Steven was excitedly mopping the floor while Amethyst and Bismuth washed the dishes and Garnet folded laundry. They had already dusted the entire house, including the rafters, vacuumed the floor, couch, and Warp Pad, cleaned the windows, and worked on the bathroom until it sparkled. Peridot was still at the ship looking for the locations of Yellow Diamond's prisons. Once the house was clean, Steven was going to assemble the picnic and Bismuth would get Pearl and Pearl Appreciation Day would be in full swing.

Everyone was surprised when The Temple door made its familiar high-pitched hum as the door opened and Pearl stepped out.

"Pearl! We're not ready for you yet!" Steven fretted.

"O-oh, uh, okay," Pearl turned and stepped back into her room.

Before the door closed Steven dropped the mop and yelled, "WAIT!"

Pearl jolted to a stop and looked back just in time to brace herself as the boy ran and jumped to smother her in a bear hug. He squeezed her torso tight, wrapped his legs around her waist, and pressed his face into her shoulder, "I really, really missed you Pearl."

Pearl's body stiffened, still on edge after her mental representation withstood months of beatings and unwanted attention. She stood rigid, her arms spread away from her torso and blinked a few times. Pearl realized this was the first in-person interaction Steven and her had since Jasper had taken her. She wrapped Steven in an equally strong hug, "I missed you too."

Pearl felt her shoulder become wet from tears, "Oh Steven," she moved her hands to support Steven as he pushed back a little and wiped away his tears.

"Sorry, didn't mean to cry, I'm just so happy you're back home. We'll be ready for you soon and then we can have a bunch of fun!" He hugged her again and then moved to be set down.

Pearl did her best to smile as she placed him back on the ground and nodded, "Looking forward to it."

Steven skipped back into the house and to the mop and Pearl closed the door.

It hadn't been easy to convince herself to go outside and she was a little disoriented now that she was going to have to do it again. The house did look nice though, and she appreciated all of their efforts. Suddenly, Pearl's skin crawled, aching and cowering at the same time as she thought of how Jasper was out there looking for her still. She hugged herself and sighed, "Come on Pearl, get it together. The others will keep you safe and it will be a nice day. Nothing could possibly go wrong."

/

Greg had joined them on the beach after the picnic and was strumming on his guitar when Peridot came running up to them with the news that Jasper was back at the Drop Ship. They decided it would be their best chance to capture Jasper and left, leaving Pearl, Steven and Greg on the beach.

Steven looked at his phone and smiled, "Connie said she should be here with Lion in about an hour!" He reached for something but didn't find it, "Oh! I left my ukulele on my bed, hold on, I'll be right back," Steven started running back to the house.

"We'll be here Schtu-ball," Greg smiled.

Pearl sighed in relief, letting her expression go neutral and wrapping her arms around herself to keep from fidgeting. She was happy she had only drank tea out of the thermos during the picnic since her stomach felt liable to spill its contents at any moment. In her head she kept telling herself it would all be over soon. There was no way Jasper could beat or get away from all of them. The others would come back with Jasper in a bubble in no time at all. Then life could go back to normal and time would allow her body to forget what it felt like to be Tiger's Eye.

"Pearl? Hey, Pearl, are you okay?"

Pearl heard Greg and snapped out of her head, "Oh, s-sorry, I just," Pearl's voice caught in her throat as tears started stinging her eyes so she stopped trying to speak.

Greg gently rested a hand on Pearl's shoulder, "Hey, I know we've only more recently become friends and Gem stuff is a mystery to me, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm always here for you Pearl."

Pearl couldn't stop her tears and nodded, "T-thank you," she covered her mouth so a sob wouldn't escape and wiped away her tears so fast she almost poked her own eye.

"It's alright to cry if you need to," Greg went back to strumming his guitar.

Pearl shook her head, "I'm tired of crying. It feels like the only thing I've done for the past few days is sit and cry."

"You've had a rough few months, it makes sense. I know crying all the time can be pretty exhausting though. You, uh, you really don't have to fake a smile for our benefit by the way."

Pearl blushed, "Is it that obvious?"

Greg shrugged, "To us at least. Your eyes give it away. I don't think any of the townspeople or a stranger would be able to tell, but we're closer than that."

Pearl sighed, "So much for trying to stop being such a burden."

Greg frowned, "We're your family, even if helping you through this was something we considered a burden, we would bare it happily. We all love you."

Pearl stiffened, then relaxed and laughed at her own reaction, "Right, I suppose I forgot what it's like to be safe with others."

Greg was going to ask what she meant when the familiar clang of Steven's shield rang from out of sight. Both Greg and Pearl leapt to their feet and Pearl summoned her spear as they ran towards the sound. They came to a screeching halt when they saw Jasper holding an unconscious Steven in one of her hands.

"J-jasper," Pearl stuttered, "unhand him!"

When Jasper turned and looked at her, Pearl shuddered. There was this wild hunger in her eyes, like she was running purely on instinct and desire, passion, and frenzy.

"There you are," Jasper dropped Steven, "I've been watching, listening, waiting for the perfect time to take you back."

Pearl stepped back, bumping into Greg, and her spear dematerialized even though she hadn't thought to store it.

Greg stepped in front of Pearl protectively, he had never seen her so rattled and he had no idea what he could possibly do, but he wasn't about to stand by and do nothing, "Jasper, Pearl doesn't want to go with you, so just, uh, leave us alone…please?"

"Alone," Jasper repeated, her eyes glazed over, "so alone, don't want to be, can't be, won't be." She summoned her helmet and charged.

Pearl tried to summon her spear but found she couldn't. It was like she had forgotten how to. She grabbed Greg and leapt the side. Pearl hissed as Jasper's claws raked her back. She rolled with Greg and crouched in front of him, facing Jasper. She could feel a tug towards her, she didn't want to be Tiger's Eye, but her body had gotten used to it, was feeling incomplete without her. The starving look in Jasper's golden eyes and pinpoint pupils made Pearl think the quartz not only shared this feeling, but must be consumed by it.

"Jasper, snap out of it," Pearl tried to calm her shaking hands, "I know your time on Earth has been nothing but unpleasant, and that your entire life feels like a lie knowing that Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz, I know you've always had other gems beating you down and controlling you so doing the same to others seems fair, and I know your body is screaming it's incomplete because we're separate and you're craving that closeness and power, but, but," Pearl fought tears, "please, you weren't happy as Tiger's Eye, neither of us were. Just, stand down, maybe we can work something out, maybe we can-"

"All my life, I've been told what I should or shouldn't feel, what I should or shouldn't do, NO MORE!" Jasper roared and charged.

Pearl still couldn't summon her spear and out of desperation, she pulled the pair of swords Bismuth made for her so long ago during the rebellion. This time, the smooth leather in her hand and the glint of the sun off the blades reminded her of confidence and days of glory, "Grab Steven," she told Greg. Then, Pearl took a deep breath and shot forward obliquely to meet Jasper.

They exchanged a flurry of blows, cuts and bruises formed on both fighters like patchwork on a tattered piece of cloth. Pearl's technical skills were keeping her in the fight, but she could feel the difference in their strength threatening to turn the tide at any moment. She had fought many jaspers and other quartz soldiers that loomed over her, they had all been stronger than her, but they had also underestimated her. Jasper was not, and Jasper was much stronger than any other of her gem Pearl had fought, truly the perfect soldier Homeworld desired to make every time they implanted a quartz in the ground.

Pearl saw an opening and quickly brought both swords down with the intention of slicing clean through Jasper's form and forcing her to retreat to her gem. Jasper's reflexes saved her, she jerked her helmet up and powerful legs sprang from a crouched position after Pearl had almost knocked her over completely. Pearl froze in horror as the blades shattered on impact with Jasper's helmet. Then all she saw was orange as Jasper's helmet slammed into her face.

Her jaw and nose throbbed and her head was jerked back with such force she felt pain in her neck. She was disoriented from the force of the blow but tried to leap backwards. A clawed hand caught her, easily enveloping her entire face and her gem. Nails gouged into her flesh to hold her in place as blow after blow crushed into her body. Pearl tried to protect her torso with her arms and made a few attempts to kick Jasper but only connected with air.

The damage was building up and she was on the verge of having to release her form when suddenly the hand let her go. There was the crunch of metal bending, the screech of tires, and the revving of an engine. Pearl looked up and saw that Greg had desperately driven the van into Jasper and pushed her several feet away, but Jasper now held the vehicle in place and was pulling her arm back to attack.

Pearl tried to force herself to her feet, but her body was sluggish from injury. Her arms nearly collapsed under her from defensive wounds. She saw the broken remains of her swords and the world felt like it was crashing down on her. Her face grew hot and there was a thundering whoosh pounding in her ears as she thought, "I'm not strong enough, no matter how hard I fight, I can't win."

The screech of metal grinding against metal and broken glass snapped her back into the moment and she saw Jasper easily punch Greg's van upside down and skidding. Pearl willed her legs to move, she took two step towards the vehicle before Jasper pinned her into the sand. Greg scrambled out of the van, scraped and bleeding, but no broken bones this time.

Pearl reached out to Greg as claws pierced her back. Then she could only scream as her body was ripped into its light form and merging with Jasper's. The takeover was as excruciating as the first, but the duration of the pain was much shorter. Their thoughts started to merge, "I'm not strong enough, I've failed my mission, I'm useless on my own, I'm alone." Pearl stopped being able to tell which feelings were her's or Jasper's until she felt there was no Pearl, or Jasper, only Tiger's Eye.

Greg ran in horror towards where he had left Steven before he had brashly charged at Jasper with the van. He scooped up his child in his arms and cried, the sound of Pearl screaming still echoing in his ears. Tiger's Eye formed, the light glitching three times before solidifying. Her back set of legs were Jasper's, the front were Pearl's legs, and she now only had two arms that were medium in their build. Pearl's nose was gone from her face and she only had one mouth with an uneven mixture of fangs and blunt teeth that caused a crooked under-bite. She still had four eyes and a mane of white, wild hair with pink stripes. There was no expression on her face.

Greg shuddered, all four eyes were dull and stuck in a dead stare, like she was unconscious on her feet. Spots of turquoise and horns suddenly burst from her chest and almost engulfed her, but stopped before the corruption overcame the entire form. Without a word, Tiger's Eye turned and walked into the ocean, stumbling due to the combined damage from her components.