Author's Note: Hi there! This is my very first Steven Universe story, one that I'm very excited about! I'm making it my goal for the summer to write and finish as many stories as I can. I especially want to go back and finish other projects I had once been working on as well. As for this story, Broken, it's going to be a slow burn Pearlmethyst story - but kind of backwards! As the story progresses, you will understand what I mean. I hope you enjoy reading it!
- Sloth

Chapter 1
Earthquake

Steven and Connie ran through the shoreline, chasing a small seagull. Instead of taking off and spreading its wings, it kept its spindly legs on the ground, running as quickly as possible. The kids laughed as it let out a playful squawk, before flying away. They fell to the ground, gasping for air through lighthearted laughter. Connie reached over and grabbed Steven's hand, hesitantly. Their fingers intertwined, and Steven squeezed her hand softly. Their eyes twinkled, puppy love radiating off of them in thick waves.

When the first quake shook the Earth, Connie rolled into Steven's side, afraid. She latched onto his belly, their hands gripping together for dear life. After she realized that it wasn't passing, Connie sat up and looked for the Crystal Gems. Garnet was leaping down from the temple porch, running towards them. Amethyst was hot on her trail. The fusion was screaming something, but because of the crumbling of the rocks, it went unheard.

"Connie, lay down!" Steven pulled her back down and rolled on top of her, his body forming a large, pink bubble. Large, stone slabs from the top of the temple statue fell all around them, bouncing off of the bubble in tandem. Steven held her tight, fear resonating around them, until their bodies began to meld together. Stevonnie held themselves by their knees, forming a tight ball. The bubble that surrounded them glowed even brighter, strengthening.

When the earthquake stopped, after what felt like hours, there was a loud cracking noise, and the sound of a piercing scream.

"Pearl!"

Amethyst's alarmed tone popped the bubble, and the two kids broke apart, dazed.

"Pearl, please, talk to me," Amethyst was leaning over the tangled body of her teammate, tears welling in her eyes. "Please…"

Her voice cracked in the same way that Pearl's gem had. Steven leapt up and bounded over, his hands frantically trying to gather spit from his dried mouth. Of course, it didn't work. It never worked. Garnet grabbed both he and Connie up into her arms and retreated into the house, leaving Amethyst alone with Pearl, who was slowly retreating back into her cracked gem.

"Garnet...what can we do?" Steven begged, tugging on the gem's hair. She looked down at him with a small frown.

"I'm...not sure, Steven. I didn't see this. This wasn't a possibility - this wasn't a route that we could take." She paused for a breath, allowing them to take in her words. "For now, I'm going to take you to stay with your father."

"But, Garnet -"

"No buts, Steven. If I don't know what's happening, I don't know how to keep you safe. You have to listen to me. There might be something lurking in the temple, and I need to make sure you don't get hurt."

The young boy was quiet. He found Connie's hand and held it tightly, his mouth a straight line.

"You're right."

Amethyst jumped from the warp pad and made a beeline for Rose's fountain, holding Pearl tightly in her arms. It scared Amethyst how much Pearl had started to feel like a ragdoll, her limbs flopping every time Amethyst's feet would hit the ground. However, it wasn't as bad as feeling Pearl's physical form flicker almost every second.

"C'mon, P! You'll be okay," Amethyst grunted, gently leaping into Rose's tears, laying Pearl flat in the soothing water. "You've gotta be okay, for us. For me."

The purple gem scooped up cool water and dribbled it onto Pearl's gem, being careful to keep the water away from her face. Strawberry blonde hair, once held back into a tight bob, floated aimlessly in the water. Amethyst ran her fingers through Pearl's locks, tears bubbling in her eyes.

At first, there was no response. Pearl was as lifeless as the stuffed animals that Steven kept at the foot of his bed; the ones that Pearl tried to pretend to be when she would watch Steven while he slept. However, Amethyst didn't stop. She continued to lift water onto the cracked gem, until the tears started to spill from her own eyes. They started to fall, landing on Pearl's cheek. Amethyst pulled the lithe gem closer into her, sobbing into the crook of Pearl's neck. Suddenly, without warning, Pearl retreated into her gem, which fell into the water.

Amethyst scrambled to lift it out, but as she did, she noticed the faint glow that was emitting itself from the crack. It lasted only a moment, but when it was over, Pearl's gem was just as perfect as it had been before. Amethyst held the gem to her chest and let out a long sigh, before stepping out of the healing water.

She and Pearl had been in a relationship for only a few months, but it felt as if it had been a lifetime. After that day in the kindergarten, when Amethyst had run away, they began to get closer. Time helped them regrow the severed bonds they held between them, until their relationship was as good as new again. With Peridot, Lapis, and Jasper living at the barn, reformed and as friendly as they would ever be, it gave Pearl and Amethyst the chance to delve deeper into their feelings for one another. There was nothing to worry about; life had been pretty good.

Until that surprise earthquake, that is.

Apparently, Garnet hadn't even seen it in her future vision. It was never an option; there wasn't supposed to be an earthquake. Yet, the moment it struck was the moment Pearl was doing laundry on top of the gem statue. It was an ever other day task, something so trivial, something so simple. Yet, the quake shook the statue apart, and with the tumbling of the rocks, down came Pearl. At least, Amethyst assumed that was what happened. It was the most logical explanation that she could think of.

Garnet waited for Amethyst by the warp pad, her temperament as cool and collected as always. However, there was something about her demeanor that seemed more forced than usual.

"How is she?" Garnet stopped the smaller gem, crossing her arms over her chest. "Did it work?"

"Yeah. Can you tell if she's gonna be alright?" Amethyst shifted on her feet. "You know, for real for real."

Garnet hesitated. "I...can't see." The two gems inside of her grew anxious, one with anger, and the other with silence.

"What do you mean you can't see?! What's gonna happen to her, what's gonna happen to all of us?" Amethyst shouted, shaking from uncertainty. "I just got her, I can't lose her now!"

"We - I know, Amethyst!" The taller gem snapped, holding her temple in pain. "I just can't see! Something's blocking my powers."

"Well," Amethyst tried to calm herself, more for Garnet's sake than her own, but found it difficult. "What should we do? Without your powers, everything is a wild card -"

Garnet suddenly broke apart, the two smaller gems falling to the ground. Ruby was up in an instant, pacing back and forth, biting her nails. Sapphire was frozen, the ground beneath her becoming cold and frostbitten.

"...Ruby? Sapphire?" Amethyst whimpered, her voice soft with confusion. "What happened?"

"Sapphire won't unfreeze! Nothing will melt her ice! I mean, I'm sure I can unfreeze the ice on the floor, so moving her won't be an issue, but it's like her insides are frozen! I was trying to keep us together, trying to keep everything together, but -"

Amethyst grabbed Ruby's shoulder, stopping the girl in her tracks. Her fingers burned at the touch, causing her to wince, but she didn't let go.

"You guys don't need to do this alone, whatever this is. It's time for us to figure it out in the best way that we can."

Strategizing was not Amethyst's strong suit. Pearl had tried to teach her mathematics and statistics and analyzing things down to the tiniest detail, but the purple gem never caught on. She preferred to relax and take things as they came. However, she was willing to try, just this once. For Pearl.

"...okay." Ruby took a breath, steam billowing from her feet. She wrapped her arm around Sapphire's shoulders, calming down at her girlfriend's cool touch. Sapphire didn't budge, but the ice keeping her trapped to the ground melted away. "I'm listening."