"Oh, Steven! I just know you're going to love it!" Pearl exclaimed as she and the half-gem approached the temple's warp pad. Pearl had gotten news that the Homeworld warp had been fixed, and she was excited to finally be able to show Steven where and how she was made. She had prepared an air-tight space suit for him just in case there was a lack of oxygen on her planet. She was never told whether or not it contained the aforementioned chemical.
Steven leapt onto the warp pad, landing right beside the taller gem. He loved going to new places, and considering where they were headed, he had hoped to learn more of his mother. With a wave of Pearl's hands, light surrounded them, sending them to the central warp zone on Earth. Pearl led Steven up the main pad, and with an excited giggle, activated it.
It was the same as any warp, quick and just a tad chilly. Steven poked his head out for a moment to view the cosmos. He watched in amazement as planet after planet zoomed by, just before he was pulled back in by Pearl. Suddenly, the warping process was halted, just as they were closing in on Homeworld. "What on Earth...?" Pearl trailed off before looking out right on time to see their destination explode and crumble before her eyes. Pearl pulled her head back in and hastily returned the two of them back to Earth mid-warp.
As they were warping back to the temple, Steven watched Pearl's panicked expression turn into one of terror and sorrow. When they finally made it back, Pearl rushed to her room, taking no worry towards the boy that had tried to go after her, nor the other gems that were watching her retreat.
"What happened?" Amethyst asked.
Steven, realizing what he was doing, looked back in shock. "We... Pearl just wanted to show me where you guys were made... Where she met Mom... "
Amethyst's eyes went wide "You WHAT? Without us?!" She drew herself back "Wh-What happened? Why are you guys back so soon?"
Steven's face showed absolute horror "Homeworld... It-" "I see." Garnet interrupted. "I'm sorry to hear that, Steven."
Amethyst tugged on Garnet's arm and looked up at her, Garnet met her gaze and Amethyst gasped, knowing almost exactly what Garnet saw.
The following day, the gems were on a capture mission. Everyone was excited to go stretch their legs... All except Pearl. She was, for lack of a better word, devastated. And as always, Steven noticed even before they made it to the target's location. He was quite smart for his age.
Just before Pearl started moving along with the others, she felt a small hand tug on her shirt. She gathered herself before speaking. "Yes, Steven?" she inquired, looking down at him. "Pearl, you know I can tell when something's wrong. Please tell me what it is." Pearl could feel her throat tighten as she looked away for a moment and tried her best to hold back her tears.
"You sound so much like your mother, Steven." she said, managing a weak smile as a tear found its way down her cheek "I wished that you could have seen it. Where she and I had spent a majority of our lives... So you could learn more about her... So you could learn more about me. But now, I... " she was interrupted by Steven placing a finger to her mouth.
"It's okay, Pearl. Now let's get going before the others start to worry." he said, taking her hand in his and pulling her with him. Soon, they had caught up with the others only to learn that the rogue gem they were looking for had appeared and had already started lashing out.
Garnet looked over to Steven for a split second, whispering "I'm sorry we couldn't hold it off longer" before the monster stabbed through Garnet's head and made her - or rather, THEM - retreat back into their gems. Suddenly, they heard Amethyst yell "Pearl, Steven! Watch out!" before noticing the cracking rubble above them starting to fall.
Steven managed to escape with only a few scratches, but Pearl had become trapped! Her legs were stuck in the rubble and she saw the rogue gem starting to come after her. She heard what sounded so much like her leader's voice in the distance.
"Pearl!" she heard the voice call out. "Rose, I..."
"Pearl!" the voice called out again. "I'm so sorry, Rose..."
"Come on, Pearl!" The voice started sounding a tad more high pitched this time. "...Rose?"
