Guess who was playing Minecraft, again.

Pearl crept through a dark crypt. She had felt like she had been wandering the strange corridors for centuries, after she had gotten separated from the others. She had the unfortunate luck of misplacing her footing and falling a ways down to a strange part of the ancient building. She sighed inwardly as she replayed the events in her head.

The Crystal Gems had only been ten minutes into the mission when they had stopped in large, stone room within the ruins of an old gem church. Pearl gazed around. Strange markings were carved into the walls of the room and golden chalices, bowls, and pedestals were strewn about in a disorderly fashion. Discolored banners hung haphazardly in tatters against the wall. All stained glass windows on either side of the walls were permanently tinted a dark color as the glass seemed to have warped after many years without care. Everything was coated in a very thick layer of dust. She frowned slightly. Though she had never been involved in the more religious side of her culture, it was still a shame to see the placed left in such a state of array. Pearl was lead away from her disapprobation when she heard Amethyst speak up.

"Geez, who knew those uptight gems could throw one heck of a party?" Amethyst joked as she casually picked up a chalice and inspected it, "They didn't even invite me."

She threw the chalice over her shoulder. The gold goblet hit a decaying statue, causing to further crack and crumble. Instantly becoming heated from the repugnant act, Pearl felt inclined to chastise Amethyst for being so disrespectful with what little was left behind of the old, religious facility.

"Amethyst!" Pearl yelled in anger, "Have more respect for this place! It already in ruins and your habits are not helping the situation any!"

With instant hostility, Amethyst was quick with her retort, "MY HABITS? Oh okay, I see. I have to respect this place when the gems that use to own it didn't even care for it!? Look at this place! What's left to ruin? But I guess with my habits, I'm sure I'll find something to mess up, right?"

Biting back some of her anger, Amethyst smiled maliciously and kicked a bowl near her foot with incredible force toward Pearl, not allowing her the chance to speak when she saw her open her mouth to say something more. The petite gem dodged the object easily just as Amethyst expected, and the golden bowl was buried into the wall behind Pearl. Her smile melted down to a brooding frown. She turned away a began walking over to Garnet who was standing by a door on the other side of the room, not caring to continue lingering in the dusty, old room any longer now that her spirit was dampened by Pearl.

Pearl dodged the bowl gracefully and with relative ease. She was use to being Amethyst's target for mischief or anger after many years together. She was still going to continue her point, but stopped herself when she saw Amethyst with her back facing toward her, walking away. She decided to just furrow her eyebrows instead and click her tongue with a loud sigh. She couldn't believe there mission had already turned soured when it had only begun. She turned around herself, walking over to where the bowl had implanted itself into the wall, cracks spreading out from the source of impalement.

Pearl tugged the bowl out, figuring it would be more respectful to remove it instead of leaving it to be. After a few seconds of yanking at the worn and now bent object, she was able to free the thing. Standing a bit proudly at her accomplishment, she examined the bent metal to see if it was repairable. She did not notice the deep cracks that had spider-webbed further due to her actions.

A large cracking noise echoed throughout the room, the ground gave in underneath Pearl. Catching her off guard, she was unable to react fast enough and fell into an abyss of darkness alongside some large pieces of stone from the floor and wall. She felt a sudden sharp pain as she made impact with another, more sturdy stone floor. She felt more pain as piece of the floor and wall pelted her, leaving her in a dazed state. Dust and dirt flew everywhere.

"Pearl!" a cry of unison could be heard from above where Pearl had landed.

The two kneeled down beside the gaping hole in the ground. They looked over the edge of the opening to try and search for their friend, but the cloud of debris was too thick to make anything out.

"Pearl, are you okay?" Amethyst called out, but no reply was given. Garnet and Amethyst swapped looks, and their frantic eyes returned the aftermath of the cave in. After a minute or two of silence, the dust had finally cleared. The two could only barely make out the outline of Pearl among the piece of rock in the little light that casted down into the darkness from above them. Pearl moaned quietly as she began to stir amidst the rubble. She sat up slowly, the rocks covering her slipping off on either side of her. She was already feeling sore from fall.

She was covered in dirt and dust with a few cuts, but nothing major seemed to be wrong with her. She placed a hand on her head, but instantly flinched from pain. Withdrawing her hand, she saw that it was covered in blood from a deep gash near her gem. She closed her eyes for a moment and drew up the motivation to snap out of daze and try to stand up. She did, but with a bit trouble balancing herself. It took a moment before she was able to recover from her dizzy spell and realize the two odd shadows being casted on her. She placed her hand on her head again to try and slow the bleeding and looked up. She saw Garnet and Amethyst looking down at her with worried expressions on their faces.

"Don't worry, we're coming down to get you," Garnet's voice echoed down to Pearl as they began to get up from their kneeling positions.

Pearl stood there a moment, processing Garnet's words, until they finally sunk in. Her eyes widened as she felt the haze clouding her mind finally begin to wear off and be replaced with a dull pain.

"No, I'm fine. Don't come down here, we've already wasted enough time. We don't need to be wasting more wandering around in the dark," she replied back, stopping the other two gems for a moment, "You two will be able to find the gem faster if you stay on the correct path."

"The mission can wait, we're coming down for you," Garnet said authoritatively.

"Garnet, I'm fine, really," Pearl insisted, "just go and find the gem without me. I'll wait here and try to heal a bit until you two return." She squinted her eyes, trying to break through the darkness around her, but could see nothing, "Besides, I don't think there's anything down here."

Garnet was silent for a moment, seemingly considering Pearl's words.

"Only if you promise not to move from that spot," Garnet finally spoke.

Pearl quirked an eyebrow and looked back to Garnet. She felt as if she was being treated like Steven.

"I'm not a child, Garnet. I can stay put," Pearl scoffed.

"Pearl," Garnet warned, fixating a hard stare on her as she crossed her arms.

Pearl rolled her eyes, "I promise."

"Alright, then. Come on, Amethyst," Garnet turned and left out of Pearl's view.

Amethyst laughed a bit, her mood lightening up a bit after seeing Pearl being put in place by Garnet.

"Have fun," Amethyst smiled down to Pearl lazily as she waved and departed, too.

Pearl sat down on a large rock that fell down with her when the floor had collapsed. There was nothing but silence around her. She sat watching the dust particles floating around in the air for awhile, her body slowly healing itself, though she soon became bored. She looked around. She had appeared to have landed in another room of some sorts. Her curiosity piqued, but she quickly quashed the feeling and continue to remain where she was seated.

She sat for a long while in the darkness, just as promise, that is…

…until she began hearing strange noise to which she had gotten no response to when she called out in questioning.

Eerie would have been an understatement to describe the place as she peered around a turn in the dark hallway and saw faint, red splotches encase the black walls. They gave off a weak glow, but it was nowhere near enough to allow her to see what was ahead or even a couple of inches away from the smooth rock-like spots. She swallowed hard, something felt very off. She felt almost as if she was being watched.

She gripped her spear tighter, and brought it closer to her chest as she slid off the wall she had had her back against. Pearl took a glance behind herself to make sure there was nothing following her. She stood in silence, careful not to make too much noise and bit her lip. She had considered turning back and waiting at the location she had been separated from Garnet and Amethyst, but she continued her path down the hall. She had to keep moving forward, it was too late to turn back now. She had followed so many twists and turns up to this point, she highly doubted that she would even be able to find her way back.

Cautiously, she made her way further into the darkness. Soon, she could barely see anything at all. The red, illuminated parts of the wall were absolutely no help to her; she had to rely on the very dim glow of her spear as she guided herself by placing her left hand on the smooth walls of the hallways. The walls were cold and damp, but she was able to follow the curves and turns of the path as her feet lightly echoed in the empty space around her. She could only hope to be going, in some form, "the right direction", though ironically she had only been sticking to make left turns when the occasions presented themselves.

"I feel like I'm making no progress," Pearl said to herself with a hushed voice, breaking the silence that had been surrounding her for some time. Pearl stopped once more and tried to make out where she was in the darkness, but it was no use. She began to feel dispirited. She should have listened to Garnet. She began to sink back into her thoughts again.

What if they've already found them gem? Garnet will be so mad if she finds that I'm not there… I can't believe it; I'm actually starting to sound like Steven….Poor Steven. I'm glad he didn't come along. What if he were the one to have fallen instead of me?

Pearl smiled to herself lightly as she began to think of Steven. He was so sweet and cheerful; she wouldn't know what she would do if he ever got hurt. She continued to think of Steven for a moment and of a way to make up for denying him from coming on their current mission as she decided to keep moving.

Pearl was about to continue walking when she heard something in the dark.

Hey, look! An update. I told you guys I would updated (even though I'm extremely late). So, late in fact, that Pearl actually has a different outfit. I wanted to write more, but I gotta wake up early for school tomorrow, so sorry to leave y'all hanging with this poorly written chapter.

p.s. I don't really have a set plot for this, so I'm sorry if it's really obvious that I'm just winging it.