Two-String Duet

All right Pearl, focus… visualize the object… and begin!

"Twooooh! Haaaaaah!"

As her gem shone, Pearl managed to summon a white blob from it, which slowly transformed into a fine, polished violin. She had been present for the first showing of the instrument centuries ago, and she was forever marveled at the finesse of it. From several decades' worth of practice with it she could be considered a maestro with the stringed instrument, but her audience was always limited to the other Crystal Gems. Today however, she was not only extending her audience, but also having her first ever human audience, and an esteemed musician at that: Greg Universe.

Oh, Greg…

Pearl was still at a loss over yesterday's events. Why would a human, one in the path to fame and glory across the globe, suddenly turn back on the opportunity to immortalize himself for somebody he met one night? And why did she decide to entertain the human with the opportunity to draw closer to her? He had once again reduced his audience to a paltry number, and the possibility of turning back might have been forever lost to him. Most importantly though: Just what convinced him that she was worth his whole life and his dreams? She was not a great leader like Rose Quartz, nor had she saved her life or spent months living along each other like Ruby and Sapphire. Was he just trying to pretend he is a part of a bigger story than other humans are limited to?

She decided to put these thoughts to rest as she continued to tune her instrument. She needed some practice, even if she knew the melody she composed as well as the chambers of the Gem temple. A short, elegant melody swept through the fountains, old as notation itself yet ever enchanting to the ear. She loved her song as much as she did millennia ago, ever evolving, ever improving from its simple origins, it served as a reminder of how she evolved alongside the Crystal Gems. As she reached the final notes of her theme, the voice of a rascal rang behind her.

"Hey P! You seem to be stuck in Music Planet once more."

Fumbling the last note due to the surprise at Amethyst's sudden intrusion, she remembered she had setup a trial audience and had all completely ignored them throughout the whole practice session. Rose just giggled, though she had her head sunk and arms on her midriff as if trying to hold back all-out laughter, Garnet just sat there, staring. Her face was stoic as she usually is, but Pearl could feel some pressure coming from her. Finally, Amethyst was snacking some chips she probably found a few weeks ago opened in the beach. At least they were paying attention, and thus Pearl asked what any performer would ask to a trial audience:

"How did I sound?"

"Overall it lacked a bit of… umm… how do you say this? Nothing! Well except for that last note, no idea what happened to you there, but otherwise it was really cool."

"It was good."

"Beautiful as always, Pearl."

Pearl flashed a big smile. She always felt proud of pleasing her friends and especially her liege, their praises filling her with confidence for today's "date" as Greg called it. She was more than happy to introduce him to her own music capabilities, a fair trade for the songs last night which she found to be pretty good, though the last song specifically still lingered on her thoughts:

Do you believe in Fantasy? / I have to when it's right in front of me.


One of the best parts of Greg's van was that it was able to completely block almost all light from entering while he slept. On his days off the road back when he was still going on tours, he could often stay in and sleep all day, even if it meant that Marty would scold him at night and force him to rehearse a few extra hours. On the other hand, it was late morning when Greg was still dreaming about Pearl, which eventually led him to relive the last moments of his first night in Beach City:


His song finished, his declaration concluded, they laughed in tandem for a bit. The mystery girl had a smile he never seen on anyone else before, shy and cute, with some of her characteristic delicate elegance. He knew could not just finish on such a note though, and proceeded to make his move.

"Hey, if you really liked my music, I can play even more for you tomorrow at noon! An exclusive concert from Mr. Universe himself, how would you like that?"

"Well, now that you mentioned it, I think I might have a better idea, Greg."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"Well, I am a Gem of many talents, and you're not the only artist in this city."

Greg was not expecting that, but he was not going to deny the Pearl Lady an opportunity to play music with him if that's what she meant. Hopefully.

"Gotcha! I'll be looking forward to it… ummm… hey, what should I call you?"

The woman in front of him giggled a bit, before giving her answer:

"Pearl" she said before retiring back into the door with a smile.

So that really was her name.


Wait…

"NOOOON!"

Realizing that the beauty of a comfy, dark van could be a curse, as well that sleeping at 4:25 A.M. was never a good idea to repeat, Greg leapt from his mattress. He gave a quick look towards the small clock at the front of his van, and realized to his horror that it was 11:00 A.M. With such a limited time to change clothes, plan some songs just in case she might wanted to play some with him, and try to fix his hair into his usual do, he knew that any wasted time could probably spell an early doom with a girl such as Pearl. He dashed towards a box in the corner of his vehicle, filled with identical black shirts with a star on them, and hastily put the first one he could grab on him.

"Let's see, 'One Way Ticket'? Nah, that one's probably too metal. 'Let Me Drive my Van into your Heart'? Definitely. Take 'Comet' and 'What Are You Doing Here', as well. Skip 'Solar Flare', 'Passionate Alien', and 'Nebula'. Let's see, we can do a decent harmony here… a duet in this one would not be a bad idea… oh! I hope this arrangement for two of 'Let Me Drive my Van into your Heart' I wrote a while back actually works… OH DEAR IT'S 11:55!"

He barely had time to apply some gel to his wild hair, a measure only used in desperate situations like this. Fortunately, when he bolted out of the van at 11:58 A.M, he remembered that he had parked his van pretty much in front of the fence of the home of the Gems as he climbed over it as he was getting used to. He had considered completely smashing it with his van, but the gems were probably not going to appreciate the disaster it could cause. Once he arrived at the Gem home, he saw Pearl in front of him, alongside a giant woman he had never seen before. She was pretty impressive, having curly pink hair and a beautiful white dress. He noticed that she fitted his usual type, but by this point Pearl had taken over most of his thoughts and simply did not let go. Regardless, he went straight away to greet Pearl and the giant woman.

"Pearl! Good morning to you!"

"Hello Greg, I believe you're yet to meet my liege. This is Rose Quartz, and Rose, this is Greg Universe."

Liege? What have I gotten myself into?

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Greg."

"Nice to meet you too, Rose."

Rose smiled and seemed to whisper something to Pearl along the lines of "yo... .n ..our own n…" which caused Pearl to get slightly flustered, after which she talked again to Greg:

"Well, I'll leave you two for today, have fun in your concert Pearl!" Rose said before disappearing through the same device that had spawned "Garnet" last night, after which they started walking towards, talking all the while.

Oh boy, where do I start?

"Your liege?" Greg wondered aloud. He was familiar with the term from the few Medieval history books and novels he had read, but he never though anyone would use it nowadays outside a play or movie. Pearl's answer, however, was even more surprising:

"Yes, Greg. Rose Quartz is the leader of the Crystal Gems, and I am her knight. Millennia ago, we arrived here on Earth and decided to stay and become its protectors. That might also explain to you the Warp Pad you saw Rose and Garnet use I hope."

What.

It all sounded like it came out from one of his songs: They came from space, yet they decided to stay here. They have lived for longer than any human if they are to be believed, and they have technology that, if it is anything like the comics he had been reading, can warp space to travel long distances in seconds. And yet they all looked and acted like they were no more than 30 years old in the case of Rose, and probably less than 20 for the rest.

This is one heck of a ride I've gotten myself into.

Then again, it probably was what he wished for when he came back: A unique life.

"Woah! That must've been one crazy life you've had so far!"

"Well yes, you could call it a "crazy life" by your standards." Pearl responded.

"So, what was the idea you talked about yesterday?"

"I'm glad you asked. I consider myself to be well versed in the art of music, and since you presented a fine display yesterday, I decided that for today's… meeting, I should return the favor with my own performance."

Oh, so she's also a musician! Greg's eyes seemed to shine like small sparkles, fascinated by this discovery. However, there was something bugging him about what she just said:

"No way, you can sing?!"

Pearl just smiled and continued her introduction:

"I guess you could say that, but it's not my specialty. Instead, I was thinking of an instrumental solo concert."

Now he was just confused further. Pearl had no instrument in her hand, no case, and even if she could somehow store a theoretical small instrument in some pocket, her top, leggings and leg warmers (she still uses them? In the beach?!) ensured that was not the case. There was no place she could be hiding any practical instrument he knew of. They eventually reached a point in the peninsula of the temple, somewhat far from it but not too close to the water. It was the perfect place to enjoy the summer sun and breeze, as Greg settled down on the sand.

"So, I was meaning to ask, were you meaning to borrow my guitar? Since you mentioned you were using an instrument and, well, you don't have any?"

Pearl just stared at him in silence, until she seemed to recall something which caused her to blush slightly. She quickly recovered her composure though, and shut her eyes as she smirked:

"Oh, Greg; there's a lot you don't know about us gems."

Before Greg could think about what could that mean, Pearl opened her eyes, and what happened next was… confusing. First thing he knew, Pearl turned her back on him, crouched and jumped while turning around, staying in a pose akin to a frightened seagull, before she exclaimed a strange voice:

"Twooooh!"

She then performed a small dance which ended with her on a pose which had her body lowered to her left, one leg extended and one bent, with her hands surrounding her gem as she chanted once more:

"Haaaaaah!"

With this exclamation, her gem began to shine as it produced a sort of white orb, which instantly transformed into the finest, most polished violin Greg had seen in his whole life. The proportions were perfect, the violin shone enough to stand out, but not quite to the point where it could be used as a blinding weapon, while the bow and strings looked as new as they could be. He was still admiring the instrument's craftsmanship when Pearl rose her voice

"The violin has been my faithful companion ever since your kind mastered the bowed strings, and I have perfected my technique for the last three centuries: Today you will have the privilege to be an audience to a concert of the ages!"

She's even got her showmanship nailed down. The only doubt left was whether she would be able to back her talk, as she raised the wooden instrument to her chin, her bow to the strings and closed her eyes to focus:

The first few seconds of her melody were enough to make Greg forget his surroundings for a moment: each note was timed and measured perfectly so as to increase the impact of each of these, and together they flowed as they were required to do so. Sometimes he could picture a peaceful stream as her delicate movements flowed seamlessly into each other, creating anything from a sorrowful requiem to a dreamy sonata. At the next moment, she would create a waterfall as her style switched without missing a beat into a majestic cyclone, creating a violent movement or a joyful impromptu. He had already heard many of these pieces while he was studying musical theory, yet none of them were played with the precision or emotion that Pearl put into these. She was even able to play the Ysaye Ballad solo, one of the most technical pieces Greg knew of in any instrument without losing her composure or missing any notes. Once she had finished this first selection of songs, she lowered her instruments, opened her eyes for the first time this whole time, and took a small bow. Greg could not believe what he just heard or saw. He clapped, even though he did not know if it was enough congratulations towards the single best musician he had ever seen. His thoughts were interrupted by Pearl's soft voice:

"Thanks, how did I sound?"

"It was fantastic! I've never seen such a perfect technique on a musician ever before!"

Pearl gave another bow with a smile on her face, before positioning her violin once again. There's more?!

"It seemed as if you recognized some of the songs I just played. But now, I shall play my own compositions if you please."

With stars on his eyes, he was only able to reply with a soft yet excited voice:

"Please do go on."

Closing her eyes once more, this portion was much shorter than the former, as it consisted of three songs:

The common theme between the first two songs was an elegant sound that would transition into a lively tune. The first tune did not even clock in at a minute, but it somehow managed to have some hints of ragtime and swing music in a violin piece… yet he noticed how some of the notes could probably be supported by another instrument. As soon as this melody ended, she transitioned into a fast-paced song which would not be out of place in a fast dance or a duel in a movie. Once again, while the song was incredible, he noticed it could very much do with a sort of extra. Her performance was perfect, but these pieces seemed incomplete.

The last tune started slow and continued that way, and while the elegance was still there, it seemed to be more emotional and reflective. It was a nostalgic piece, as if it stored memories of someone she knows. Again, the performance was perfect, but his time, Greg could not help himself. He pulled out his guitar and started to map out chords while Pearl played:

C to E7, then F to G, pretty simple.

Same thing, but a bit softer.

Repeat the first two chords, but transition into Bb7 and A7

and then we end with F to Fm, then G to G7.

He was barely finishing to map these when she heard Pearl clear her throat. Whoops.

"Greg, I trust you are paying attention to what I prepared for today."

"I am! Sorry about that, but can I ask you to repeat that melody you just played? I just had a great idea!"


Pearl looked at him with some distrust at first, but then raised her instrument once more. As she closed her eyes and began to play, she heard a harmony in tune with her melody. She liked the sound of this new version of the song she had composed for Rose, and followed suit to what was undoubtedly Greg's music. It was still a bit rusty, being his first time playing the song, but she admired the sincerity in his style of performing. It also gave her some liberty to play with the notes in her song which led to a small margin of error. Yet when they had finished, she knew that her oldest song had just been improved by the addition of a new factor into the equation.

"Greg… how did you figure out a harmony so quickly?"

Greg laid down and begun to narrate a bit:

"You know, when I was younger, I was always assigned to harmony roles in school bands or performances. I never enjoyed being in the sidelines, and thus I tried long and hard to be the rock star I wanted to be. I never really got a starring role in any group performance, but as I grew I realized that once you learn how to follow a melody, composing a song became a matter of just finding a good progression and then applying your own notes."

Pearl found it hard to believe that a performer who could carry a song on his own would ever had trouble leading a melody. Then she realized that compared to her own, his songs were mostly harmony instrumentally while the melody was carried by his voice. They were created to take advantage of his difficulty at creating at creating a melody him to play and instead focused on a strong harmony to his voice.

"Well, you seem to be a solo act as well, Greg. I wonder if you ever composed a song meant to be played by two?"

"Actually, I brought two songs that you're yet to hear, but I think they could be improved with an extra voice or instrument if you're up for it. Wanna give it a try?"

"It would be an honor, Greg." For the first time, she saw Greg truly blush, even if it was a bit. It was cute and satisfying to see the tables turned for once on him, I should probably try that every once in a while.

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to perfecting two songs on duet. The first song they tried was one of Greg's first songs, "Let me Drive my Van into your Heart". It was considerably shorter than "Comet", but it still had a bit of the space theme that characterized him. This duet focused on having both the violin and the guitar serve as a double harmony to the main voice, with Greg's guitar focusing on stronger, lower parts, while Pearl's violin focused on a high and soft accompaniment to emphasize the melody. The two combined led to a harmony that supported the melody of the lyrics while having a huge musical range.

The second one was an extremely different though. It had nothing to do with space, it was hardly "rock" at all, and was very different in tone to the song Greg dedicated to her at the temple.

"I wrote this before I even tried to test my luck at stardom, mostly to help me through a slog I went through after dropping out from college. It reminded me that there could be so much more to life than simply making money, and it is one of my shorter ones."

"You don't seem to have a harmony notation for this one though, so why do you consider it a duet?"

"Oh! I think a gave you the guitar sheet. Here, take this one."

Pearl scanned the piece of paper Greg gave to her. This song only seemed to have one note played at a time, which should make it easy… until she noticed the lyrics and movements on each note. It was no instrumental duet it seems.

"W-wait, you want me to sing this with you?"

"Well, you said you could do it, even if it is not your specialty. It should be fine though, and we can practice it as much as we want if you don't get it right at first."

"… Alright, let's see how this goes."

The song called for the alto voice to initiate the song while following the main vocal melody. It then transitioned into a duet with the medium voice following the lyrical melody, while the alto went into a high harmony. It then switched between the two voices for different verses, until it culminated in a reprise of the opening, with the medium initiating and the melody being given to the alto. Since there's no time like the present, Pearl began to practice her part right away:

Bright sunny day, / Don't cost nothing.

Light summer breeze, / Don't cost nothing.

What do I do / With all this money?

When the only thing I want is you?

And the tables turn on me yet again, she thought as her face heated up with blue, something that Greg seemed to have noticed as he giggled at her. She was not entertained with that though.

"What are you laughing at? Greg! Don't tease me like that!" After which she shoved him playfully, strongly enough to make him move a bit, though he just kept on laughing. "Seriously, we need to finish this song Greg, even if it is somewhat embarrassing."

She got over that quickly enough though, and by the time night fell, the song combined Pearl's high and powerful voice with Greg's energetic medium voice for a truly beautiful duet.

When they had finished practicing the duet for the night, they sat down on the white sands and spoke a bit before leaving:

"Greg, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"Why did you decide to stay here?"

"Heh, you already know it: You're my dream to follow!"

"Well then, another question: Why am I worthy of being your dream? Why was I worth sacrificing everything you wanted prior to last night?"

"Oh, Pearl… Well, any youth with some talent, luck and practice can make it big in this world. They can become rich and famous, and have their name known all over the globe. However, all of them seem to eventually fall. I do not know how does it happen or for what reason, but in a few years, months, or even weeks, the fame and fortune disappears or becomes irrelevant and useless. I knew very well that's what could happen to me in a few years, especially with the manager I had."

"Wait, is that why you said…"

"I'll crash like a comet, yeah. It was a bad long term plan, but it was the only one I had I could maybe enjoy with my music. And I'll admit that this plan might not be the best in the long run either."

"So why did you decide I was your dream?"

"Because if my destiny is to eventually crash down for any reason, then I'm glad it will be with the cutest, most interesting and lovable person I've ever met."

Oh my Stars.

As her face boiled and flooded with cyan, Pearl was still unsure of what to make of this: Greg was by far the most pleasant and interesting human she had met in her long existence, and she was perfectly fine with having him as a close friend to play music with and talk a lot. He made human culture far more interesting to her than she ever thought she would. However, Greg was crossing into the same territory Pearl had over five thousand years ago. Five thousand years ago, Pearl knew that neither staying with Homeworld nor with Rose were safe options. Both paths could end with her shattered, or both could end well. She quickly decided to stay and fight for her liege and they eventually won the war, but this closed her gates to far away worlds she missed, doomed many of her dear friends, and she had to face a harsh reality that she eventually understood: Rose made her interests clear time and time again, falling in love with human men while she was still around. Seeing how this cycle never ended, Pearl eventually accepted that she would never have the full relationship she wished to have with Rose.

Tonight, Pearl was Rose Quartz, and Greg was her young and naïve self over 5000 years ago, even if the stakes were not nearly as high. And she was unsure of what to do. But at least she could smile at the compliments.

"Greg, thanks."

"Huh?"

"Thanks for playing music with me today. If it's not too much to ask, can we do this regularly?"

If there was one thing Pearl found cute about Greg, it was that magical shine in his eye that appeared whenever he was determined or joyful. If all humans could show such happiness, then she might have understood why Rose loved them unconditionally. She giggled at his flustered face while he tried to reply:

"Y-yes, I'll be living on my van close to here, so I'll try to visit every day!"

"Well, maybe not every day. I still have missions to go with my teammates or alone, but you're welcome to visit to the temple any time."

"Oh, ok, I understand that. I hope I'll see you tomorrow at least."

"I do hope so too. Well then, farewell Greg."

"Ok, I'll see you later!" Greg said as he waved and raced off to the other side of the fence. Meanwhile, Pearl walked back towards the temple, where she saw a tall, reddish figure.

"Hey Pearl."

"Hi Garnet, how did today's mission go?"

"We were able to neutralize the monster wreaking havoc in the Strawberry Field. How was your mission?" Garnet said while flashing her famous smirk.

"So apparently that counts as a mission now. Well, I'd say it was a success, my presentation was flawless, and we managed to perfect a few duets. And he might be coming here very often, so we'll have to get used to him."

"Well, I'd say you already did".

"-! G-Garnet!"

"Relax, I'm not one to judge. Besides, I think it'll be interesting to see how things go from here. Well, see you."

With that, Garnet began to make her way towards her room, but not before adding some last words:

"Oh! Pearl, there's one more thing I have to mention!"

"… what is it Garnet?"

"…Seems like we are back a bit over 5000 years into ago, doesn't it?"

With that, she disappeared into her room.

Garnet's words clearly had the intent of making Pearl remember something she was forgetting about that day. She thought alone in the stars for a long while, until she remembered an important fact: Rose never really had to make a choice, as Pearl chose her. And today, this was not Pearl's choice to make. Greg had already made up his mind and nothing she could ever do would change that. Besides, at worst, they become good friends for some time while at best… well, she did not know what could be the best outcome for both…

But she nothing was going to stop her from trying to discover it, and then achieve it.


And here it is! The second chapter of this story. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Some things I want to say:

1. The story format will chapter-based: each one will begin a new mini story separate from any other, but character development and important events will form an important part in future chapters.

2. This is the first ever original story I published in a fanfic. While it took me under a day to write the first chapter and a few hours to edit it, this chapter had been in the works for about 6 days prior, and while I am proud of it (at least, at the time of publishing), I can understand that it could turn out to have a few flaws. This is mostly because the person I know personally who provided the feedback for chapter 1 had a lot of things to take care of, and thus this chapter only has my own moderation and edition. So it is entirely possible that I might have made some critical errors at some point. As always, your feedback is highly appreciated, especially now that I'm going deep into Original stories, having to create dialogues from the ground up and stuff.

3. Just to say that I really thank you for reading this far, and I hope you have a great day. Next chapter should be coming out this week or the next! And thank you for your continued support.

-InazumaFrost