Steven Universe Fanfiction

My Pearl

Chapter 12: Sphalerite

A flash of light has transported the Crystal Gems plus Patricia into the midst of a jungle, rife with the cries of the local fauna as they sound off into the full moist air laden with the smell of rich primal earth. Their feet sink slightly into the soft ground as they step off the warp pad, Pearl cringing at the odd feeling. Amethyst has already begun her fun as she zooms off, deftly climbing up a moss-covered rock and launching up into the trees. Shapeshifting midflight into a monkey, she riotously laughs in joy and mimics the other simian sounds as she swings between trees. Steven laughs with her as he tries to follow her best he can along the ground, circling around the trunks of the trees as Amethyst whirls about. He trips against one of the branches digging into the ground, falling with a slight "Oomph!" and scrambles back up. Pearl is quick to fuss with him, patting away the dirt and mud best she can and wiping his face with a handkerchief.

"Alright, form up. We've got a corrupted gem to find here," Garnet says, taking command as she steps off the warp pad herself.

Patricia eyes the ground warily and then the length of her skirt. She quickly remedies this as she softly glows, the skirt shortening to the point that her ankles are revealed. Perfect, she thinks as she steps onto the ground herself and follows Garnet.

"Unfortunately, this jungle is too large for us to search as one group so we're going to split up. Amethyst, Steven, you're with me. Pearl and Patricia will form the other group. Fan out, find the corrupted gem, bubble it, understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am, Garnet Ma'am!" Steven seriously salutes, his posture comically stiff.

"You got it. Hey Steven! Race ya to that tree!" Amethyst challenges as she swings off, Steven following with a cry of "No fair!"

"Umm, Garnet, are you sure about…?" Pearl begins to ask.

"They'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to them."

"Oh no, that's not what I meant to say at all! It's just that, well, Amethyst can be a bit of a handful and adding Steven to the mix…I mean, he is a good boy but when he gets caught up in their games…"

"They'll be fine. I've got my eyes on them," Garnet answers as she lowers her shades to reveal said eyes, her left eye winking. She then saunters off in the direction the youngest two went, leaving the two pristine gems alone.

"Well, I suppose we should get started then," Pearl declares with a clap of her hands, "Which direction do you want to start with?"

"M-me? Oh, um…I suppose we should search over that way. It's not the same direction as the other group but not so far off in case we need to call or run to them for help should anything happen," Patricia answers.

Pearl nods at this assessment and the pair make their own way into the jungle. As they search, Patricia can't help but admire all the different things she comes across. The splendorous colors and hues of the myriad of flowers and plants, the mating rituals of the equally brilliant birds as they shrilled and danced amongst each other, the deep bellow of the howler monkeys in the tree tops, the ominous yet fascinating column of army ants on their blind relentless march for survival; things Patricia had only read or seen in books and the passing television screen and never imagined seeing firsthand.

While Pearl wishes that they're search could continue at a faster pace, she can't help but let Patricia have this. She was the same once, after all. Granted she never did quite have the same admiration for it all as Patricia did but perhaps that had more to do with the married gem's husband and human fascination and reverence for the natural rubbing off on her. Their nature programs did paint quite a picture.

Thinking about the other gem's married status grimly reminded Pearl of their interrupted discussion. Did she dare remind her while on her first mission? Goodness knows they left under very strained circumstances and Patricia could do with some space away from it all. But she knew what she saw back at the tea shop and again at the beach house when Patricia held a hand against her stomach…or at least, knew what it meant. She hoped she was wrong but she didn't want to broach the subject so callously. But she supposes there really was no other way but forward.

"Patricia," Pearl starts, getting the other gem's attention, "I know that perhaps this isn't what you want to be reminded of right now but given our earlier conversation being cut short, I wanted to ask before getting ahead of myself: are you pregnant?"

Patricia lets out a shuddering sigh, her eyes looking sadly up into the canopy and the setting sun.

"No, no I'm not."

"I see…"

"You sound rather relieved."

"I didn't…"

"No, I understand. As admirable as Rose Quartz was, I don't want to be like her regarding..." Patricia stops herself, "I…I want to be there for both Edward and our child, if it should ever come to it."

A beat of silence.

"Has…Edward expressed any desire for children?"

"He's never said anything but I see it in his eyes, how he acts around children," Patricia pauses and thinks, "Actually, when we first arrived in Charm City and introduced ourselves to neighbors, we were asked if we were planning on children of our own. He didn't even blink when he said yes. When I asked him about it, he said it was just so they wouldn't ask any more questions. After we were married though, he confessed that he always dreamed of having his own family; a quiet house on the country side with a white picket fence with two children so they wouldn't be lonely. Maybe a dog or a cat as an intermediary if they should ever have an argument…"

"Well, he certainly gave this a lot of thought."

"He certainly has," Patricia chuckles which turns somber as she says, "So much thought that I wonder if I'll ever be able to give him that dream..."

"Uh, well, I mean there are other options! Some humans who can't conceive for whatever reason adopt children so there's that. I seem to also remember hearing something about surrogate mothers…"

"It's fine, Pearl. Edward and I haven't exactly discussed it yet and honestly, we're not in any position to have a child. One of the perks of being without a human reproductive system, I suppose; no surprise pregnancy."

"Er, right."

Silence envelopes them once more as they search for the gem corruption. It is not uncomfortable but they don't see the need to talk anymore either. That is until Patricia notices something and calls out to Pearl. Before them lies a chaotic group of footprints in the ground beside a fallen tree, the trunk splintered. At the foot of the trunk lies a small set of bones from some poor long-limbed animal.

"I'll go get the others; Patricia if you could stay here and keep watch?"

"Of course."

"No need, we're here" Garnet says as she walks up to the site with Amethyst and Steven in tow.

"It's just like the other spot," Steven says sadly, his eyes falling on the bones.

"Other spot?" Patricia asks.

"Mm, there were other broken trees and each one had bones at the foot of them. Kind of like these ones here. Whatever this corrupted gem is, this one seems to have developed a very dangerous taste. For now, we're bringing Steven back to the warp pad and sending him home while the rest of us continue searching. And no buts, Steven; I know you've come a long way but we've never met a corrupted gem that started eating other living things and I don't want to find out if it starts eating humans with you as its first meal."

Steven, whose mouth was open to protest at being sent back, immediately fell quiet. That said, the group made their way back to the warp pad in a somber haze. By the time they reached the clearing with the warp pad, the sun has nearly fallen and the last vestige of light begins to disappear. Steven runs ahead of the group, to the concern of all but remains within eye-sight as he climbs up on the moss-covered rock from earlier. Sitting on the rock and looking around, he notices something crawling along the jungle floor.

"Aw look, a sloth!" Steven exclaims.

The other gems look and sure enough, the notoriously slow moving creature is indeed there. The green-tinged creature manages to reach the trunk of a tree and its slow gangly limbs wander about, trying to find purchase on the rough bark. Finding it, it begins to climb the tree at a sedate pace.

"Alright, time to come down and go home, Steven," Pearl says, "I'll prepare something for you to eat. After that, I trust you'll go to bed at a reasonable time and we'll all be back some time in the morning, if not sooner."

"Alright," Steven says as he climbs down from the rock.

The sun had completely set by now and all the gems were gathering up on the warp pad until a great groaning rumbles the air. The gems immediately whip around backs to each other with Steven in the middle of their formation, their weapons flashing into existence. They stare out into the darkening eerily silent jungle, waiting. Steven struggles to see beyond the circle but his eyes manage to find the sloth again, having made it halfway up the tree at this point.

It would've climbed higher maybe if it hadn't been crushed by a massive claw. Horrified, they all focus on the heavily-muscled limb that is connected to the moss-covered rock from earlier as it begins to uncurl itself into a massive hulking figure. Slowly, the limb retracts and brings back its dead prey to a yawning maw. They can see the monster begin to chew with loud snaps and clacking sounds as the bones break and rattle about in its mouth, eventually spitting out clean bones into a heap. It smacks its lips and then yawns, a sonorous sound that vibrates the air. Its head turns, the hair-like moss covering where its eyes would be and stares. The corrupted gem grins at them; no teeth, just meaty gums.

"SCATTER!" Garnet yells, hoisting Steven in her arms.

No sooner had they begun to scramble and spread out, a massive limb shoots out to swipe at them. Unlike before though, the limb retracts back with a snap and this time its other arm joins the fray. It's all the gems can do to dodge the unexpectedly speedy limbs with its massive claws threatening to hook them to the same doom as the sloth. Pearl's gem shines brightly as it produces holograms of her that begin to run in circles around the monster. It pauses in its attack and stares bewildered at the whirling constructs of light. Amethyst is quick to curl into a ball and rapidly rolls directly behind the creature, whip snap taught between her grip. Garnet lands to the left of the creature, placing Steven behind her as she readies her fists. Patricia lands to its right with the point of her sabre poised towards its heart. Pearl stands at the ready in front of the creature and dispels the holograms.

The gems attack as one. Amethyst launches herself into the air and loops the whip around the creature's neck, rapidly tightening it as she lands on the corrupted gem's mossy back while Garnet, Pearl, and Patricia charge forward. The gem corruption smashes the ground, causing them to falter in the quaky assault while it and Amethyst are launched into the air. Its arms shoot out to steady itself between trees, hanging upside down in the air putting Amethyst face-to-face with the corruption as she still holds on tightly to the whip turned harness.

"Uh, hey," Amethyst greets with a slight wave. The creature pauses for just a moment before opening its mouth until Amethyst retaliates with a kick to its jaw, "Sorry! This gem isn't for eating!"

Howling in fury, the corrupted gem retracts its arms once more and curls into a ball as it comes crashing down with a boom on the jungle floor along with Amethyst, whom scrambles to remain on top of the monster rather than be smashed into a purple pancake. As the corrupted gem uncurls itself, the others attack but to no avail. Whatever the gem is, its form proves too tough for Garnet's gauntlets to break and the pearls' weapons to pierce. With a roar, the gem monster stands on its stubby hind legs and begins to thrash and throw its weight about. Amethyst doggedly holds on as she screams, "Whoa mama! Heel, doggy, heel!"

Eventually though, the corrupted gem manages to buck Amethyst off its back. Sailing through the air, Amethyst lands perfectly in Garnet's waiting arms.

"Thanks, Garnet."

"Not a problem," Garnet replies as she sets Amethyst down when she notices Patricia charging, "Patricia, wait!"

Not heeding the warning, Patricia begins to slash furiously at the corrupted gem with her sabre. Bits and pieces of the moss are cut away, revealing a ruddy-brown muscle-bound body underneath but still there is no effect on it save for irritating it as it swipes at Patricia, forcing her to regroup with the other gems.

"Well, I thought putting a little more force would do something but obviously, that's not the case," Patricia huffs indignantly.

"Patricia, how powerful is your pistol?" Garnet asks.

"Given enough time, I can fire something with the same power as a cannon but we'll only have one shot and even then, I don't think it's powerful enough to take down that thing."

"Aim for its mouth."

"Wait, what?"

Garnet dashes forward dodging lashing limbs as she responds with furious jabs and punches. No effect still but the force is enough to draw the corruption's attention as it tries and fails to pin down the fusion.

"We'll help!" Pearl says with Amethyst who follows with a loud, "CCCHHHAAARRRGGGEEE!"

"O-oh my," Patricia says as she exchanges her sabre for her pistol and begins to charge the pearlescent weapon with a silver glow. One of the gem corruption's limbs comes hurtling towards her,

"Steven Shield!" Steven cries out as his shield materializes and stops the offending limb cold with a deep bong. With a grin, Steven turns to Patricia, "I've got this! Go Mrs. Feng!"

With smiling determination, Patricia nods back and aims at the gem corruption. She takes a deep breath and focuses. Head moving left and right, a menacing snarl, a whip across its face, a grimace of rage, an uppercut to its jaw, rapid thrusts of a spear…there!

The shot is fired and the silver projectile flies towards the openly furious mouth of the gem corruption mid-roar. An explosion and the resulting smoke obscures the gem corruption briefly. They wait for the smoke to clear. A low groaning sound emanates from the smoke, causing all of them to jump in shock until a loud pop dispels the cloud leaving a rectangle sphalerite. They breathe a sigh of relief at the sight.

"Good work, Gems. Nice shot, Patricia," Garnet says with a thumbs-up when she notices that Patricia isn't there anymore, "Uh oh."

"Oh my gosh! She's gone! But, she was right there and I didn't see anything else unless…oh no! There's another corrupted gem and they snatched her up while we weren't looking! Garnet, we have to find her or else Mr. Feng will curl up into a ball of sadness and…!" Steven panics.

"Take it easy, Steven. Look there," Garnet points out. True enough, there is a rather large streak along the ground that wasn't there before as if a body was dragged roughly along it. At the end of the few meters long streak, a pristine pearl rests against the base of a tree.

"Force of a cannon, indeed; the recoil was too much for her alone. Something we'll have to remember in the future," Pearl says as she gently picks the gem up, checking for any damage.

"Hoo boy, I don't wanna' be there when we tell Eddy that his wife done poofed. He's gonna' flip when we come back with just the gem," Amethyst grimaces as she bubbles the sphalerite and sends it off.

"Oh, he'll be alright, he has his own issues to deal with. Besides, I was going to offer Patricia stay with us for the night since it would be rather rude to turn a guest out at this late hour, especially since she did help us with our mission," Pearl nonchalantly says as she bubbles the Patricia's gem, "Speaking of, we really should get you home, Steven. Don't want to throw your sleep schedule off, after all."

"What? But I'm not…" Steven begins to say but with the adrenaline of fighting a corrupted gem run its course, a great yawn escapes him, "Ok, maybe I am just a little. But what about Mrs. Feng?"

"I'll watch over her gem, you just worry about getting enough sleep," Pearl says kindly as she pats Steven on the head.

That said, the Crystal Gems return home in relatively good spirits as the impromptu test turned mission is considered a success.

Author's Note: Hey, Patricia's first mission with the Gems~~! Sorry if this seemed short but whenever I tried to extend it, it seemed like it might just get more boring since I didn't want to break protocol of calling the gem corruption by any other name. I mean, monster, beast, creature, etc. might've worked but it always irked me because it suggests there's something organic when we know all Gems are made of light. Then again, this might be something to consider in the future. It also seemed like a good stopping point without forcing it to extend but that's just me. I'm also hoping I chose the right gem for this story because the number of choices is rather overwhelming.

I'm hoping the action sequences weren't boring or too written out. I remember being in a class where I did submit an action scene and it was criticized as too staid. At the same time, I don't want to leave readers wondering, "What the hell just happened?" So I would appreciate any thoughts on the action scenes in order to improve because this won't be the last mission Patricia will be on.

Regarding one Guest Review: I know I say this a lot, especially at the end of chapters but I am sincerely glad that you enjoy the story. Your review truly does inspire me to get going on the story. As much as I'd like to pump out chapters as often as possible, I really take the time to read over what I have written and edit accordingly so readers can enjoy the story. I've deleted entire scenes and rewritten them as a result of this. While my job as me parked in front of a computer with Word, it's also a time-consuming one that I can't really slack off on either. Life at home isn't exactly accommodating either. I admit that the long wait between chapters is a lot to ask for but for now, it is the best I can do and I hope you understand.

That being said, I want to say thank you to those who followed, reviewed, and favorite'd this story. I don't know when exactly this happened but this story has reached 51 followers at the time of this update so thank you all. I am sincerely glad that you all enjoy this story enough to stick around for this many chapters and to reach that benchmark. I hope you continue to do so as the story unfolds. See you all next chapter.