A/N: Just a word before the chapter begins, this story is going to get a little... heavy... in both mental health issues and violence. So, if anyone is affected by the events described in Heaven's Rose, don't be afraid to drop me a private message. The last thing I want to do is cause unease no matter how minor. If you enjoy my story, please give it a review and tell me what you think and also please don't hesitate to bring up something that could use improvement. As for now, enjoy.

Steven wasn't going to get any more out of anyone. That was for certain. So, he slumped himself on the couch. It seemed, recently, that there wasn't much to do in the ways of missions so it was probably going to be another boring day. Taking his phone from his pocket he quickly dialed Connie's number and hoped for an answer. What he got instead was her mother, Dr. Maheswaran… he never did get her actual name. "Is Connie around?" he quickly asked.

"No, she isn't. Unlike you, Mr. Universe, she attends school and won't be back home until after her Tennis practice." Dr. Maheswaran never did like the fact Steven didn't attend school and as a result, didn't necessarily like him full stop. Connie's dad wasn't much different, however he did at least show a bit more understanding towards Steven's situation.

"Ah, sorry to bother you!" He replied before hanging up. He forgot School was a daily thing. Sighing he began to fidget around, grabbing the attention of Garnet who was quietly reading further along the couch.

"Clothes possesed by gem shards again?" she asked. Shaking his head he simply stated he was bored. "I ungrounded you from TV, remember?"

Just then, the inner sanctum door opened and out came running a peculiar sight. It wasn't Pearl… it was a pale blue skinned woman. She had a panicked expression and looked around as if she was dreadfully lost. That was when Steven felt a gust of wind and saw a black blur speed past him. It was Garnet, charging with gauntlets at the ready.

"What the…" Steven jumped up and before he knew it, Garnet threw a powerful punch knocking the blue girl to the ground. She yelped in pain and Steven could see Garnet's mouth twisting into a raging frown.

"What are you doing here, you coward!?" Garnet snarled. Running in between the two women Steven raised his arms. He didn't know what was going on but he didn't like the look on Garnet's face. Even if it was half covered by her glasses. The blue skinned girl behind him began to shake and Steven could hear her crying. "Steven, please would you move so I can beat this cowardly pile of slag to a pulp?"

"No one is beating anyone up! Garnet, what's gotten into you!?" Steven didn't budge. He was confused as to what the hell was going on but that wasn't important. He couldn't stand by whilst a defenseless, panicking girl had the tar beaten out of her. No matter who she was, that was wrong. It wasn't in his nature to allow such uncalled for violence.

Amethyst came rushing in through the inner temple door and when she saw what was happening she froze. "What the hell's happening in here? Garnet, who is that?"

"No one you need to concern yourself with. Steven, I'm going to count to three." Even through her reflective glasses, Steven knew she was staring right through him. He was an obstacle to her at the minute and that thought frightened him to no end, what did this girl do to get Garnet to act like this? Even still, Steven didn't move an inch. Partly because he wanted to protect whoever this girl was and partly because he was simply frozen in fear.

Garnet was always so calm and collected, in other words, completely opposite to how she was acting right now. Seconds felt like hours as the two stood off against each other. The blue girl had all but gone silent and Steven could only hear her heavy breathing. Sweat beads began to form on his forehead and a lump was forming at the back of his throat. This was a bad idea, he really didn't want to get into a fight with one of the people he considered to be his closest friends. That said, Steven was adamant on not moving, not until Garnet had calmed down.

He was absolutely certain Garnet wouldn't harm a hair on his body but that still didn't stop the primal fear pumping through his veins. Even Lion had all but gotten the hell out of dodge and he was never affected by anything!

That was when the inner temple door opened for the third time and out came sprinting Pearl… dressed only in a towel wrapped around her pure white body. "Wait! Don't hurt… huh?" She trailed off as she saw the spectacle unfolding. Unlike Amethyst, who was only watching the event with interest, Pearl darted to join Steven in blockading Garnet from getting to the mystery girl.

"This was your doing!? What on Earth were you thinking, Pearl? You of all people should've known not to unseal her!" Garnet's snarl was getting worse and Steven felt himself beginning to trembled under the pressure of Garnet's anger. He could even see sparks of electricity jolt around her gauntlets. She never used her elemental ability unless it was necessary, did that mean she saw the two of them as a threat now?

"I know… but I wanted to see her. Steven found her Gem yesterday and I couldn't help myself, please... just don't hurt her!" Pearl tried to explain. Whatever she was doing, it was working. Garnet's gauntlets disappeared just as she clapped one of her hands over her face. Shaking her head, she began to let her position relax. Although this was the case, the tension had definitely not disappointed from the situation.

"Pearl… you…" Garnet trailed off. Silence once again resumed only to be broken by the occasional sniffle of the silently sobbing girl behind them. So she was The Stone from the Heavens? Steven never expected that it was another Gem! Then again, most of the things locked away in the temple used to be Gems. "Fine… maybe now she can actually face it instead of running away like a coward."

And with that, the red Gem stormed off and into the inner temple door. Pearl relaxed once Garnet left but Steven remained frozen in the "T" pose. His face was also frozen. It was if he was a deer caught in the headlights. Steven didn't know what Garnet meant by it but whatever it was, can't have been good if it got everyone worked up this much.

The white Gem kneeled down in front of the cowering girl and began to attempt to calm her down. "Azurite, it's ok. She's gone, stop panicking, please…?" her reassurance wasn't working however. The girl frantically shook her head, scared witless.

"That isn't why I am panicking… where is Mistress Quartz? Who is that boy? And why did you release me from my seal?" The blue Gem frantically listed off the questions one after another with an odd mixture of purpose and panic. Pearl stood her up slowly and walked her to the couch.

"Let me start off by saying how sorry I am, Azurite. I'm sorry for unsealing you but I couldn't help myself. As for Rose, well… I'm sorry but she's no longer with us." Pearl began to explain. Azurite's eyes grew even wider to the extent it didn't look biologically possible.

"She was killed? Was she assassinated!?"

"N-no, she wasn't killed. She gave up her physical form so she could have Steven, that boy over there…" Pearl looked over at Steven who was still frozen solid. "He's a Half-Gem. Rose passed down half of her powers to him but in doing so she had to give up her physical form…" Amethyst was having fun by using the boy in question as a hoop tossing post. Pearl shot her a glare making her stop instantly. Turning back to the shivering girl she continued her explanation "That was roughly twelve and a half years ago. You've been sealed for… quite a lot longer than that."

"H-how much longer?"

"Over five thousand years…" this revelation actually calmed her down somewhat. Unexpectedly, she slowly stopped shaking and instead pushed against her forehead with her index finger as if she was thinking.

"Then, perhaps being unsealed isn't such a dreadful thing…" she began to say but then her shaking started once more. "What am I saying… I can't handle this! What am I going to do? Pearl… help me!" tears began to race down her cheeks and Pearl pulled her into a tight hug, stroking her hair.

"Do you still hear them?" Pearl asked allowing the girl to sob into the towel. She nodded slowly.

"I still hear the screaming… it's unbearable… I need to be sealed away this instant!" By now Pearl's towel was more wet with tears than it was with water but she couldn't leave to finish off her bath just yet. Not while Azurite was like this. She felt horrible for doing this to her, she had no idea she'd react like… this. That said, a small part of her agreed with Garnet, perhaps now she can face the past.

Steven had finally begun to move again but his walk was still very tense.

"But you just got out! Why would you want… to... " Steven began to speak but then trailed off when he saw Pearl's face. It was a look as if to say you're making it worse. His expression grew sympathetic and as such, took the hint. No doubt Pearl would explain everything later.

"I'm sorry, I got so wrapped up in my own feelings, I completely disregarded the entire reason you begged to be sealed in the first place…" Pearl gripped tighter as she spoke. "I'm sorry about Garnet too… I hope she didn't hurt you." Azurite sat up straight, wiping her tears away the best she could.

"It was nothing I didn't deserve…"

Pearl sighed at that. She didn't want to admit it but part of her agreed that she did deserve it. She'd never say that out loud though. She didn't even want to admit it to herself.

"You shouldn't be sorry, Pearl… this is just… a lot to take in. I suppose I better get used to it. You've paid for your mistakes… I think it's finally time I paid for my own." Azurite gave a weak smile and began to look around the house properly for the first time. The temple had changed so much within the last twelve years, let alone the last five thousand years. Her eyes then fixated on Steven who gave a worried smile and a wave. "You're Mistress Quartz's son? I didn't know Gems could bare children…"

"Um… well I don't really know much… apparently I'm not old enough to know how it happened…" Steven scratched his head and out of the corner of Azurite's eye, she saw Pearl blush slightly. Human Gem relations? When was that a thing?

"And you won't be old enough for a good while!" Pearl said in a very motherly fashion. Azurite was beginning to understand the situation now. She cracked a genuine smile and even gave a small giggle which then turned into an all out laugh. This surprised the white Gem, she looked at her with a confused expression. "What's so funny?"

"I think I understand now. You are his adoptive mother!" She said. Azurite's personality had done a complete one eighty. It was like every single worry she had simply vanished. Was this a good thing? Her sudden exclamation rendered Pearl's light blush to completely consume her face. Even though she pretty much hit the nail on the head, Pearl still didn't really see herself as Steven's mother, she could never fill in for Rose.

Hearing someone else say that made her feel queasy. "I-I just look after him... " she said after a few seconds fumbling for something to say. Steven couldn't help but let his unique laugh out before patting himself on his belly.

"Yep! I'm my own mom!" He happily said. "But Pearl is my second mom! She's super amazing!"

"S-Steven!" Pearl stuttered and abruptly stood up forgetting about her current clothing situation. The towel began to slip and probably would have fallen if it hadn't been for Azurite quickly grabbing a hold of it. "Eh… thank you…" she quickly said. Azurite couldn't help but let another small giggle out.

"You should be glad there's child around." She said in a strange tone and giving a wink to the white Gem. Steven grew confused with this interaction. His confusion only doubled when Pearl's already dark blush turned even darker. The boy didn't get what the blue Gem was alluding to and to be honest, he didn't think he wanted to know. "I think, maybe you should get dressed… I'll be fine. Perhaps Steven can help me get caught up?" She suggested looking towards the Half-Gem. He nodded happily and quickly scurried to sit down on the couch.

"R-right… I'll be half an hour at most… are you sure you'll be ok?" she said beginning to walk . Azurite simply gave her a reassuring look. Sighing, Pearl continued on and disappeared into the inner temple door. Steven was almost vibrating in excitement, he wanted to talk about all the different adventures he had gone on.

"Where do I begin! Well, my first big mission was taking a little statue up the Sea Spire, I packed loads of useless items which actually turned out to be crucial in climbing the spire… sadly I forgot to pack the stupid statue and we ended destroying the Sea Spire. A Red Eye came to attack us but then I saved the day by firing my Mom's light canon… hmmm… there was that one time when I almost turned myself into a hideous cat monster…" Steven trailed off when he saw the azure Gem's face.

She looked so sad again. Was it something he said?

"I'm sorry, Steven, this whole thing is still a lot to take in… has Pearl ever spoken to you about me?"

"No, she's never mentioned you until I found your gem yesterday and even then she only called you The Stone from the Heavens"

"I'm not surprised. I haven't heard that name in a long time... you're probably very confused as to who I am, correct?" Steven nodded to that and Azurite let out a small chuckle. "What do you know about your mother?"

"She sounded really awesome and gentle! She saw beauty in everything, no matter how gross or dirty something was! I know she'd do anything for her friends and that she loved my dad!" Steven answered. "Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl say she lead some kind of rebellion against her Homeworld and drove away all the bad Gems! She was a hero!"

The second part of Steven's answer elicited a sigh from the azure Gem. She tucked her feet up onto the couch and her knees close to her chest in a similar fashion to Pearl yesterday. "That's a very naive way of thinking about it. No matter how you look at it, we instigated a war. People died, Steven. Both Gems and Humans alike. Mistress Quartz may have lead us to victory… but it was a victory with a heavy cost. I couldn't handle it, I've killed people… to many, their voices… they still scream in my head. I was never meant to be a fighter… I was a performer… a singer!"

"Then why'd you join the fighting in the first place? Are you stupid or something?" Amethyst suddenly butted in. She had taken an interest in the subject and had wandered over to learn a bit more. Azurite grunted at her before continuing.

"I wanted to follow Pearl no matter where she went and she, in turn, wanted to follow Mistress Quartz no matter where she went. At first, I thought I could handle the fighting… but as the war dragged on and the number of Gems I killed increased… the worse my mental health became. If it weren't for Pearl I would have lost it all together…" the blue Gem's eyes began to water again. Amethyst wasn't any help, she was staring at her with a judgemental look.

"So you bottled it and got yourself sealed away leaving Pearl, Rose and Garnet to suffer by themselves… like a coward. You got away scott free and avoided any sort of repentance!" Amethyst was actually angry. She never got angry. She got annoyed, but never angry. Why was everyone so angry with her? Steven just couldn't get his head around it.

"Don't talk like that Amethyst, she was scared!" He interjected. He didn't want any more conflict between the Gems. Seeing Garnet like that was enough to last him a lifetime. He still couldn't shake the sight of the absolute hatred she had branded over her face. Thankfully, Pearl seemed to be a little more sympathetic to the situation.

"She's right, Steven. I ran away from the responsibility of my actions during the war. I couldn't handle facing the consequences." Azurite tucked her knees closer to her chest and Steven spied tears streaming down her cheeks once more. She was saying all this so calmly but her body language gave away the fact just talking about it was tearing her apart. "Pearl feels just as betrayed as Garnet does. She won't admit it, but I can feel it. Having the ability to sense people's emotions isn't as fun as you'd imagine."

Amethyst had all but lost interest. She huffed and walked off outside no doubt to score some donuts from Lars and Sadie at the Big Donut. Steven felt bad that Azurite hadn't received a warmer welcome, after all, she had been locked up for thousands of years to be woken up to a punch in the face. That was when an Idea popped into his head.

"That's it!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet and throwing his fists in the air. This sudden outburst startled the sniffling girl causing her to jump slightly.

"What is it?"

"I'm going to give you the welcome you should have gotten! You've been cramped up in your Gem for five thousand years! That means you've never tasted the world's greatest culinary masterpiece…" Steven paused as if to give dramatic effect. Azurite even leaned in closer in anticipation. A grin came over his features before he finished with a single word. "Pizza!"

"Pi… zza?" the Gem repeated in a confused tone. Of course she wouldn't have heard of it, even Steven knew pizza wasn't around five thousand years ago, dark times indeed. "Were you even listening? I don't deserve a welcome!" she began to protest but Steven wasn't having any of it. His mind was set.

"Nonsense! Everyone deserves a decent welcome!" grabbing a hold of her silk clad arm, Steven pulled her up onto her feet and quickly out of the door. Although Azurite wasn't protesting any more, she was still very taken aback. Beach City must have looked so strange to her. Then again, Gems were always leaping ahead of humans in terms of technology and the like. After all, Pearl had once managed to build a functioning spaceship out of old bits of airplanes… until it blew up. If that whole experience taught Steven anything, it was that Gems knew their tech so maybe the modern look of Beach City wasn't so foreign to her after all.

Eventually, after a few minutes of running, they reached Fish Stew Pizza! The Only pizzeria in town and in extension, the best. Bursting through the doors Steven yelled his greetings to Kiki and Jenny who, in turn, welcomed him. Then Jenny noticed Steven's company. "Ste~e~ven, you sly dog! What if your little Connie friend found out about this!" she said giving him a wry smile. The Half-Gem had no clue what she was talking about however and simply brushed off the remark.

"This is Azurite, she's been sealed away for five thousand years and that means she's never had Pizza! Can you believe that!?" Steven looked genuinely upset by this factoid and Jenny's wry smile was replaced with a confused one.

"It is a sad day indeed for the Pizza gods…" she eventually managed to speak earning a stifled giggle from her sister. "Five thousand years, huh… talk about getting your beauty sleep, damn!" Azurite didn't know what to say. These humans didn't seem to be phased by the fact she had blue skin nor did they even question for a second the whole five thousand years thing. Humans seemed to be a heck of a lot more accepting than they used to be.

"Gem's don't require sleep, I was sealed under more… pressing matters." Azurite commented. Jenny then fell silent as if she were a kid being yelled at. A few seconds passed in silence before Kiki cleared her throat.

"Take a seat and Jenny'll be with you in a few minutes!" She said happily eliciting a short groan from Jenny and then prompting Steven to almost drag Azurite to a table on the far side of the restaurant. Picking up a menu, the half-gem pretty much forced it onto her before picking up his own.

The azure Gem stared down at the menu with absolute confusion. "Veggie… Pepperoni… chicken ranch… meat feast… fish stew special… what does all this mean? What do these strange symbols next to some of the choices mean? What do the numbers mean? What do I do?" it became apparent that Azurite liked to list all the questions she wanted to ask right at the very start of the conversation. Very direct and to the point almost to the extent of breaking Steven's head as he absorbed the barrage of questions.

"Well, these tell you what kind of pizza it is," he began to explain by pointing to the individual items on the menu. "The symbols mean stuff like spicy pizzas or allergy warnings and the numbers are just the prices, don't worry about that. All you have to do is say which pizza you want when Jenny comes over. Simple right?" when Steven brought her here he didn't think he would have to explain the entire process. It wasn't like he minded too much though, he felt like a teacher passing on important wisdom to his student.

Azurite nodded in understanding and looked back down at the menu with a little more focus. She still looked lost however. "All these options sound so foreign to me. What do you usually eat here?" Steven gave a short chuckle.

"Well, there's no point in getting two of the same kind so let's split a large Pizza! Jenny, we're ready!" Steven beckoned and long came the waitress in question. She held a notepad and pencil with a look of boredom on her face. "One large pepperoni pizza please, with extra pepperoni!" he ordered. Her bored expression turned wry once again, Steven still didn't get it.

"So this is a date, well done little man!" she said noting down his order. That's when it finally clicked in Steven's head. He let out a high pitched whining sound a small dusting of a rosy blush formed on his cheeks. Shaking his head he frantically tried to deny it. This wasn't a date! This was just Steven's way of welcoming Azurite from five thousand years of being sealed away! Jenny couldn't hold it in any longer and subsequently threw her head back with all out laughter. "Right, right! Sure this isn't a date! Can I get you two lovebirds some drinks?"

"It's not a date!" Steven denied once more before sinking back into his chair. "Grape Soda… please…" as this was happening, Azurite couldn't help but giggle at the two of them interacting. She couldn't help but notice there was no prejudice about her or anything, the two girls were acting as if everything was natural and the azure Gem couldn't even sense any ill feelings towards her either.

It was nice…

When asked what she would like, her brain froze and the only thing she could think of saying was ordering the same thing. She didn't even know what Grape Soda was… no matter. Jenny had left and the two Gems were alone once more.

"So, you said you were a singer? Did you sing on your Homeworld?" Steven suddenly asked to break the silence. She nodded with a smile on her face.

"Yes. I was given the name The Stone from the Heavens because of my singing voice. Entertainment was rare when I lived on the Homeworld so I wanted to make a difference through song. For a while I was actually making an impact… I was helping to give Gems something to look forward to. That is until Yellow Diamond banded my music… I don't understand why they did it but nonetheless, I was powerless to stop it."

As she was explaining, Jenny brought over their drinks and seemed to be interested in the subject. She pulled a chair over from another table and plonked herself down. "This Yellow Diamond thing sounds like a real piece of work…" she commented.

"Indeed. Pearl had been assigned to be my personal bodyguard for quite some time and over that time, we had both gotten pretty close. She taught me how to summon my weapon and to use it effectively so that if I were alone and something was to happen, I could handle myself. After I was muted, I had nowhere to turn except to Pearl. She took me to Mistress Quartz and she took me in with love and acceptance. What happened after that… well… I'd rather not say."

Steven could have guessed that she meant the war. Jenny on the other hand was confused but thankfully decided not to push for an explanation

"What was Pearl like back then, has she changed at all?" Steven couldn't help asking. He couldn't imagine Pearl being anything other than being overprotective. Azurite's response took a short time to come and in that time, Steven took the opportunity to indulge his thirst.

"She has always been overprotective, but back then it was originally out of a sense of duty rather than legitimate care. She began to care for me as time went on and eventually, we became…"

"You loved her!?" Steven interjected to her story startling the two girls. He had stars in his eyes and a face full of awe. "That's so cool!" the azure Gem gave a warm smile as she stared down into her glass of soda. To her, if felt like only yesterday when she was saying her goodbye to Pearl… but that was not the case for the Gem in question. "Why don't you go and see if she still feels the same?"

"She doesn't. Or at least, not anymore. Her feelings for me have gone. I already sensed it. It's unsurprising really… a lot can change in five thousand years… whatever's left of her feelings are locked deep down in the bottom of her mind" Azurite's face grew distant as she concentrated on the bubbles of air floating on the surface of her soda. Kiki beckoned her sister and a few minutes passed in silence before Jenny returned with their large pizza. This whole welcome party suddenly grew very awkward.

That was when Pearl suddenly burst through the door with a very terror-stricken face. "Steven! Oh thank god… what are you doing!?" Steven was so startled he accidentally spill all of his soda over the freshly baked pizza.

"Noooooo!" Steven yelled as if he had just seen a loved one die. Jenny sighed, picked the pizza back up and made her way back to the kitchen mumbling to herself about pointless exertion of energy. The new arrival stomped up to their table and her nostrils began to flare.

"I've ran all over town looking for you! I thought something had happened! You disappeared without a single word!" Pearl's face was like a mother scolding her child but this was new, even for Pearl. She usually didn't think too much about Steven suddenly disappearing, so why had she gotten so worked up now?

"I just wanted to treat Azurite to pizza. No big deal, right?"

"No big deal!? Of course it's a big deal! Anything could have happened to you and I would have had no idea of knowing!" Pearl had become hysteric as she ranted at him. If Steven was being honest with himself, he was getting a little scared. His pizza partner seemed to be picking up on his discomfort as she attempted to get Pearl's attention… to no avail. "What if Jasper or Peridot came back? I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened!"

"Pearl… I'm fine. Really, you're scaring me." Steven had sunken into his seat as much as he could in an attempt to escape Pearl bearing down on him. Her face relaxed a little when he spoke. "What's been going on with you? Ever since Peridot and Jasper attacked you've been acting really strange! You barely let me out of your sight anymore and this morning you were sleeping in my bed… you hate sleeping!" Steven stood up and was now staring directly into Pearl's light blue eyes, a look of pure determination to finally get some answers on his face.

Pearl's own expression turned awkward and her eyes began to dart around the restaurant. "I… just… I'm…" she began to lose her own confidence and suddenly the roles had been reversed. Pearl wanted to do nothing but run away but she couldn't, that would mean leaving Steven alone. She was beginning to realize there was actually something wrong with her.

Azurite had suddenly gone very quiet but neither of the two other Gems realized. "Please don't say you're only worried. Even I can see there's more to it!" Steven was usually so positive all the time but now he was just irritated. Everyone had been hiding something from him and he'd had just about enough of being left in the dark. "What's wrong with you!?"

"I'm scared, ok? I'm scared I'm going to lose you and it'd be all my fault! I nearly lost you in the attack… I don't want to go through that again… I can't stand the thought that they can literally reappear at any given time! That's why we haven't gone on missions recently, we don't want to lose you!" Pearl's eyes began to water and slowly Steven's annoyance began to be replaced with sympathy. That was until he realised something.

"Our missions are to protect humanity! You can't just stop doing them because you're worried about me!" Steven had never been this angry before. Neglecting missions just so the Crystal Gems could keep an eye on him?

How idiotic could they have been?

Pearl could only hang her head in shame as she let her tears fall free. Behind them, both Kiki and Jenny were watching the argument with interest and only they had realized that Azurite had started to shake violently as if she was having a fit. Kiki ran into the restaurant and straight up to the shaking Gem. Not knowing what to do she opted to break the other two out of their argument and once they realized what was happening, Pearl sprung to action.

"Azurite? Can you hear me?"

No answer apart from her violent shaking.

"Azurite… are you ok?"

Still no answer.

Her shaking began to grow more and more violent to the point where she began to rock the table. Kiki ran to the phone and quickly dialed the emergency line to ask for an ambulance. She didn't even know if it would help but what else could she do? It looked like a customer was having a fit right on the restaurant floor, it was her responsibility to do something at least. Azurite's shaking seemed to reach its critical point and Steven could see her face grow more and more terrified with each passing second.

"Pearl, what's happening? Is she going to be ok!?" he asked. His anger had instantly dissipated and was replaced with fear once more.

"I… don't know… I think... I don't know!" Pearl responded. She didn't want to touch her incase that made it worse so instead she tried to reach her through talking. "Azurite, can you hear me?" Still nothing. Azurite's eyes were filled with fear, you didn't need to have her ability to tell that much. Slowly she began to move her hands over her ears and without warning began to breath very forcefully. Both Steven and Pearl had no idea what was happening nor what had started it.

Azurite's eyes squeezed shut and she began to grit her teeth. Whatever was happening, it was getting worse. For minutes everyone was unable to do anything until eventually the siren of the ambulance could be heard in the near distance. Thank god Beach City had its own dispatch point to make up for the fact the nearest hospital was in Connie's hometown which was quite a drive away.

When the paramedics burst into the restaurant they were most definitely not expecting a Gem to be their patient. After a brief pause to collect themselves they quickly strode to Azurite pushing aside both Pearl and Steven. They asked questions such as how long had she been like this and what might have started it but neither of them managed to be of any help. They had been so caught up in their own argument they had completely forgotten Azurite existed until Kiki pointed it out.

After a brief examination the paramedic leading the effort sighed in an odd sense of relief. "The good news is that it's only a panic attack. The bad news is that it's a very severe one. Although the hospital isn't exactly facilitated to accommodate Gems it might be a good idea to bring her in for a closer look, with your permission of course?" he said looking up to Pearl from his kneeling position. All she could do was nod.

Slowly and gently, the paramedic began to guide Azurite into a standing position. The worst of her attack seemed to be over but she still looked completely out of it. Steven couldn't help but think… had they caused this by talking about the invasion? He drastically hoped that was not the case.

Pearl and Steven could only watch as the paramedics walked the azure Gem out of the restaurant.

"I'm so sorry, Steven…" Pearl said before a tear streamed down her cheek.

"I'm sorry too…" Steven replied.

And then silence consumed them as they too began to walk out of the pizzeria. This whole welcome party idea turned into an absolute disaster...