Hello!

My name is Thundercatlost - welcome to my story! This is my first story (and my main story) that I've written on this website :D

Whether you're reading for the first time or re-reading, thanks for joining me. This website is my online home, to be quite honest. Thanks for being awesome everyone on the internet.

(Minor Story Spoilers) There is a character called Topaz in this story. I wrote this story on 31st December 2016, thus Canon Topaz wasn't a thing. My oc is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. If you have trouble with remembering the difference (like me...), my Topaz that looks more like Lapis.

This story takes place after Room for Ruby, instead of Doug Out and all episodes afterwards.

For those of you who haven't read one of my stories before, I LOVE to read your reviews. Leave a review if you like - it's always a pleasure to read your thoughts - that's why I love this website so much!Anyway, enough talking, let's get straight into the story!

Enjoy!

Steven rubbed his eyes as he woke up. Today was his fifteenth birthday and the Crystal Gems had promised they'd spend the day with him. Excited, he clambered down the stairs and was greeted with a hug from Peridot and Lapis. He hugged them back – he hadn't seen Peridot and Lapis in ages. He'd always been busy going on missions with the others, he hadn't had much time spare. He'd missed them so much.

"Hope you don't mind we came!" Lapis said, letting go of him. Steven smiled in return. There was a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl smiling at him.

"Happy birthday Steven!" Everyone yelled. Garnet, being the strongest gem of the group, held out the cake in front of him. The cake was in the shape of a Cookie Cat (one of Steven's favourite snacks), much to Steven's delight. He blew out the fifteen silver candles, a large grin on his face. He'd only just woken up and it was already one of the greatest birthdays he'd ever had.

"Thanks guys! How d-" Steven began but was cut off by Garnet, whose face was now filled with worry.

"There's a corrupted gem in Empire City. If we don't go now, it could hurt the people there... or worse," She announced. "We need to go,"

"Aww! Oh well, see ya Steve-man!" Amethyst said, in half-happy, half-sad tone as she used the warp pad in the center of the room.

"WHAT?!" Steven yelled. They had planned to spend the day with them and they were leaving for probably the rest of the day.

"We're very sorry," Pearl added. Her face was showed a lot of sadness. Steven could tell she had really wanted to spend time with him on his fifteenth birthday. Steven spoke up.

"But we haven't eaten cake! We haven't even opened my presents!" Steven complained.

"It's ok, Steven. We can do it tomorrow," Pearl suggested, though her expression showed she too was sad. She was about to warp when Garnet stopped her.

"Pearl can stay here if she wants. Amethyst and I have got this," said, smiling at Steven.

Steven's eyes turned to stars.

"Are you sure that you don't need me to help?" Pearl asked Garnet, excited but worried too.

"Yep" Garnet answered. "Now you all go have fun," She stepped on the Warp Pad and teleported away. Steven, Peridot, Lapis, and Pearl stood still for a moment, unsure of what to say. The silence was broken by Peridot.

"What do we do now?" She asked. Pearl turned to Steven.

"What would you like to do today, Steven?" She asked him. Steven paused unsure as to what to do. For some odd reason, he really wanted to do some sword practice... but Connie was away on holiday. What would he do...?

"How about you and I have a competition, Pearl?" He eventually answered. Everyone stared back at him. Pearl raised an eyebrow.

"What sort of competition?"

"A duel!" Steven said, stars in his eyes. Pearl was shocked. She had always known Steven would challenge her to a fight one day but she certainly didn't expect it that soon. Though, deep inside, she knew that Steven was ready. She was ready.

"If that's what you want, Steven," She answered, smiling. Steven grinned a massive grin. He was excited – he had always wanted to challenge her. He'd always wanted to show Peridot and Lapis all of his powers.

"Can we watch?" Lapis asked, an excited look on her face. Peridot shared her expression.

"Of course!" Steven replied. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Everybody stepped onto the warp pad together, everyone smiling and anticipating the duel.

A few minutes later, Steven and Pearl stood in opposite corners of the Ancient Sky Arena, Pearl with her spear and Steven with Rose's Sword. Sat in the seats were Peridot and Lapis.

"Go Steven!" Peridot yelled. Steven blushed as the others started yelling supportive messages to him. As confident as he was, there was still a nervousness inside him. He knew how skilled Pearl was and he doubted he'd even get close to her.

"Are you ready?" Steven asked Pearl, in a determined tone. Her broad smile widened upon her face as she gripped her spear tighter.

"I always be r-"

She stopped mid-word, her face immediately changing from her determined look to one of pain and fear. She dropped her spear. Panicking, Steven ran to her as fast as he could, dropping his shield.

"Pearl?" He asked, running towards her. She screamed as she fell to her knees. Steven skidded to her side as quick as he could. He could hear Peridot and Lapis running up behind him.

"PEARL?" He called again. She didn't respond. Scared, he lifted her head up. What he saw shocked him.

Her gem was almost completely cracked. Her eyes were pure white, similar to the way Lapis' were when he had first saved her from the mirror but he knew whatever was happening to Pearl was worse. He'd never seen a gem cracked that badly. He heard Peridot and Lapis stop behind him. He turned around to see them both staring at Pearl tears in their eyes.

"What's happening to Pearl?" Steven asked, his eyes filled with tears. Peridot and Lapis were speechless, crying as they knelt down beside him. Confused and scared, he asked them again.

"What's happening to Pearl?"

"I...I..." Peridot tried to speak but she was crying too much. Pearl screamed again as her gem cracked even further.

"Steven..." Lapis whispered, gripping his arm tightly. By this point, Steven was petrified. He didn't care about anything else in that moment. He just wanted to help Pearl. In his heart, he knew what was going on – Pearl was shattering. He didn't want to believe it. He didn't want this. He had wanted to have a great birthday with his family but now, he was watching one of them shatter. Lapis spoke up, wiping the tears out of her eyes.

"I'll take Steven home. Peridot, you know what to do," she told Peridot, shaking in fear. Steven wanted to stay to try to heal Pearl.

"LET ME HELP HER!" Steven yelled staring Lapis in the eyes.

"Let Lapis take you home. I promise everything will be ok," Peridot lied, sweating crazily. Steven could see that he couldn't help, no matter what. He stared at Pearl's cracking gem. Unsure of what to say or do, he stood motionlessly for a few moments, before Lapis took his hand.

"Let's go. If any of us can help her, it's Peridot but we'll need to leave them alone," Lapis explained gripping Steven's hand tighter. He didn't see the logic but hearing the truth in her voice, Steven ran with her to the Warp Pad, tears rolling down his cheeks. As it started up, he looked up at the sky.

"She'll be alright, won't she, Lapis?" Lapis stayed silent, unsure of how to reply. She sighed.

"I don't know, Steven. I really don't know," and the Warp Pad teleported them home.

Steven stared up at the ceiling above him. He was in his room in temple. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop worrying about Pearl.

The last he'd seen of her was two hours ago, when Lapis had taken him to the temple before flying off to find Garnet and Amethyst. He closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep as he laid down on his bed. He opened his eyes to find his gem glowing. Except, it wasn't glowing it's normal pink colour – it was glowing dark red.

"What on Earth does that mean?" he wondered. That's when it hit him. He knew what this meant. His eyes filled with tears, which then leaked from his eyes.

"Pearl..." He didn't want to accept it – he couldn't.

"She can't be..." He closed his eyes and thought of every adventure they'd had together, the fun conversations, everything. As he though of those happy memories, he drifted off into the world of sleep.

"Where am I?" Steven said to himself. This was one of the weirdest dreams he'd ever had. Everything around him was pitch black. He looked around. There was nothing. Nobody. Then he saw somebody stood crying in the distance.

"HELLO?" He called out, running towards the figure. The figure turned around.

"Steven?" The figure asked. It was a purple gem. Her body and hair were velvet-coloured. She was tall, roughly only a few centimetres taller than Pearl. She wore a short blue dress, a purple star upon her left shoulder.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Steven asked the stranger. He was scared. First Pearl had shattered unexpectedly and now he had somehow contacted a random Gem in his dream who somehow knew his name.

"Steven? You don't... remember me?" The figure asked, beginning to tear up. Steven stood motionlessly infront of her. Thats when he saw that she had no pupils and that the oval-shaped, white and purple gem on her forehead was cracked very badly.

"Pearl? Is that you?" He asked her. The gem hugged him tightly.

"You remember!" She replied, letting him go.

"W-What happened to you?" He asked. Pearl sat cross-legged on the 'ground' and motioned for Steven to sit down too. Slowly, sat down infront of her and looked nervously into her blank eyes.

"Peridot managed to save me. Well, partially anyway. My memory is quite faded and I can only remember a few things. I'm somebody else now. I-" She stopped as she realised Steven was crying heavily. She hugged him. "Shh... Stop crying... It's ok..." Steven relaxed and stopped crying as she spoke.

She was ok. Well, not really, but she was still alive.

"Well, who are you now then?" He asked her, wiping the remaining tears out of his eyes.

"Well, I would guess I'm a Taaffeite but I'm not entirely sure if that's the case," She replied, looking at her hands. "If I'm remember correctly, gems become a Taaffeite when they are somehow revived while shattering. Though, my memories are quite faded... you'll just have to ask Peridot. Just call me Pearl for now. After all, I'm still me,"

"What's going to happen to you when I wake up?" Steven asked her.

"Again, you'll have to ask Peridot on that one," Pearl replied. "I've also no idea how and why you managed to contact me but let's hope that it's a good reason and not a bad one,"

"I think I'm waking up," He added, standing up. "I promise I'll help you!"

"I'll see you back in reality," Pearl replied, a broad smile upon her face. "Goodbye, Steven!"

"See you soon, Pearl!" He yelled as he began to wake up from the dream. "Bye!"