Steven, Connie, Malley, and Holly Pearl went back to the beach house, but the crystal gems had not yet returned.
"Okay, just hold still," Steven instructed before licking his hand and pressing the sparkling saliva on Holly Pearl's gem.
Holly Pearl shuddered at the touch but said nothing about it. She felt a sudden tingling sensation and her body started glowing.
Malley saw the pearl's colors while her skin tone remained pale and her mirror eyes were replaced with periwinkle pupils.
"Ta-da! All fixed," Steven said cheerfully.
Holly Pearl gently brushes her fingertips against her gem. "It would seem so," she said. She turns and gives Steven the diamond salute. "Thank you," it sounded polite, but the sense of gratitude was lacking. Before Steven could reply, Holly Pearl stepped away and positioned herself next to Malley Kite. "How may I serve you, my Malley Kite?" she asked still holding the diamond salute.
Malley was still surprised by this new behavior the pearl was showing her. Holly Pearl hadn't stopped asking the water gem that since they found her in the woods and brought her back to the house. Even now, Malley wasn't sure how to respond except with... "Listen. I- um... you don't need to call me that. Malley is fine," she said.
"Very well. How may I serve you, my Malley?"
"No, you don't need to say, 'my Malley'. Just Malley,"
"Just Malley then, yes?"
"Yes!"
"I understand now, just Malley,"
The malachite sighs through her nose and presses her fist against her forehead.
Steven steps in. "Holly Pearl, what she's trying to say is that you can just call her Malley," he asked.
"I believe that is for just Malley to decide," Holly Pearl countered.
"Well I decided that you don't have to address me like that," Malley said. "Look, I know you said before that "my fate lies in your hands" or whatever, but I shouldn't have to be the one who decides your fate just because I opened a box. You're not my property and you don't really need to serve me,"
"I dislike to be contrary but I'm afraid that that is exactly the case." Holly Pearl said. "By accepting the pearl holster shell, you have laid claim to me and you further secured that by opening the shell."
"In my defense, I had no idea you would be in there," Malley said.
"Be that as it may, it cannot be helped now, I am yours to serve for now and forever. Unless I am to be replaced and shattered, in which case you wouldn't need to trouble yourself with me,"
Malley closed her eyes and shook her head. "Okay, let's talk about this privately," she said.
"Very well," Holly Pearl replied. She faces the teens, "Just Malley wants some privacy, why don't you two return to your dwellings,"
"Um...This is my dwelling," Steven said.
"No Holly P," Malley said before grabbing the pearl's arm and guides her to the front door. "Sorry Steven, we'll be right back,"
"Wait you don't have to go," Steven said.
"Yeah, we do. I want to get back to the ocean anyway. See ya later," Malley said before exiting the house with Holly Pearl.
"Don't stay out too late," Steven called out.
Malley took Holly Pearl by the arm to the beach but when they got to the shore the malachite let go. "Sorry, I forgot you don't like being dragged around," she said.
"It doesn't matter now," Holly Pearl said coolly. "You may handle me however you wish,"
"But I don't want to treat you in a way that might hurt you," Malley said. "I've had some issues with that in the past. I've almost shattered two gems and I don't want to keep making such close calls,"
"Just Malley, getting nearly shattered is nothing new to me," The pearl said.
"Really?" Malley asked.
"Holly Blue Agate never would let time pass too long before threatening to have my gem shattered or thrown out into space near an asteroid field if I made even the slightest mistake."
"That's... that's awful," Malley said upsettingly. "Did you make many mistakes?"
Holly Pearl looked away. "Just two. The first being letting my guard down."
"And the other?"
"Fighting,"
"You fought? Did you fight Agate?"
"Yes. And I lost, of course. I was a fool for trying."
"You're not a fool for trying. You were just outmatched I bet."
"Perhaps," Holly Pearl said lowly, and then she noticed a bright glow that seemed to come from behind the malachite.
Malley seemed to notice the curious look on Holly Pearl's face and turned her head. "Hmm?" she hummed. "Oh! The sun is setting. You wanna watch?"
"Is that a command?" the pearl asked.
"No, it's more like... I'm inviting you." Malley said. She plops down on the sand and faces the sun before she looks up and sees the pearl standing. Malley pats on the sand. "Room for one more,"
Truthfully, the pearl didn't want to get her clothes dirty from the sand, but her malachite seemed insistent about this so Holly Pearl reluctantly sat down. She did her best to land gracefully on the sand and sit in a modest and elegant position. They sat together like that for five minutes before the pearl became physically anxious.
Malley notice the pearl fidgeting a bit, "What's the matter?" she asked.
"What are we doing exactly?" Holly Pearl replied.
"Watching the sunset," Malley explained. "Look, see all those colors changing in the sky and the sun sinking into the sea. Isn't it nice?"
Holly Peal looked out into the horizon pretty uninterested at first, but the longer she watched the softer her expression became until there was a look of wonder in her eyes.
The malachite sat there in silence, the waves nearly reaching Malley's outstretched feet, a gentle breeze filled the air with the scent of the salty sea and the sky slowly changes from orange to blue as the sunsets.
"Being at the zoo," Malley began, "I was kinda worried I wouldn't be able to see the sunset again. Although I bet the sunsets from the zoo are pretty nice too,"
"We don't have sunsets like this at the zoo." Holly Pearl replied.
"No?" Malley asked.
"We don't even have a real sun like that." The pearl continued. "The one we use for the zoomans is just a bright light fixture and it does not even set, it's just a shading process."
"Well, what about outside the zoo? I saw that big window in the pink room where you can see space."
"I wasn't allowed in that room without Agate's presence. Even so, the sun by the zoo doesn't set in space. It stays in the same spot, always and so does the zoo. We just stay in the same remote spot in a useless galaxy." Some solum was evident in her voice.
"Wow, as if I needed more reasons to love the earth," Malley said. "Wait, so this was like, your first sunset?"
"Yes." Holly Pearl answered. "Though I fail to see why it matters,"
"Well, answer this. Did you enjoy watching the sunset?"
Holly Pearl thought for a moment. "It was... oddly satisfying. While there is nothing impressive about a planet turning one way to face away from a ball of a blazing inferno, I will admit that seeing the action take place from this point of view, I believe it was rather... alright."
Malley stared at the pearl for a moment before saying, "Okay... so you like it then. That reason alone is why it matters. The good thing is your first sunset doesn't have to be your last one."
"If that is what you wish, Malley,"
"You know, it doesn't always have to be what I wish. We can do something you want to do too," Malley stands up.
Holly Pearl stands herself up after Malley. "A pearl cannot have any wants or wishes of her own. A pearl must always serve her owner's wishes."
"But you can here on earth. If you want to speak your mind or do something for yourself, I wouldn't mind at all. On earth, you don't have to follow the diamond's rules."
Holly Pearl shakes her head. "The diamonds made those rules to give our race order and balance. So far, all earth has to offer is sunsets and confusion,"
"That's not true. There are plenty of other things besides all that," Malley said.
"Such as?" Holly Pearl asked.
"Such as... the moonlight!" Malley answered. "There's almost nothing like seeing the moon as you float on the sea."
"Excuse me?"
"Tell you what, I'll show you," Malley said. She walks into the water until it reaches her ankles, then the water gem uses her hydrokinesis to use some seawater to form a flat iceberg.
"You can do that?" Holly Pearl in surprise. "I thought you were just a quartz."
"I'm only half quartz. I'm also half lapis lazuli." Malley said as she steps onto the ice.
"But you couldn't be both, that's impossible."
"You'll find we do a lot of impossible stuff on earth," Malley extends her hand out to the pearl. "Coming?" she asked.
Holly Pearl doesn't move.
"Oh, here," Malley has the water part to make a path for the pearl on the wet sand. This time, Holly takes a few cautious steps forward, grasps the malachite's hand, and steps on the ice. "There. Now hang on." Using her free hand Malley uses her power to move the iceberg across and through the waves.
The water was a little choppy at first but once they got further out to sea, the water was calmer, then there were too many clouds blocking the view, so the malachite had the iceberg move even further.
Malley looks up when they finally stop. "Hmm, it's not full tonight, but it still looks nice. See?" she said.
Holly Pearl slowly looks up and sees the half-full moon. The pearl shrugs. "It's adequate," she said.
"Yeah, I know. It's not as nice as I hoped it would be tonight but just wait till you see it when it's full." Malley said. "It will take a couple of days though,"
The pearl did not reply but as she looked further up, she could see the bright stars.
"What are looking at?" Malley asked.
"The stars," Holly Pearl answered. "These seem different from the ones I usually see at the zoo."
"Did Holly Blue let you watch the stars?" Malley wondered.
"I did once, from a window in her room, but she became angry at me for wasting my time, and then she-," the pearl said before shaking her head. "No, I shouldn't be speaking about her this way. I shouldn't be speaking about her at all, my time as her pearl is over,"
Malley started to grow tired of this owner thing but before she could say anything, her eyes flashed yellow before turning back to green. "Alright. If you want to keep thinking of me as an owner, fine, but call me a friend instead."
The pearl noticed the change in the malachite's eye but chose not to point it out. "Pardon?" Holly Pearl asked.
"Keep calling me your owner and the Crystal Gems will never shut up about it. Just between you and me, when you call me friend it means owner, understand?"
"I-... I understand," Holly Pearl answered deciding not to argue with the water gem this time.
Suddenly the iceberg bumped against a rock standing out of the ocean. Malley held them berg steady and moved it away. The water gem looked ahead and then her eyes lit with recognition. "Oh, here's a good spot." She said as the iceberg floats up and onto the deck of the galaxy warp.
The bluish pearl couldn't believe it, she had never seen so many warp pads at once.
"Cool, right?" Malley asked. "It's one of the first things I ever found after exploring on my own."
"It's fascinating," Holly Pearl replied. "Do these still work?"
"Only one does,"
"Which one?"
Suddenly one warp pad sprung to life with light and the leader of the crystal gems appeared. "This one," Garnet answered.
"Garnet," Malley said happily, and she ran towards the fusion for a hug. She received no hug in return but a pat on her hair.
"Malley, I see you made a new... friend," Garnet said firmly.
Malley suddenly remembered the pearl and backs away from the fusion. "I can explain!" she explained.
"Okay, let's hear it," Garnet said crossing her arms.
Malley exhaled a breath before quickly saying, "Back at the zoo, I was found by Blue Diamond's pearl, but she let me go quietly if I took a shell box from here and I did. I wasn't really sure what to do with it but then I opened it at the house and accidentally released Holly Pearl and her gem was broken and Steven fixed it and now Holly Pearl said I'm her owner but I don't want to and I just wanted to show her a little bit of earth like the sunset and the moon and stuff," She faced the ground. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."
"You kept secrets from me, and you left the house without permission." Garnet started. "This is very serious,"
"I kinda got permission from Steven to go the ocean with Holly Pearl," Malley pointed at the pearl next to her.
"Steven is a lot of things, but he isn't an authority figure," Garnet said. "You should have told me from the start," She looks at Holly Pearl. "You were Holly Blue Agate's pearl?"
Holly Pearl waited before answering, "Yes, I was,"
"But Holly Blue threw her away," Malley said. "We don't have to put her in a bubble, do we?"
Garnet paused in thought. "We will decide that together. All of us. For now, let's go back home,"
"Okay," Malley said.
Malley, Garnet, and Holly Pearl traveled via a warp pad to the hand outside the beach house. The rain had stopped but it was still cloudy, and the other gems were waiting for them. Pearl and Amethyst quickly took notice of Holly Pearl. They quickly regrouped into the house, Steven wasn't there, and neither was Connie.
"Where's Steven?" Pearl asked.
"He was here before I left," Malley said.
"He's fine," Garnet said. "I can see that he will be back soon. In the meantime, we need to talk about what to do with... Her,"
Amethyst walks up to Holly Pearl. "I can't believe Holly Blue had a pearl," She said. "So, how did you escape?"
"I didn't escape," Holly Pearl answered. "I was... given away. To Malley here,"
"Given to Malley? Whatever for?" Pearl asked.
"She can explain it better than I can," Holly Pearl stepped closer to Malley.
"Blue Diamond's pearl gave me a shell box and I hid it in my gem until we got back to earth, and I opened it, and out she came," Malley said.
Pearl's eyes widened. "Y-You were spotted by Blue Diamond's pearl. What if she informs her diamond about us?" Pearl wondered in rising panic.
"She said she'd keep quiet if I took the box," Malley pointed out.
"And you believed her?" Pearl asked.
"Pearl is right, Malley," Garnet said. "It's nice that you want to have faith in others but sometimes it better to be safe than sorry. But then... I'm not currently seeing the diamonds coming for us so we should be safe for now,"
"Fine but what do we do with her?" Pearl said pointing at Holly Pearl.
"Yeah, because one pearl is enough for this house," Amethyst said.
"Whatever the case is," Garnet interjected. "We will need a place for Holly Pearl to stay until we can sort this out."
"I'm not leaving Malley," Holly Pearl said openly. "I may not be a registered pearl in the eyes of our diamond authority anymore, I still have a job to do and that is to obey my gem's wishes and since that gem is Malley Kite, I'm not leaving her,"
"We just want to do what's best for all of us," Garnet said.
"It's very confusing when you say us when you're fused like that," Holly Pearl said. "Would you mind unfusing?" Holly Pearl continued. "You're appearance alone is very... unseemly,"
Garnet's lip twitched. She then grabs the bluish pearl, throws her over her shoulder, and walks to the warp.
"Hey!" Holly Pearl exclaims. "This is not dignified!"
Malley follows after Garnet.
"We'll be right back," Garnet said before the warp activates, sending herself, the pearl, and the malachite away.
A/N; I live again! More chapters on the way soon this time.