" He asked. She looked down, not sure what to say. She didn't want to by any means, but she also wanted to be there to try and convince them not to hurt Gem.
After a while of pondering she answered yes. He seemed releived and stepped closer to hug her but she turned away. He frowned and pulled back, regarding her with a concerned look. Pearl shivered and walked off.
A growing sense of cold was spreading in her chest. She found a blanket and wrapped it around her. She went to the nearest fire place and sat by it, watching the flames flicker back and forth.
She heard someone come to the door, but they left soon after. She stayed there, waiting until night time came again. She didn't know why she only guarded it at night, but it seemed like a Gem time to strike.
She glanced at the sun through the window and walked to the room. She didn't pass anyone on the way, not even servants. The place was quieter at night. She liked it.
What she didn't like was that the cold was back, leaving the fire had meant leaving the warmth. She entered the meeting room and sat on the chair. She was shaking in her seat, unsure if she would make it the whole night without falling asleep.
Her eyes began to slowly close and she let them. A creaking from above made her snap her eyes open. She looked up in an instant to see a pair of red eyes staring back at her. They stood out in the dark of the room.