I took me a while to think of a title that didn't just straight-up reveal the ending.
21/10/18: The Beast In Me
It's raining, which rather fits Pearl's mood.
She walks down a back alley in Brooklyn, not entirely sure what to do with herself. She can't exactly go home, not with her... affliction. It'd be too dangerous to expose Steven to that. Yet she can't exactly wander around aimlessly either. She ponders where she can possibly go.
"Hey, lady, why don't you stop right there for a moment?"
A young man steps out from behind a dumpster, pistol in his hand. He smiles like a shark, and Pearl assumes he's trying to look suave. He steps forward, stretching himself out just widely enough to give the impression that he's impassable.
"I wouldn't do this if I were you," says Pearl, "Even normally, you wouldn't stand a chance."
"What're you sayin'?" sneers the man, "You think you can beat me up?"
"Yes," says Pearl flatly.
"Whoa!" exclaims the man, "Tough talker here! You got mace or somethin'? Well..."
He lifts the gun.
"...see if you can draw first."
A voice rings in Pearl's head.
Strike him. He's weak. He hasn't even taken the safety off.
"I don't need you," hisses Pearl.
We are stronger together.
"No, I'll handle this alone."
"Lady, who the hell are you..."
He doesn't get a chance to finish. Pearl's spear is drawn and on him in a flash. A single swing, not even that strong, sends him flying into the wall. The pistol drops - the magazine falls out, revealing that it was empty.
"Hmm," grunts Pearl, "Warrior, you are not."
She walks on, leaving the mugger unconscious in the gutter. She has much more important things on her mind.
Much more important things.
Somehow, she's ended up in the Pine Barrens. It's been weeks since she's left the city, and she's spent most of it thinking.
This... affliction (she refuses to consider it a being) will not go away. As long as it stays, she can't go home. She can't even call home, because then they'd come looking for her. Steven's like that. Garnet's like that. None of them would understand. Nobody would.
I do.
"Oh, shut up."
Pearl sits on a log, examining her sword in her hand. It's been years since she's seriously fought with it. It's felt... wrong to do so; too connected with lies and betrayal, and anyway, it was a Rose-and-Pearl thing. Better to use the spear, and to pass on the sword-fighting to Connie.
Why? Why must it be a Rose thing? The voice sounds genuinely curious.
"I did it for her," replies Pearl, "I guess... I always felt like I was just borrowing her fighting technique for my own. I... I'm talking to a voice in my head."
But it can be yours. There is nothing stopping you.
"I did it for her," repeats Pearl.
She is gone. So do it for you. Embrace your ability.
"I... but I just can't," says Pearl, "I just..."
She takes a deep breath and stands up.
"This is just practice," she declares, "Nothing else. Now shut up and let me do this."
She draws her sword and makes her stance.
It's been a good hiding place for Pearl, but now it's time to leave. The Army, under the command of General Ross, have arrived, looking for her... acquaintance. They want it for their own ends. Pearl doesn't like the sound of that at all.
"Fox-3, do you have visual?"
"Negative, Fox-Actual, but we've got a positive ID on the tracker, stand by."
Three soldiers block the path ahead. She can't go around them without making too much noise - she's limber, but nobody's that limber. She'll have to go through them.
The sword.
Pearl swallows and nods, taking the sword from her gem. Time to go.
"Fox-Actual, we think they're... uh, ma'am, this area's restricted and - wait, positive contact! Positive contact!"
They drew their rifles and fire, but Pearl's too quick for them. She easily dodges past their quick, excited bursts and swings the flat of her sword against the lead soldier. It hits his head hard, sending the helmet flying off and him sprawling to the ground.
The others turn quickly, their training taking over. She can't rely on frantic adrenaline to make them miss now.
One fires, but suddenly a enormous blob of black bursts from her midsection, forming first into to a shield to block the bullets, then into a giant fist. It thrusts out, sending the unfortunate soldier flying into a tree.
"Wait, no, don't!" Pearl cries.
It is too late. The appendage morphs into a long spike and shoots towards the third soldier. He doesn't even have time to react before it pierces through his chest, lifting him up.
Pearl looked up at the dying man's face, shaking in horror at what has happened.
"No... no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she stammers.
Weakly, the soldier reaches for his radio.
"...a-requesting airstrike... on my position..."
His head then slumps. He is gone. The black appendage withdraws from his body, dropping him like a ragdoll to the muddy ground.
"You... you monster," exclaims Pearl.
I acted on your inhibitions, Pearl. You shattered enemy gems in the war, and he was an enemy soldier. If I am a monster...
"Don't say it, don't say it!"
...then so are you.
"No!" Pearl falls to her knees, clutching her head, "Get out, get out, GET OUT!"
She doesn't get to say much more. A roaring sound fills the air, and the whole world turns into a cacophony of fire.
She wakes - wakes, not reforms - in a sterile-looking lab, and for a moment she fears the military have gotten her. But the man who looks over her doesn't look like a soldier - his expression is soft and kind.
"Who... where am I?" demands Pearl.
"Bruce Banner," replies the man, "You're in my lab."
He scratches the back of his neck.
"Well, not my lab, my friend's lab, I, uh, I'm just borrowing it."
Slowly he pushes a small box marked 'Property of Tony Stark' out of the way.
"Why did you bring me here?" asks Pearl.
"I didn't want Ross to get his hands on the symbiote," shrugs Bruce, "That... that was a big motivator. And, uh, I guess I want to help you... 'cause I know what it's like."
"How can you know what it's like?" asks Pearl.
"You ever hear of the Hulk?"
Pearl nods.
"Well, that's me."
"Oh," says Pearl.
She sits up and rubs her head.
"So you can help me get rid of it?" she asks.
Bruce shakes his head.
"No," he replied, "But I can help you come to terms with it. If... if you want me to."
Pearl thinks for a moment, then nods.
"Alright," declares Bruce, "Welcome to Other Guy 101."
Pearl stands in a dark room, looking at a mirror.
"You killed that man," she says.
He was our enemy.
"Yeah, okay, I get it," grunts Pearl, "But that doesn't happen again, alright. If you're staying, you don't kill anyone else, got it?"
...yes.
"Good," nods Pearl, "Number two."
She holds up a picture of Steven.
"This is Steven," she says, "We need to protect him."
But we need to live for ourselves.
"We are," snaps Pearl, "I'm not caring for him because Rose said I had to. I'm doing it for me. Because I love him. You got that."
Yes, I can sense your affection. Very well, I accept.
Pearl takes a deep breath.
"Okay," she says, "Okay. So, uh, guess there's nothing left to say but..."
She closes her eyes and nods.
"Show yourself."
She opens her eyes and they turn milk white.
Aquamarine's pretty happy right now, if she does say so herself.
Amethyst's gem lies in the stand, Peridot desperately trying to cover it from the advancing quartz and her war hammer. Garnet, Lapis and Bismuth are in a vicious and losing fight with a fusion of five Amethysts. Even with Topaz refusing to fight (and she'd be punished for that in time), she'd managed to corner the fusion, Stevonnie, against the wall.
"Well," she says, twirling her wand in her hands, "Any last words before I drag you off to White Diamond?"
"Uh, just... just three," replies Stevonnie their face turning white, "Look behind you."
"You really expect me to fall for..."
She hears a scream and a poof. She turns around - the quartz with the hammer is gone, and in her face is a tall, glossy black figure, impossibly slender and yet visibly muscular. It's face is mostly made up of a wide maw and massive teeth, a long tongue visible behind it. Before anyone can react, it launches itself on the Amethyst fusion, biting down hard on the head. The force is such that it instantly poofs.
Aquamarine decides it may be time to leave, but before she can react, the creature extends its arm and pushes her by the next into the cliff wall, pinning her in place. It lunges forward, and she gets a clear look at it's face - there's a gemstone above the narrow white eyes, and the outline of what might have been hair under the strange black flesh - sweeping towards a rear point. Aquamarine realises she recognises this outline.
"I... impossible!" exclaims Aquamarine.
Stevonnie's eyes widen.
"Pearl?" they ask.
The creature's face leans in closer to Aquamarine, it's putrid breath nearly overwhelming.
"We," it growls, "Are Venom."
AN: "Hi Venom, I'm Grandpa!"
"D'oh!"