Disclaimer: I don't own anything, if I did I'd be rich.
A/N: After a long, LONG hiatus from writing anything, I've decided to take a swing at a rather odd one. It is not entirely historically accurate considering the crossover, but I hope you'll enjoy it. Please read and review, that way I can improve my writing.
Roses armory, a beautiful place that held some of Rose's most powerful weapons and most treasured . Sometimes Pearl could be found there, and although she couldn't activate any of the mechanisms that would allow her to view the treasures Rose collected, she enjoyed the memories that it brought for her. She danced in the middle where the pedestal would rise should Steven come in, listening to the light sound of water and moving to a song only she could hear. They were graceful steps, flourishes with a partner no one could see, and it wasn't until the pedestal activated did she sputter and stop.
"Pearl!" came the excited cry of a young half-gem half-human hybrid, and it wasn't long after that a large pink lion with Steven and Connie riding on its back appeared. Pearl couldn't help the small smile that hit her lips, watching the two children with such excited looks on their faces.
"Steven, how did you ever find me?" she asked, although one look at Lion was all she needed to know as he let them both off of his back, which was only confirmed when Steven ran up with stars burning in his eyes
"Pearl! We have something we wanted to talk to you about!" he said excitedly, moving away from her to go to the pedestal, following him with her eyes as Connie stood next to her, her sword in place at her hip on a belt
"We were wondering about those armor pieces, everything else looks like ancient gem tech, but those armors looked human." Connie said, looking up to her master as Steven began poking himself in an attempt to bring up the aforementioned armor pieces "We were talking about it and wondering why Rose had them."
Pearl couldn't help the excitement that had taken over her, they wanted to learn about the past exploits of the Crystal Gems! "Ooooh Connie, Steven!" she said, clasping her hands together as she went over to Steven, watching as the Heretics Anguish and the Axes of Ages appeared and disappeared. It was when the Armor finally appeared that Steven stopped with a holler of triumph.
"Mom had all of this stuff, but we don't really know what any of it is." Steven said, going around to the armor with a helmet best described as a bucket "This armor is way too small for mom to have worn, and it's too bulky even for you." Steven said, looking up at her "So who did it belong to?"
Pearl smiled gently before nodding, looking at the helmet with a bit of nostalgia. "These belonged to humans that fought alongside us, and in some cases assisted us against corrupted gems, and in one case even against a gem that hadn't been corrupted, but was still attempting to reactivate the Kindergarten as a sort of last hurrah I suppose." she said with a chuckle, looking as Steven and Connie moved to look at the armor, following them with a smile.
"So I might end up here." Connie said softly, earning a somewhat distraught look from Steven, and even Pearl couldn't help but feel an internal flinch from what Connie said. "I would certainly hope not Connie." she said softly as she rested her hand on an armor that had belong to a young woman that had fought alongside them, only to be killed by a misguided Church in the throes of heavy corruption "Most of these humans met horrible fates. They were betrayed, killed by their countrymen, and-" she paused, looking to the armor to the right before sighing "becoming corrupted themselves."
Steven and Connie both moved to it, looking up at the imposing armor. It had a red, torn cape with heavily layered red armor. A single belt was across his waist, keeping the leg armor on whilst two more belts held an impressively large bastard sword. Hanging around the armors neck was a thin string holding a golden cross. Inlayed in the gauntlet was a dragon, with it's tail wrapped around its neck. On it's back was the cross of Saint George, whose armor was also on display in the armory.
"What happened to him?" Connie asked as Steven went under the cape, looking at the rest of the armor with interest, and some awe. The armor was made for someone who was very tall, maybe as tall as Garnet. "You said some became corrupted when you looked at this armor."
"Yeah, what happened to this guy?" Steven asked, recognizing the cross from the Church that the Fryman family went to, although it was very different and far more ornate. "I thought only gems could get corrupted?" Steven asked as he turned to Pearl expectantly.
She looked at them and then back at the armor, sighing as she placed her hand on it's chest. "Prince Vlad Dracul the Third, Voivode of Wallachia." she said softly, earning a soft gasp from Connie "He never fought alongside the gems, he even actively stood against us when our mission took us into his country, but he…" she sighed and pulled her hand away before looking at Connie and Steven "He was something your mother regarded with deep regret."
"Why?" Steven asked, looking up at her with those starry eyes again, joined this time by Connie who looked even more excited. "What happened to him? What do you mean when you said he was corrupted!" Connie chimed in, looking as if she was going to be treated to an especially good story rather than a piece of history.
Pearl let out a sigh, looking down at the two before chuckling softly. She just couldn't resist Steven's starry eyes, not when they looked so much like hers. "It's probably best if we do this with Amethyst and Garnet as well." she said softly as she made her way to Lion, waiting for the children to hop on before getting on herself, since Lion would only ever let her near him if Steven was there. With how the two constantly asked questions even on the very short ride home, she could tell it was going to be a very busy day.