Why was this so difficult?

Steven, a young boy at the age of 12, was pacing the inside of his house with his arms folded. Huffing, he began to mumble incoherently to himself. He was frustrated.

Watching him were three women of varying heights and sizes, each with a worried expression on their face. The Crystal Gems had decided to, once again, attempt to teach Steven to fuse with them. After the whole ordeal with Peridot and Jasper, the Crystal Gems started to crack down on teaching Steven how to better utilize his powers.

"I've pretty much got the dance down… so why is it so hard…?" the star boy murmured.

The tallest and darkest of the three women spoke with a calm tone; "fusing isn't just about the dance, Steven. We've already gone through this."

"Garnet's right. It's about synchronizing with your partner and forming one conscience." The thinnest of the three explained. They had said the same thing several times now and it was beginning to annoy Steven. After all, they had been at it for almost two hours and he hadn't even managed to get a small glow from the gem on his belly.

"Fusing with Connie that one time was just… natural. I wasn't thinking about all this synchronising mumbo jumbo! It just sort of… happened." he said. He began to pull on his curly hair before stopping to turn to the Gems. "Ok, maybe this time I can do it! Pearl?" he gestured to the slender woman who gave a warm smile.

"That's the spirit, Steven!" she said happily taking his hand. Considering the size difference, Pearl had to be the one to lead the dance, not that he minded. Once they were both ready, they began their movements. It wasn't perfect but it was still a pretty sight. Pearl twirled her partner a few times before finishing off by bending him backwards over her arm.

For a few moments nothing happened. Holding their position, they simply waited. Then, Steven's gem began to faintly glow… before fading again.

Another failure.

Picking himself up, Steven suddenly beamed with glee. "Did you see that! My gem glowed! It glowed, Pearl!" He yelled with excitement. All three of the Crystal Gems couldn't help but smile too. "Garnet, Amethyst, it glowed!"

"Hell yeah! Now you're gettin' somewhere, Stevie!" the plump, purple girl chuckled.

"I think we may almost have it… but let's not over do ourselves. I think we should take a break." Pearl said with a smile still on her face. She placed a hand on his head gently "if you keep pushing yourself, we might end up losing all this progress."

Slightly disheartened, Steven's shoulders sagged a little. He agreed however. He trusted Pearl's judgement. Besides, he had to admit he was getting a little tired with all this dancing. He noticed the other two had gone off to do their own thing but Pearl still remained stood with Steven. She looked towards the door on the far side of the room. The door to each of the Gem's personal rooms.

"Hey, Steven, do you mind helping me with something?"

Oh, she was going to invite him into her room again. She seemed to do that a lot recently. It only seemed like yesterday when he was forbidden from going into any of the Gem's rooms. Now Pearl seemed to constantly want him to accompany her. Ever since the mini invasion a few weeks ago the white Gem had gotten very clingy.

"Sure! Do you need help sorting and cleaning your sword collection again?" Steven asked, eliciting a small chuckle from the white Gem. Steven had almost lost count of how many times she used that particular excuse. "I don't mind. I'm happy I can actually help you with something!" that last statement earned him a sigh.

"Steven, you help us in more ways than you realise. Don't think like that!"

Pearl's room was immaculate as usual. Large basins floated high over a lake of clear water. Each basin constantly overflowed with the water giving the room a very sarean feel. The indoor lake was surrounded by a marble ring which led off to different parts of the inner temple. Steven couldn't help but compare the room to one of those bathhouses he saw on TV.

Atop the centre basin, the two Gems sat themselves down opposite each other before Pearl summoned her extensive collection of sharp, stabby things. Steven always found himself in awe when he saw all the different swords lined up neatly.

Pearl didn't move further however. She simply let them float. "I assume you guessed that I didn't really bring you here to help me clean my swords for the millionth time this week?" she said tucking her knees close to her chest.

"Well… I had a hunch, I guess. Is there something wrong?"

"Not in particularly. I'm just a little worried." Pearl was acting strange. She acted so prim and proper most of the time, so seeing her like this was a little odd for the star child. "Peridot just up and disappeared and Jasper could reappear at any given moment… I'm worried something's going to happen to you, Steven."

"You shouldn't worry about me! Sure, everything that happened was scary and stuff, but we got through it together! If anything does happen, we'll be ready!" Steven bore a smile like usual and Pearl couldn't help but smile too.

"You're a good man, Steven. You always know what to say. I bet you think I'm pathetic for worrying so much!"

Since when did Pearl put herself down like that?

Steven frantically shook his head as he stood up. His eyes wide open. "I'd never think you're pathetic! You're super awesome and amazing!" He did his best to reassure her and she began to giggle at his frantic excitement. "We almost fused today! That's because I care about you!" in his frantic movements he didn't realise how close he was getting to the edge of the basin. This, as a result, ended up with Steven falling into the lake below.

"Steven! Are you ok!?" Pearl quickly scrambled to the edge of the basin and peered down to see a bashfully chuckling Steven bobbing up and down in the water below. As he tread water however, he noticed something floating underneath the centre basin. Swimming through the falling veil water, he realised it was a floating bubble. Similar to those the Gems used to contain the different monsters they faced on missions.

Reaching for it, he just about managed to get a grip on it. Inside the little translucent bubble was a smooth blue gem with swirls of teal. What was this doing here? Was it another monster?

"What have you found?" Pearl's voice startled Steven. She was swimming right behind him with a curious look on her face. When Steven showed her, however, her expression turned sorrowful. "Oh…" The white Gem stared at the bubble for a few seconds before giving a half smile. "That's a very old friend. It's best you leave it alone…"

The mention of the word "friend" piqued Steven's interest. "If it's a friend… why is it locked up? Or is this another Lapis situation?" his mind trailed back to when he released the water Gem from her mirror prison. Pearl shook her head.

"It's nothing like that. Just… don't mess around with it too much."

The white Gem took the bubble from him and swam to the edge of the lake. Steven's shoulders sagged again. He didn't really understand it but he didn't want to badger her about it. She was worried about everything as it was, Steven didn't want to add to that worry by releasing… whatever was inside that gem.

Getting out of the water, Pearl stared down at it and sighed. It looked like she was remembering bad things. Getting out to join her, Steven put a hand on her forearm. "Is everything ok?" he asked. That snapped her out of her thoughts and she smiled at him.

"I'm fine, Steven. Don't worry about me. I just forgot I had this in my room…"

"Who, or what, is it?" Steven couldn't help but ask. His curiosity got the better of him. Pearl's face turned sheepish as he asked.

"It used to have the name of The Stone from the Heavens…" she trailed off before straining her features. "I'm sorry but… it's a bit of a touchy subject, I'd rather not talk about it right now." She spoke with a distant tone. Obviously her mind was elsewhere. Steven thought it best to leave her to her thoughts. He felt bad dragging up bad memories so he simply began to leave, but before he was able to, Pearl suddenly spoke up. "Wait, don't leave. I mean… wait for me!"

What was going on with her? The star child couldn't make heads or tails of it. Even still, he stood and waited for her as she put the bubble back where Steven had found it and then quickly joined him once more. Outside the temple, back in the house, Garnet was sat reading on the couch and Amethyst was sat up on one of the house's support beams messing around with her whip. It was starting to get dark outside and Steven could feel the day's exercise catching up with him. His shoulder had started to ache a while ago but now that there was nothing else to focus on, the aching grew stronger.

Nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix, though.

"I think I'm gonna grab an early night guys!" Steven began to ascend the stairs to his open plan bedroom rubbing one of his shoulders and yawning. All three of the Gems sent their sweet dreams to him and soon, the star child slumped into his bed fully clothed. He was a lot more tired than he first thought. It earned a motherly chuckle from the white Gem as she heard him begin to snore.

A few hours passed and night had fully set in. By now, it was just Garnet and Pearl in the lounge area. Amethyst had trodden off to her own room and Garnet was just finishing up her book. Snapping it shut, she looked down at Pearl. "Are you staying here all night again?" she said before standing up. The white Gem didn't answer. Garnet shrugged and walked to the inner temple door, disappearing through it. Now Pearl was alone save for the large, pink, sleeping Lion on the other side of the room.

Steven's soft, heavy breath could be heard from up in his little sleeping area and Pearl leant her head back over the back of the couch to listen to him. He sounded so peaceful. It was almost like there wasn't a permanent threat of Homeworld Gems storming the temple and taking Steven away forever.

Slapping her cheeks she tried to focus on something else. So, she sat there trying to think of ways to make fusion easier for Steven. When Stevonnie walked through the door that one time, she was so shocked she could barely process it. It wasn't like she disapproved, but she simply thought fusing with a human was impossible. And to think the fusion was so seamless too. No extra appendages or even eyes. Even Garnet bore a third eye.

Her mind then traveled back to the blue stone Steven had found. Why did it have to resurface now? When everything was so messed up? The white Gem's foot began to bounce as she began to get irritated. Getting up she quickly and quietly ascended the stairs to Steven's sleeping area and walked around his bed to lean against the wall. For some reason, Steven's sleeping form calmed her down when she got worked up like this.

A motherly smile crept it's way across her mouth. She was so proud of how far he had come. He wasn't a master, not by any means, but he was learning. Slowly, Steven was gaining more and more understanding about his powers and his heritage. Pearl admired his positive attitude, she wanted to be more like him, she wanted to be positive too, but recently, all she could think about was potentially losing her star child.

A single tear raced down her cheek as the bad thoughts came swimming back. It was getting worse. Simply having him in her sight wasn't enough anymore. Carefully, she crept into the bed next to him, lying down and putting an arm over him. She couldn't carry on like this… what was she doing?

Steven stirred a little but remained asleep. Pearl knew she was being way too paranoid but she couldn't help it. She almost lost him once, she didn't want to go through that again. Gripping a hold of him as tight as she dared, she could feel him turn into her. Unconsciously snuggling into her chest. It made her feel warm hand at peace. As long as she could feel him close to her, she knew he was safe.

For the first time in a while she actually felt relaxed. She felt calm. She almost admitted she felt safe. In the distance, she could hear Lion snoring and Pearl couldn't help but smile. Everything was so peaceful tonight. Was this just a calm before the storm? Or perhaps maybe… just maybe, their troubles were over?

Gems didn't need to sleep but they had the capacity to. Even though Pearl was determined to stay awake, she slowly, but surely felt her eyes become heavier and heavier until she finally gave in and drifted off to sleep.

"P-Pearl? What're doing?" Steven's voice slowly roused the sleeping Gem. It took a few minutes for Pearl to come to her senses but when she did, her face turned bright blue. Drool had dried on the corner of her mouth and her usually perfect hair was disheveled and greasy. Steven was sat up looking down at her with a worried smile on his face. "I thought Gems didn't need sleep."

It was morning. Birds were singing and the ocean waves set a feeling of calmness. Or at least they would for any normal person.

"Um… nothing! Nothing at all! I... " Pearl struggled for something to say. "Uh… we don't! But that… doesn't mean we don't like it!" her voice was becoming high pitched like it did when she was flustered. Steven could only let out his trademarked laugh.

"Y'know, if you wanted to sleep next to me, you could have just asked!" he said with a beaming smile. Pearl stopped flustering and a smile replaced her panicked expression. She was still embarrassed she was caught but she was happy Steven didn't mind.

Now that she was awake, she felt gross. She wasn't used to sleeping and as a result, she was unused to the whole grogginess that came with waking up. Along with generally being unclean from her sleep she couldn't help but wonder how humans coped with this daily. Luckily for Pearl, her room was literally a giant bath.

The white Gem was sure nothing would happen if she left Steven with the others for just a little while. Sitting up so that she was on the same level as the boy she began to fumble with her fingers. "I've been watching these shows on TV about parental behaviour…I guess I just wanted to try it…"

Steven knew she was lying but he chose not to bring it up. Maybe he would ask Garnet about what was up with Pearl the next time he saw her. Which, as it turned out, was sooner than he thought. Garnet had suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs and was staring at Pearl with her arms folded.

"You look like you need a wash." She said flatly. It almost seemed like she was telling Pearl off. It was amusing to see Garnet act like a big sister like this. The white Gem simply got up off of the bed and began to make her way to the inner temple door. She was tense and almost looked like a wind-up robot as she walked. When she eventually left, Garnet gave a small laugh before turning to leave herself.

"Wait, Garnet, can I ask you something?" Garnet stopped in her tracks and then nodded for him to go on. She obviously knew what he was going to ask and was already preparing her answer. "What's wrong with Pearl? She seems to… anxious and clingy. She said that she was worried about Peridot and Jasper but there has to be more to it right?"

"It's exactly how she says, she's worried about you. We all are." Garnet's way of speaking had always been to the point and she never gave half answers, but this time, something seemed off. It felt like she was keeping something from him much like they all tried to do when Lapis sent that video message to the Wailing Stone.

"Also, I found something in Pearls room. She called it The Stone from the Heavens. Do you know what it is? She said something about it being an old friend…"

For a while Garnet remained silent and Steven noticed that the corner of her mouth actually twitched. "No, I don't. Sorry." She finally answered. Something definitely was wrong here. The two things, Pearl's clinginess and the gem, didn't seem related but they were two things that no one gave definite answers for. Just what was going on here?

Maybe Amethyst would give him a bit more to go on. She was probably playing around in her junk pile of a room. With that in mind, he quickly changed out of his dirty clothes and dashed off to find her. Sure enough, Steven found her relaxing on a pile of old mattresses. This room was like a landfill site! Piles of junk lay everywhere, some of them reaching the size of small skyscrapers.

"Oh, Hey Steve-o! What's up?" The purple Gem suddenly piped up. She jumped off of the mattress and ran to greet him with a high-five.

"I was wondering if you knew what was going on with Pearl?"

"Pah! When isn't something going on with that one? Why, is she finally losing it?"

Steven gave a forced laugh at her answer. Truth be told, that probably wasn't a half bad guess. "Well, I don't know. I found her sleeping next to me, in my bed this morning. I know she used to watch me sleep sometimes but… I don't know, it's just not like her" When Steven explained further Amethyst, without warning, planted both her hands on his shoulders.

"That is weird! Pearl hates doing human stuff like that! Which is stupid because sleeping is ama~a~zing!" Amethyst was completely missing the point as usual, or at least that's what it started off like until she continued. "Steven, she's just worried. We all are."

Again with the whole "she's just worried" excuse, and she said it in the exact same way Garnet had not ten minutes ago. It was obviously going to be pointless asking about that blue gem too. The half-gem couldn't help but feel a little left in the dark. Most of the time it was just a simple case of them trying to protect him but this time it felt as if they just flat out didn't want to bother.

Steven internally kicked himself, he was sure that wasn't the case. No matter. Maybe he would give Connie a call and unwind with her...

As this was happening, Pearl was sat down in her large lake near the edge. Her initial goal was to simply get washed, dressed and head back into the house so that she could resume keeping an eye on Steven but now all she could do was sit naked in the water and stare at the bubble Steven had found the day before which was now bobbing up and down in the water just in front of the white Gem.

"If only we could let you out… but I doubt anyone would like that… including you." she murmured as if she was talking to it. She poked at the bubble and watched as it bobbed on the water surface. "How long has it been since I last saw you? A thousand years? A thousand five hundred? I can't even remember." Pearl never spoke to herself like this, she knew this wasn't like her.

Then a thought came across her mind. "Maybe I can just… unseal you, just for a little while. No one would have to know…" as soon as she said it she clapped a hand over her face. "What am I saying!? That's a terrible idea! I always tell Steven not to mess around with things like this and here I am doing exactly that!" but then the bubble bumped against her as if it were nudging her.

She stared down at it once again. "Perhaps it would be ok? I could just let you out for a few minutes and then reseal you… you wouldn't mind that, would you?" Pearl sunk lower into the water so that her mouth and long nose were submerged. A few seconds passed as she simply sat there and thought about it. Then she abruptly sat up raising her arms in the air. "It's only for a few minutes! That's nothing!" Pearl reasoned with herself before she stood up, picked the bubble up and then rested a hand on it.

Without warning, the bubble suddenly popped and the gem fell into Pearl's hand. Stroking it once with her free hand, she placed it on the marble floor. The stone began to glow softly with warm, blue light and before long, it slowly grew brighter. After a few moments, it suddenly exploded with the same dazzling light and temporarily rendered Pearl blind. When she regained her sight, there it was. A woman with pale blue skin not unlike Lapis with light blue hair which was opposite to Lapis's dark blue hair.

She wore long white gloves and an elegant, sleeveless long coat fastened over her torso by a corset. There was a star shaped hole on the back of the coat and on the small of her back there was the stone, embedded into her skin. On her feet there were no boots or shoes, she only wore navy blue knee high socks with little white stars printed on them. And then there were her tight fitting, black shorts. The outfit as a whole was a mixture of elegance and practicality.

"Azurite…" Pearl spoke in an awestruck tone. The blue girls eyes were closed and she hadn't fully come to her senses just yet so Pearl had time to take in her presence. Then her eyes shot wide open, she looked panicked and began to frantically look around before her eyes met with Pearl's. The blue Gem stopped dead and stared for a few seconds before finally speaking.

"Why…?" she began before her expression grew more and more panicked. "Why did you unseal me!? You of all people should have understood! Where is Mistress Quartz?" not even giving Pearl time to explain the situation, the Gem now identified as Azurite scrambled to her feet and began to back away from the naked Gem in the lake. "I… I have to go and find her… I have to be resealed this instant!"

And with that, she dashed off. Pearl stood there for a few seconds with a strained face as she processed what had just happened.

Then it clicked…

"WHAT THE SLAG PILE HAVE I DONE!?"