Note: Any references that this story makes aside from the universe that this takes place in belongs to their respective owners and should be as such.
Warning: Language
Ch.30: A place where I belong
Green Pearl just caused herself to fall off a cliff for the exact reason you think, to end it all. If only Steven was faster just maybe he would've saved her.
"NOOOO!!"
Once again Steven's body glew pink in response to the growing emotion he was experiencing.
"Ah come on! Is this really the time to be a fucking glowstick?!...Wait a sec, is Green floating?"
Can't be, the only one that could float is Steven because of his mother's powers. Looking around he saw that the grass was blowing at a dramatically slower rate, the crashing of the waves against the rocky wall, even the leaves were flying strangely, all the same thing.
"Did I do that?"
Steven made the connection of this phenomenon with his body glowing. He couldn't explain how but it seems that this pink glowing is allowing him to slow down time.
"Weird...Gasp Pearl!"
Now wasn't the time to think about this. Right now a clearly suicidal gem is slowly falling to her death. And with this power that occurred with pretty okay timing he needed to save her.
Jumping off the cliff himself Steven dove as close as possible to the rocky wall so he can easily run along it. Once he reached the water he moved swiftly on the surface. While dodging some of the spiked rocks Steven managed to reach the exact spot underneath the falling gem.
Slowly bending his knees the water rippled as he built up more power for a great jump.
"(Despite everything that has happened Pearl I swear-)"
In epic fashion Steven blasted off into the air up towards his intended target just as his pink glowy glow powers ran out.
"(-I won't let you die!)
The moment time resumed Steven grabbed Green Pearl whilst in midair. His powerful jump got him to land back at the cliff's edge without much effort but he did needed to walk away before he would be the one to fall off.
Finally letting out a calm exhale Steven's legs turned to jelly while he put down Green Pearl gently. Why did he save her? That's the exact question Green Pearl was baffled by. Just a second ago she was sure that no one would come to rescue her yet Steven...Steven was able to get to her. Did he teleport or something?
"Steven?...Why did yo-"
*SLAP*
Steven open hand slapped Green Pearl across the face. She then put a hand to her struck cheek.
"Why did you try and do that to yourself?!"
Pfft what a joke question, Steven knows exactly why Green Pearl did it? Afterall from that notebook it already gave him some pieces but not all. Pretty obvious that he wants to hear it from her own mouth. Yet she kept fumbling her words, unable to bring out the answer he wanted out of her.
"Damnit, just because I didn't want you as a Pearl doesn't mean you get to take your own life away! You obviously didn't get the memo about how every single gem here and out in the stars realize that their purpose is what they determine it to be."
Steven gripped onto Green Pearl's shoulders who was still slightly dazed.
"You're not bound by the pre...determined..fate (holy moly that's why Quantum's last words reminded me of that?) Uhh anyway you and the other gems are not massed produced slaves anymore. You're a strong, independent, amd confidant gem with a shit load of opportunities ahead of yo-"
"THEN WHAT AM I?!!"
Green Pearl surprised Steven with her sudden outburst. It seemed to him that he broke the emotional dam that she was already building up.
"If I'm not a Diamond's Pearl then what am I? Don't you get it? We were created to serve our Diamond to the absolute flawlessness and perfection they expect us to have. We thrive on the praises and discipline they inflict on us!"
Green Pearl covered her face with her hands, clenching her teeth in the promise. The loud of cracking echoed, clearly coming from her.
"I was abandoned by the universe, I was abandoned by my own brethren, I was even abandoned by my creators. Fucking goddamnit I don't even know who I am but Emerald. BUT NOT EVEN THAT CHANGED THE WAY I WAS FEELING! It was like a drug that only made me happy for just a moment...I'm nothing...and there will never be a purpose for me, never, never, NEVER!"
Green Pearl fell over to her side, cradeling herself while crying loudly. For once Steven was stumped. All her life she wanted attention and to become the Pearl the rest wanted to become, just to fail at both. She tried to become Emerald and then Chaos Emerald to fill that void, that didn't last either.
It's like Steven shattered all the masks that Green Pearl used to try and make herself something that she was not. Now that they were gone her self worth has worsened...and Steven was the one who hit the nail on the coffin. What purpose is there left for her? He doesn't even know that much about her to truly understand if she had any secret passions like the other restricted gems had.
...No...No that's not true. Now that Steven thinks about it there were some clear hints that can very likely give him the answers to that question. Just think...think about the events that has occurred.
Drowning out the noise Steven was able to concentrate a bit better...The way Green Pearl introduced herself was like she was gathering an audience back in New Homeworld. In a sense she has manipulated some of the patterns of what was going to happen next since Steven had no choice but to follow it. Some of her dialogue sounded as if she was playing an act. And finally...gasp the book!
Steven remembered just now that in his jacket pocket he still has the book he took from Green Pearl's secret underground lair. Hold on...Act 1...Act 2...of course!
"(She...She does have a purpose, she just doesn't know how to go about it yet. But maybe...)"
A smirk appeared on Steven's face.
"(Maybe I can help her afterall!) Hey Pea- oh right."
Steven almost forgotten that Green Pearl was in the middle of an emotional breakdown to the point in which she was rolling along the grass like a piece of sausage. It was kinda overlydramatic, even for her so Steven put his foot out and stopped the wet sausage. She only stopped crying for a moment shen she looked up at Steven's grinning face.
"Huh?"
"Hey...guess what? I think I can help you find your purpose afterall."
"But how? I don't have a Diamond and everything else about me went down the drain. Now that I say that it's better for me to dive off this cliff so I could at least get some grace for my death."
Steven rolled his eyes as he picked up and stood Green Pearl up in front of him, still having that stupid goody two shoes grin on him.
"Listen up for a sec. It's obvious that I don't want you to be a slave although you really want to. Being a dehumanizing or well degeminizing slave won't give you that fulfilling purpose you think it will be. Trust me, the other Pearl you met knows exactly what that felt like."
As Steven continued he whipped out a thumbs up with great confidence.
"You say you don't have purpose? Well let me help give you the chance to truly search yourself at the realist level."
Green Pearl just tilted her head in confusion.
Later that day Steven went to the car wash to get the keys to the second minivan from the garage. Thankfully Greg had the keys ready since he had a feeling that his son would ask. For the entire trip to where they were going Green Pearl never said a word, only very bloody confused and stiff like a stick.
"Oh almost forgot."
Steven tapped the tip of his thumb on his tongue and pressed it on Green Pearl's head, healing the slight crack on her head.
"Making a good impression and appearance is the best way to go where we are going."
The location they ended up at was Empire City. Why go there you may ask? Well that's for Steven's reasoning to know which he does. Luckily the place he was locating was still open. Huh, wonder if they even noticed the Pink Miasma in the first place?
Anywho right across from the famous Le Hotel was a popular theatre that has to this day remained a legendary icon for the most popular plays ever performed in human history...Broadway.
"As soon as I get confirmation I put in the final touch."
And with that Steven takes out his phone, taps his camera app and hits record.
8:00pm
Alot of people who were avaliable from Beach City showed up at the theatre thanks to Steven and his Youtube advertisement video (which got thousands of views). The plan worked and the hours upon hours of training and rehearsing with the theatre group of tonight's show worked wonders.
The amount of people that came made the theatre a full house. Rows upon rows of the people were chattering among themselves while the group behind the big satin colored curtain were preparing the stage, props, even the costumes.
Green Pearl who was wearing a black and grey tattered dress with dark brown fur that draped over her shoulders took a peak from the far end of the curtain. She gulped by the numbers of eyes that would be watching her.
"Hey!"
"Ah!"
Steven tapped on Green Pearl's shoulder with his fabulous (fake) manicure. This caused her to jump out of her skin.
"Heheh sorry about that, I just wanted to show off before the show. Soooo how do I look?"
Steven's Rum Tum Tugger costume was nearly complete, he just needed the makeup to make it rockin. In a sassy manner he went into different poses with the last one involved swishing his backside in a circle so the tail can swirl with him. This caused Green Pearl to stifle a chuckle.
"Ahhh see, I knew you had some laughter inside you somewhere. Now don't I look fabulous?"
"Very hahahahaha..."
It was only for a moment that Green Pearl was smiling and laughing, now it started to fade.
"(Oh no) What's up? Is it the tights?"
"No no it's nothing like that...Steven, I don't think I can do this."
"What do you mean?"
"I just feel like I'm not good enough for this, even when you were doing all this for my sake. What if I mess up and everyone laughs at me? I don't know what I'll do if my 'new purpose' was just a last resorted lie."
Green Pearl clutched her shoulder draped fur. Clearly she was distraught and Steven gets it. But he knows that his confidence will not waver and neither should hers. So he lifted her chin so she could look him in the eyes.
"Pearl I understand that trying to find your purpose in life is difficult. But right now you have this one chance to form your new purpose and have a better outlook in the life you currently live and strive for your future. Believe me okay?"
Without saying a word Green Pearl nodded her head as the sound of 50 people clapping occurred.
The show being presented was the legendary musical CATS (You can follow along to certain parts by using the musical NOT THE BLOODY MOVIE...ahem sorry about that.). As time went by throughout the show from most of Green Pearl's parts she felt a strange connection between her and the character she is portraying as, Grizabella. At the same time alot of times her chest would tighten since what her character is going through reminded her of herself in a way.
The way Grizabella left the tribe years ago and suffered only to be come back shunned by her own tribe. Acceptance was what Green Pearl wanted even if she had to exaggerate stories and blame others for accidence she caused. Just by going through this made alot of her dark memories resurface.
Aside from the doom and gloom Green Pearl never thought that observing the other actors and playing as one in amusical would be this fulfilling. Hell, Steven was bringing the sexyback when his big musical number (Rum Tum Tugger) came on, god the amount of pelvic thrusting.
All this felt amazing, glorious, stupendous to be like this in Green Pearl's eyes. There were a couple of times when she almost broke character, luckily no one noticed that. It was then...that her final musical number (Memory) began.
Though a little shaking in the beginning Green Pearl was able to pull herself together and sing to the best of her ability.
"Daylight, I must wait for the sunrise.
I must think of a new life...and I mustn't give in.
When the dawn comes, tonight will be a memory to, and a new day...will begin."
Alongside the beautiful blaring of the instruments Green Pearl gently laid her body against the ground in a way she was symbolizing hopelessness and death. The darkness that enveloped her was building up from within. All those years of constant fear, endlessly crying out for someone and neverending pain? It was all coming back to her until-
"Sunlight through the trees in summer, endless masqueraded."
Green Pearl quickly looked up to see who sang that. That definetely wasn't one of the human members of the group she rehearsed with. In fact whoever was singing that verse was slightly better. The culprit was...Spinel? When did Steven get the time to sneak her in? Shockingly she didn't even notice that Spinel was a part of Steven's plot.
Whatever the case may be Spinel was waiting patiently for Green Pearl to stop delaying which she noticed that she was silent for the last 5 seconds. The reason wasn't mostly Spinel, it was because from the other side of the stage she saw herself wearing her version of the Jade Emperor's armor, when she was Emerald except without the mask.
The apparition smiled while it motioned Green Pearl to "go on", disappearing a little afterward. Clenching her fists she proceeded without anymore hesitation.
"Like a flower, as the dawn is breaking.
The memory is fading."
Feeling an powerful surge of strength Green Pearl got up to her feet and really let loose to everything she could muster.
"Touuuch me! It's so easy to leave me!
All alone with the memory of my days in the sun.
If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is.
Look, a new day has begun."
With this, the new found purpose that Green Pearl wanted was unveiled to her...in the bright lights and the loud round of applause.
End of Ch.30
Did they really understand and resolve Steven's issue in the end of his future? This is not a story thing it's a finale thing.
