My first for-real SU fic heck yeah
It's been a longass while since I've written anything of this length or anything narrative so constructive criticism and comments of any kind are always a majorly cool thing if ya feelin it
Enjoy, nerds
Pearl became re-acquainted with reality in a certain, disjointed order:
Rain hitting stone, fire-smell, rain-smell; a blurred junglescape, copper in her mouth (how odd) and someone huddled nearby, nursing a small fire, and finally a general dull ache punctuated by searing pain.
She grunted and reached up to touch her own face; her left eye was swollen, her left leg in searing pain (wrapped up with moss and leaves, which would have been uncomfortable if the damn thing wasn't already broken) and with a vague sense of having been lacerated by a plant monster and thrown off a cliff she pulled herself up to a sitting position.
"Hm," she said.
The someone (that was Amethyst, wasn't it) turned around to face her; she was a little less worse for wear than Pearl, from what she could make out-cuts and bruises and a bad tear on her right arm, sure, but nothing seemed to be broken. Pearl huffed slightly as if to sigh in relief.
"Hey," Amethyst said. She seemed to have decided that the fire was doing alright and she'd leave it be.
"How long was I...out for?" Pearl groaned. It was difficult to speak. Or think, really.
"A while. I dunno." Amethyst was worriedly looking her over, and it dawned on Pearl that the moss and leaves wrapped around her leg couldn't have gotten there by themselves.
"...Right. Where did-"
"It ran off somewhere," Amethyst answered (most helpfully). She seemed to be back to her contrary (annoying) self.
"Amethyst-"
"-and yeah, the warp pad is on the other side of the island, neither of us is in good enough shape to deal with the vine thing, and I definitely can't fight while haulin' your butt around, so we're stuck here, I guess."
Pearl slumped back against the stone wall with an aggravated wheeze. She became aware that they were in some kind of small alcove, hidden by some large, iridescent ferns, and it was raining, and out there somewhere was a large violent thing that wanted them dead and they were all but defenseless against it.
"What about...can we contact Garnet, somehow?" Pearl asked.
Amethyst wiped her face in exasperation.
"Ugh. The other one is a seaweed version or something, remember? Bottom of the friggin' ocean. No way a signal would get through."
(Of course. Of course.)
"So the plan is," she started, "to sit here. And wait. And hope it doesn't find us?"
"Why do you think I built a fire?" Amethyst shrugged, poking said fire with a stick.
Pearl blinked.
"Point taken."
They were silent for a while, then; Pearl concentrated on the sound of the crackling flames, the rain hitting the leaves, trying to achieve some meditative state where half of her body wasn't in god-awful pain.
"Man," Amethyst mumbled, shielding the fire with a fern leaf, "I'd probably sell you out to the diamond authority for a cup of cocoa right now."
"I'd let you. I'm sure their medical staff is excellent." Pearl tried cracking a wry smile but her face wasn't quite dexterous enough for it; whatever the effect was, it made Amethyst laugh, and that was alright, at least.
It was no secret that things had been strained between them for a while now (between all three of them. Everything was "strained", really. Couldn't be helped) but they hadn't really discussed what happened at the kindergarten in any great detail-there just hadn't been time, really. Steven was still the priority after all, even over their own internal conflicts, and there was still so much they couldn't tell him, and-
It was a difficult thing to talk about. But the fact that they weren't fighting now and Amethyst was laughing at her infirmity was a small victory.
Even if they were on the brink of death in a stinking jungle.
(Small victories.)
"Hey," Amethyst started, staring absently at the fire (it reflected in her eyes, they were always so dark), "d'you remember that one time I tried to milk an aurochs?"
Pearl sputtered.
"Of course! That was moronic! It destroyed three houses," she chided. "an absolute nightmare." And did nothing to make the humans trust them any more. What with their broken bones and burned houses.
"Pff. You were maaddd," Amethyst snickered, "And so was Garnet. And so was...well, I was planning to try making cocoa with it. I mean that hadn't been invented yet but that was basically what I wanted to do."
"So what you're telling me is," Pearl scowled, "you wrestled with a giant, angry animal and destroyed more than one building...to make hot chocolate."
"Or a nice krapfen," Amethyst chirped.
A confused beat.
"Enlighten me as to why this is relevant, hm?"
"I at least half-invented hot cocoa. In the most kick-butt way possible. I dunno why humans aren't worshipping me."
"Well," Pearl laughed (at least as much as she was capable of), "I might have...introduced them to the idea of aeronautics. Perhaps."
"Eh, mine was better," Amethyst gloated. She grinned briefly and stuck her tongue out (how utterly childish).
This conversation was ridiculous. But it was also right and peaceful somehow, nostalgic; they hadn't talked like this in a long time. Too long. Pearl was still weak, but the pain was beginning to lessen and there was a comfortable warmth spreading in her chest.
"Agreed to disagree," she said.
Amethyst opened her mouth, about to make some awkward quip-but was interrupted by a distant, terrible, and familiar shriek.
They both jumped, scurrying backwards to huddle against the wall, pressed shoulder-to-shoulder in the back corner of the alcove.
"Pearl, do you think-"
"Ssh, quiet!" Pearl hissed.
The shrieking continued, but seemed to be softening as the monster slithered away through canopy just outside the cave. Pearl and Amethyst tensed at the sight of a greasy tendril slipping through the leaves, then another, and then nothing.
It seemed to have passed them by.
"It's looking for us, isn't it," Amethyst said, quiet, voice wobbling.
"Yeah."
Pearl could already feel a headache coming on, her pulse quickening. She was never very good at this part of the job, the sitting-and-waiting-for-death part. The obstruction part. The dealing with Amethyst part.
"I'm s-sorry," Amethyst said suddenly, "for this. For you being stuck here with me."
(What?)
"What do you mean?" Pearl turned to face her, incredulous, "Amethyst, we've been over this, haven't w-"
They were close. Too close. Their noses brushed briefly and Amethyst breathed on her before a small, shocked inhale. Her chest was warm again and her belly twisted and she lost track of what she meant to say because Amethyst was there; her face took on an inappropriate shade of blue and she stuttered.
"We, ah," Pearl bit her lip, trying to remember what she was saying, "we've been over this. We're all...both...crystal gems, aren't we?"
"I don't...I guess I just-" Amethyst narrowed her eyes, shifted her gaze, looked everywhere but Pearl's face (impressive, considering; she was also blushing, so maybe it wasn't what it felt like). "I know you'd rather have Garnet here, 'cuz I'm not good at this, and we might die, and it's kind of my fault."
"Ah."
Pearl looked away. It was difficult to articulate anything like that, and she was rarely ever this close to anyone (physical contact was unnerving and she usually avoided it).
But here was Amethyst, and she needed some kind of reassurance, and there was some kind of looming death to think about, and her head hurt and it wasn't like she was ever good at that sort of thing anyway. And they were both just...there, together.
"Amethyst…" Pearl began, shutting her good eye in trepidation, "can we...sleep? For a while."
Now it was Amethyst who was confused.
"Wait-you-uh, sure? But...the vine-thing," Amethyst's brow furrowed, "and you're not any good at sleeping, geez, you don't even like to sleep-"
"C-can you show me?" she was acting quite out of character and slowly realizing she was out of her depth.
It was something Amethyst liked, and that was about all they could do in a rancid little cave, and the thought of being unconscious was genuinely a little bit tantalizing.
She heard Amethyst sigh before the hum and glow of a shapeshift; suddenly the alcove was full of white fur and very little legroom.
Whatever Amethyst had turned into looked suspiciously like Lion. (Inspiration can come from strange places, Pearl supposed.)
"Works better if you're not sleeping on a wet rock," Amethyst grunted, "since you're a rookie, I mean. I could probably do it," she shifted them both such that Pearl was reclined against her side, halfway into an infinite mess of hair (and excruciatingly comfortable), "b-but I won't, since someone needs to keep watch and all…"
"You can," Pearl mumbled, "I don't think I'll be too deep asleep. And, ah," she raised one arm in a valiant effort to wrap it around Amethyst's neck that culminated in a weak shoulder pat and a hand resting on her forearm, "I don't think it can find us if we don't move."
It was irresponsible. Definitely. But a good inference, and one not influenced at all by her desire to help Amethyst calm down.
"If...you say so, P," Amethyst said. She yawned impressively with her lion-mouth.
They were both silent for a moment, adjusting, settling, neither really sure what to say or what anything meant. It felt as if there were always layers to their interactions that defied any concrete understanding, and there was so much happening at that moment, and still nothing at all.
(Confusing. That's it.)
"So, uhm," Pearl said, "what should I do?"
She meant about sleeping.
"Uh, just...breathe...I guess. Don't concentrate on anything. Don't think too hard."
"You mean humans literally suffocate themselves to achieve this?"
"You're totally missing the point, ugh. It's like-well, it's like your brain goes blank and then you can't control your thoughts anymore. And then you see stuff. It's weird. But cool. I mean, usually."
"Loss of oxygen can cause hallucinations."
"It's hard to explain that part...don't worry about it. Just breathe with me."
Pearl turned her head slightly, hiding the slight blue of her cheeks in Amethyst's mane.
"Alright."
You are not one person, and you are not two people. You are an experience-
"Pearl."
-do you...know who I am?
"Pearl."
This is why we don't-
"PEARL!"
Pearl blinked. Something was loud, and she could feel herself being jostled. She tried to swipe whatever it was away, only to be met with scarred cheek-flesh.
"A...Amethyst," Pearl groaned, (she was back in her own form now, how long?) "what is it?"
"Plant thing's back, oh man, this is not good-"
"What?"
The shriek, again, the deathly hiss of vines slithering against stone-
Vines were struggling out of the cracks in the walls, through the ferns, around their ankles; Amethyst was trying to burn them off, claw at them, only to have them resurge the minute they were torn.
"We have to-Pearl, we need your spear, or something, I can't get through-"
Normally for Pearl, drawing her weapon was like breathing, thoughtless, automatic.
Today was not a normal day.
"I'll try, I'll-aaAAH!" she yelled as a vine snaked around her good arm, a slimy vicegrip-she cursed loudly, trying to concentrate on summoning her weapon somehow without gestures.
She squeezed her eyes shut, accessing that channel, that flow of energy and information through her gem, conceptualizing, concentrating, corporealizing.
Pearl opened her eyes to a loud shriek, a flash of fire, and the sight of her spear embedded in a tree ten feet away from the cave opening.
They enjoyed a good two seconds of bewilderment before the vines began to move again.
"Good enough!" Amethyst shouted, throwing Pearl unceremoniously on her back as she broke through the opening, grabbing Pearl's spear as they passed.
Everything was eerily quiet; the jungle became shadowed, threatening, the rain and Amethyst's pounding footsteps and the ever-closer pursuit of the monster the only sounds to be heard.
(Actually quite dire, honestly.)
Amethyst must have been in much worse shape than either of them thought; she was limping and wheezing and tripping over roots and fallen trees in their path, and the vines were gaining on them and the warp pad was nowhere to be seen.
"Amethyst, Amethyst-" Pearl's voice was getting weaker, and it surprised even her.
"I can do this, I just have to get to the other side, I-" she screeched, slicing at a vine with the spear, and another, and another, giving a guttural yell at each slash.
It was too much and they both knew it. Time was running short.
The luminous, single yellow eye of the monster rose into their field of vision, atop a long, twisting neck, a mouth of gnashing teeth, pupil dilating and contracting, pausing its pursuit for a moment to stare them down, circle them.
"What are you lookin' at?" Amethyst snarled, knees shaking with exertion (fear too, plenty of that).
Pearl hauled herself up to Amethyst's ear, squeezing her shoulder to get her attention, or just to comfort, or whatever else.
"Amethyst, we ha...f-fuse with me," Pearl rasped.
"We can't, Pearl, no time," Amethyst reached for her weapon, but Pearl stopped her again (what a pig-headed idiot she was)
"We...can. I think we can, and if w-we can't, it's...over anyway, isn't, isn't it?"
Amethyst looked at the eye, the vines, the teeth, at Pearl's fingertips, and exhaled heavily.
"Okay."
She let Pearl down off of her back, gingerly letting go of her as she stood up, quivering.
Her leg had healed somewhat, enough that it wouldn't collapse under her, but it hurt, burned, made her eyes water. It would have to do.
They forewent the bowing and began dancing.
Pearl considered, in the part of her mind that worried about these things, that they were currently performing the worst, ugliest fusion dance in the history of their race; the steps were muddled by quaking legs and shuffling to avoid vines, and Pearl stumbled at every step, her face wet with tears and perspiration. (It was utterly atrocious.)
They kept their eyes on each other, and that was...new. Amethyst's eyes were dark as ever and bloodshot, and she assumed the same was true for her; but she felt it, the lessening of distance, the rising energy, the ebb and flow and erosion of her own self-
"Keep the spiritual stuff to yourself, huh?" Amethyst grinned, and Pearl found herself smiling back more and more because she was Amethyst and Pearl and then she was Opal, unified.
(Steven's silly little song came to mind, as it often did.)
Opal took her stance, the sudden burst of energy from the fusion having cleared the vines around her. She centered herself in her being at that moment, her two halves indistinguishable; how odd.
With the monster screeching in shock and reeling backwards, she had a few seconds to draw her weapons-whip in one hand, spear in the other, striking upwards and serendipitously slashing a few tendrils as she brought both of them together.
Her weapon, her bow, there it was.
The ground began to tremble, the creature's shrieking piercing the air, sending shocks up through Opal's legs (Amethyst's uninjured ones seemed to have evened them out, or however that worked)
She leapt up as the ground split open, its roots shooting up and weaving together, locking her in and tightening to impenetrability.
As the wall of vines pressed her down and downwards, she drew back the bowstring, her own magic burning to life as arrows, light searing in the dark; she counted.
(One, two, three, and…)
The strike.
Opal's arrow burst through the roots, shooting high above the roof of the jungle, bursting spectacularly in an opalescent blaze.
Both of her halves accused the other of being a show-off. That was at least partially true.
The monster was deafening now; out of vines, out of roots, it began snapping its needle-teeth at Opal, lightning-fast, narrowly missing her left and right. Its eye glowed with rage, its single pupil contracted to a slit and it howled.
Opal reasoned that that was where its gem was (what did it matter now, this was a bit less about long-term goals and a little more about survival) and she pulled back her bowstring again, began counting.
She had to get the thing to sit still somehow, and she had a few paltry milliseconds to solve that problem before she was a sitting duck and it ripped her head off-
(Ah, but was looking at her, wasn't it?)
"...Two, three…" she whispered, locking her knees as it dove in to strike again, "one."
The force of the impact was close enough to her that she was thrown backwards, thrown out of herself, split in two again, and Pearl and Amethyst came down hard onto the ground, the mist of a successful kill swirling around them.
A round, yellow gem glittered nearby, but that could be dealt with later.
She was laughing. They were both laughing. Pearl felt as if her chest might implode, and she hurt all over, but they'd made it, they'd done it, somehow. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and didn't even matter.
"P-pearl," Amethyst panted, rolling over to look her in the eyes again (she was crying a little too, but maybe that was just Opal), "you know what?"
"Hm?" Pearl grinned at her (again, as best she could).
"You know how I hate it when you're right?" she breathed, "I really hate it when you're right. Like a lot."
"We're not dead," Pearl giggled, "are we?"
Somehow (and maybe this too was Opal, they'd never been that...well, fused before) they ended up mashed together in a rib-crushing, sensation-affirming, I'm-glad-to-be-alive-and-I'm-glad-you're-alive embrace on the ground, filthy and bruised and crying and laughing all at the same time.
That was unclear, to be sure. But it was very much Amethyst who decided that was the right time to tenderly, passionately kiss Pearl square on the mouth (with little to no pretext).
And it could be argued it was the right time, all things considered.
Just a bit of a shock.
"Wha. Whuh. What?" Pearl stammered, neon blue in the face and gem glowing slightly.
"What?" Amethyst seemed completely bewildered at having done it at all.
"I...ah, I well, that is, that was…we're..." Pearl was having a difficult time articulating anything, and Amethyst was just staring at her blankly.
The second time it was also unclear who initiated it, but it wasn't Opal, not in the slightest; Pearl appreciated in that moment (aside from the taste of Amethyst's mouth, her breath, being able to run her hands through Amethyst's debris-laden and slightly singed hair) that they were two people, and she was Pearl, and Amethyst was Amethyst and they could still be separate but together, and that was well worth having survived for.
Unfortunately Amethyst still had to carry a barely-lucid Pearl back to the warp pad (her leg was a lot more broken and there was nothing to be done, really) and they held onto each other in the stream and tried not to worry about what would happen when they went home.
It was dark, and they had no idea how long they'd been gone; hours or days, maybe. Amethyst tried her best not to wake Steven all while touting an equally clingy and uncooperative Pearl.
"Ame...Am'thyst," Pearl mumbled, "someone...s'mun needs t'watch Steefen."
"Garnet can do that," Amethyst replied, "I'm sleeping. So are you."
"But-"
"She already said she would, remember?"
Pearl squinted.
"Yes," she said.
"Yup. So you're coming with me," Amethyst quipped (well, tried to, anyway; her gruff, tired voice didn't sound particularly flirtatious).
"Hmph." Pearl just stuck her face further into Amethyst's neck, wondering if she should complain or not.
She didn't.
As Amethyst and Pearl disappeared through the temple door, Steven looked on quietly, feeling as if he had seen something he shouldn't have.
"I told Garnet not to watch me a long time ago, jeez," he grumbled, pulling the covers back over his head.
*insert star transition here*
i wrote this basically all in one sitting, that was nuts. (Remember kids, espresso is technically a drug.)
Anyway I hope you enjoyed, it was fun to get back into writing shippy garbage after so long.
