The Unexpected Effects of a Broken Heart

Chapter One: How It Starts

Pearl sat on the couch as she listened. Nothing. Silence. Smiling, the Crystal Gem sipped her tea as she enjoyed her favorite flavor. She didn't like to eat, but she did enjoy tea and it was just the perfect time to do so. Steven was out playing with Connie, Garnet was on a mission, and Amethyst? Well, Pearl had no idea where the purple skinned Gem was, but she was not around to ruin the silence. That was until the door slammed open causing Pearl to jump, her teacup hitting the floor with a delicate crash, indicating the demise of the cup and saucer.

"Freeze!" A male sounding voice came from the doorway. "You're under arrest by the Beach City Fun Police! You're in violation of rule number fifteen: doing nothing fun on a sunny day!" The 'policeman' shot Pearl with a water gun, causing the lithe figure on the couch to cry out and try to block the barrage of water hitting her.

"Amethyst, please!" Pearl said, her voice having an angry edge to it as she stood up just as the water stopped hitting her. She looked to the floor where her broken tea pair sat and a mixture of emotional pain and anger began to simmer. Turning to watch the policeman transform back to Amethyst's original form, she growled through clenched teeth. "Don't you have anything better to do then to spray me with water?!"

"Yes and no." The purple skinned Gem got off the floor, which she had been on from laughing so hard at the look on Pearl's face from her little prank. "Yes because I could have gone on the mission with Garnet and no because messing with you is way too fun."

Pearl felt her cheeks heat up in anger at the other's words. Did Amethyst always have to mess with her?! Pearl did nothing to the other, even when her swords ended up in that mess Amethyst called a room. She was so angry because she knew that her perfectly regular day was now ruined. She was supposed to be alone all day, or at least until Steven and Connie were to come for lunch later. True, she could have just gone to her room in the temple but even she tired of being stuck in there all the time. Pearl was trembling with anger now.

"Lighten up, P. It's just a bit of water; you've been hit by a lot worse. Trust me; I've been there to see it happen." Amethyst said as she tried to quell the taller's anger. Something was off about Pearl, she seemed angrier by today's antics than if it were any other day. Maybe Amethyst shouldn't have done her little prank without the backing of Steven.

"Today is not the day to fool around with me, Amethyst." Pearl said before she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a dishrag to dry off her face and her hair. Today would be the day that she had lost someone special a long time ago. Taking a deep breath, Pearl put the dishrag on the counter and turned towards Amethyst who was just rolling her eyes. This caused another flare of anger to fill Pearl, her hand clenching in to a fist and slamming on the counter. "You're so selfish, you know that?! You don't even care for anyone else but yourself!"

"Hey, that's not fair! I care plenty for Garnet and Steven." Amethyst crossed her arms and closed her eyes as if in thought. Amethyst had left out Pearl on purpose because the taller Gem was acting as if Amethyst really didn't care about anyone but herself, which just wasn't true. Sure, she thought of herself a lot, but more like thought about who she was. Amethyst really did think about the other Crystal Gems and even a few of Steven's friends, though she didn't show it the way she always wanted to.

Opening her eyes she saw sheer rage in Pearl's eyes. Rage, hurt, sorrow and tears. She watched as those tears fell down Pearl's cheeks in a steady flow. This made Amethyst drop her arms to her side and a pang of guilt hit her heart. She hadn't meant to make the other Gem feel like that, not hurt or sad. Biting her lip, the purple skin toned female reached out to try and wipe the tears away only to have her hand smacked away hard.

"Don't. Bother." Pearl said in a tone that made Amethyst's skin crawl in guilt. She was about to say something when the pale skinned Gem turned and went to the temple door. Amethyst watched in guilt as Pearl entered her own room in the temple, the door quickly closing behind her.

Amethyst stood in the same spot for five minutes, watching the temple door, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Pearl would come out and say something…anything about what had just happened.

"What. The. Hell?!" Some of Amethyst's guilt turned to anger. She had just been about to say sorry for the prank but had gotten her hand slapped away instead. What was that about?! The purple Gem looked to the hand that had been hit. It stung a little bit but looking at it made her feel hurt in a different way. A hurt she only felt from Pearl and she never understood why. Garnet or Steven could do the same thing to her (well, maybe not the exact same thing) and she would feel just angry, not hurt like when it came from Pearl.

Looking at the wet mess she made, Amethyst sighed as she decided to be unlike herself and clean up. Really she was on auto-piolet as she wiped up and dried the couch, her thoughts focused on the hurt she had seen and maybe even felt come off of Pearl before she stormed off. Sighing again, the short Gem looked at the broken tea cup and spilled tea and winced. Maybe that was why Pearl was so mad at her. Pearl's tea time was like Amethyst's nap time: something you just didn't mess with. But why was Pearl out here instead of her room if she was having tea? Picking up the pieces of broken china, Amethyst winced as she cut herself without even thinking about it.

Taking a closer look at the broken cup and saucer, Amethyst blinked. She had never seen Pearl use this pair before and, if nothing else, Pearl was a Gem of routine. There were words written in elegant script on the saucer, but it was broken so Amethyst couldn't make it out. Putting the cup pieces in the trash, she decided to piece together the saucer pieces. After fifteen or so minutes of putting the broken puzzle back together, Amethyst read the words as if in disbelief.

"To my Beloved Pearl." She said, as if speaking the words would make any more sense than just reading them silently. Amethyst didn't know what it meant but to her knowledge Pearl didn't have a 'beloved'. Maybe it was from a long time ago, before Rose, Garnet and Pearl had found her. Was this why Pearl was so upset? Because Amethyst had broken something from the past? She thought that Pearl had long ago forgotten rid of her connections to Home World.

Seeing this made an odd mixture of anger, jealousy, and confusion boil in Amethyst. Grabbing a Ziploc bag, she put the plate in it and sealed it. Looking around, as if making sure no one saw her, Amethyst walked to the temple door and went to her room. She quickly found the small dresser where she kept important things and gently placed the broken saucer in a drawer and stared at it. She didn't know what the plate or the words on it meant, but she was damned determined to find out, especially if it was one of the reasons that caused Pearl to be so upset.