Healed by Trust and Love
Began writing on 22/07/2021
"I've gotta hurry, I've gotta hurry, I've gotta hurry!"
That was the one overriding thought that was going through the head of the boy that was running to the Warp Pad at the back of his house at Beach City.
The boy in question was Steven Quartz Universe, the son of Greg Universe, a former traveling musician and Rose Quartz.
Rose Quartz was a Gem, a humanoid alien hailing from Homeworld, the birth place of her species, who happened to be named after actual crystals and precious gemstones, curiously enough.
They were ruled by four powerful Gems known as Diamonds and were collectively known as the Great Diamond Authority.
The Diamonds ruled a galaxy spanning empire that has lasted for millions upon millions of years.
The reason for this was they invade other planets, set Kindergartens, facilities that were rich in minerals to create even more Gem, terraform the planet to provide more room for more Kindergartens to be created to create even more gems.
From there, they would rid the world of all organic life, build numerous building and other facilities of strategic importance. After which they would move on to colonize the next planet that would be ruled by the Diamond governing that sector.
Pink Diamond, the youngest of the Great Diamond Authority was given Earth to be the first world she would colonize and rule as part of her territory.
When Rose Quartz became enamoured of the beauty of the wild flora and fauna of the Earth, she tried to persuade Pink Diamond to spare the organic life that lived on the planet.
The young Diamond merely laughed and ignored her words and told her to do as she was meant be; a mere disposable soldier and nothing more.
Rose refused and soon raised up in rebellion with other like-minded gems who grew tired and weary of oppressive and tyrannical caste system.
Among them were Pearl, who became Rose Quartz's right-hand Gem and Garnet, a powerful being known as a Fusion, a combination of two Gems that was considered taboo under the Diamond's tyranny.
The rebel army, named the 'Crystal Gems', fought a long and hard war against the forces of Pink Diamond, which only ended when Rose managed to shatter the young Diamond, signifying their victory.
But victory came at a terrible cost.
Outraged at the shattering of Pink Diamond, the remaining three Diamonds, Yellow, Blue and White, recalled most of the Homeworld stationed there to return to their home planet.
After which the three Diamonds combined their powers to create a devastating laser, which they fired on the Earth
Many of the surviving members of the Crystal Gems and Homeworld forces that lagged behind were struck by the beam and became Corrupted, feral and monstrous creatures devoid of sense of self and reason.
Only Rose Quartz, Pearl and Garnet were spared due to her ability to create a shield large and powerful enough to protect them.
Grief stricken and consumed with remorse that her actions had caused this tragedy, which turned Gems, both Crystal Gems and Homeworld alike into savage beasts, she and her two remaining loyal friends wandered the world until they took up residence in Beach City, where they worked to capture and bubble Corrupted Gems, with the hope that they would be restored one day, while protecting humanity all the while.
During this time, she met both Lion and Amethyst on two separate occasions and have brought both of them into the fold.
During the 20th Century, she met a curious man by the name of Greg Universe, and soon began a romantic relationship and later became pregnant with her yet unborn son, Steven.
Tragically however, in order to give birth to her son, she had to give up her physical form to create Steven, who inherited her gemstone.
While the group grieved for her loss, none took it as deeply and personally as Pearl, who was jealous of how close the two were, considering how close she and Rose were throughout many millennia.
As the years rolled on, while she tried to act like a mother figure like the rest of the gems in Rose's absence, she would suffer bouts of self esteem and lack of self-confidence.
When Rose was alive, she felt that she could anything. Without her, she felt powerless, weak and any relevance she had was lost.
In present time, Garnet had explained to Steven that Pearl would sometimes risk her life for Rose to prove herself and protect what self-worth she had.
When Steven heard this, he was horrified!
Connie was recently taken in as Pearl's student as a swordfighter and he feared that Pearl would make Connie have the same level self-esteem and self-confidence as the elegant spear wielder had!
After everything that had recently happened, his brief abduction by the brutal Homeworld Gem Jasper, Lapis' sacrifice by fusing with her to form Malachite only to be dragged down into the ocean to protect him, Steven's still recent emotional breakdown in front of Connie about said events, now she would think that her life would not be important compared to his and would throw it away without hesitation or pause!?
That could not be allowed to happen!
She was more important to Steven than she realised!
He could not allow this to go on any longer!
He had to stop her!
Not daring to stop, he used the Warp Pad to head straight to the Ancient Sky Arena!
Minutes later, Steven exited the archway of the area, looking franticly to see Connie and Pearl.
He had to stop the ivory-coloured gems madness!
He turned ahead of to see both Connie and Pearl right in front of him.
"Remember, Connie." Pearl began, "In the heat of battle, Steven is what matters. You don't matter."
Steven's heart sank to hear those words and he prayed that Connie would have the will to say otherwise.
"I do not matter."
The words spoken from Connie's lips sent a cold and terrifying chill down Steven's spine.
Without hesitation, he ran down the steps towards them, determined to stop them in time!
But it was too little, too late…
"Now… let us… begin!" cried Pearl, as her Gemstone on her forehead began to shine!
"NO!" Steven mentally screamed as the clouds covered the arena, obscuring Connie and Pearl from his vision!
Regardless, Steven continued onwards, determined to protect Connie and, if possible, save Pearl's shattered soul.
"Connie, Connie, where are you?" Steven cried out to her, hoping the sound of his voice would attract her attention.
But no voice answered his call, only sound of steel clashing on steel echoed throughout the area.
Connie could be anywhere, and by the time he found her, it would be too late and she would be found dead on the floor!
Steven shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts.
"It won't come to that!" Steven thought determinedly and resolved to try again.
"Connie!" he cried, and that was as far as he got when he noticed a shining light from behind him.
Steven turned to see that behind him was a cool blue holographic replica of Pearl who matched her appearance in every way!
It even had Pearl's satin sash on her upper waist and the star symbol on the centre of her chest!
Steven stepped backwards and said nervously with an equally nervous smile, "Y-you wouldn't have happened to see Connie, would you?"
The Holo-Pearl merely replied in a synth robotic tone, "Unregistered combatant detected!"
The young human/gem hybrid knew that reasoning with a holographic imposter was a bit of a stretch as its eyes glowed red, raising the sword it held to skewer him, and he braced himself for what was to come.
Small as he may be, he would prove to this cheap knockoff that he would not be an easy target!
The Holo-Pearl's attack was cut short however, as it was stabbed in the chest by the sharp point of a blade!
"Connie!" cried an elated Steven as clouds parted, he could see through the hologram the unmistakeable face of Connie Maheswaran!
The Holo-Pearl soon disappeared, its sword clanging on the floor.
Steven now had a better chance to look at her current attire.
Her current getup consisted of a purple fighting outfit with a red bandana around her waist.
She still had the half of lower right arm including her wrist and hand, except for her finger were covered in white gauze and the plaster on the right cheek as he saw some time before.
She wore no shoes and wielded a sabre in her right hand.
"Steven? What are you doing here?" said the young Indian American girl with a concerned look on her face.
Not wasting a second, Steven ran and grabbed her by the shoulders and said pleadingly, "Connie, I don't want you to do this anymore! Not alone!"
Connie merely shook head and said grinning, "No, Steven. I understand now! Your legacy, your destiny, you are everything! And I… I am nothing… But I can do this for you! I can give you my service!"
"Oh no, this is way worse than I thought!" thought Steven worryingly, for the mindset that Pearl was instilling in her was beginning to tighten its grip!
He needed to snap her out of it, and fast!
Shaking his head, Steven replied, "No! I don't want you to!"
"Steven…" replied Connie determinedly, seeing the flash of light that announced the arrival of a Holo-Pearl behind her, 'liege', "I'm doing this… FOR YOU!"
Connie pushed Steven down and ducked to escape the Holo-Pearl's horizontal slash!
Connie vaulted over Steven and countered with a horizontal slash of her own, slicing the imposter in half.
She then turned to Steven and argued, "I need to be able to protect you!"
Steven got on his hands and knees with a look of wonder on his face and began, "But if you're the one protecting me…"
He soon saw another Holo-Pearl looming over a distracted Connie, aiming to slice her in two!
Steven knew right there and then that this was the pivotal moment, he had to make this count!
Psychologically speaking, it's time to do or die!
Frowning, he quickly got up and ran while adding, "Then who's the one protecting you?!"
Connie turned just in time to see Steven rush in front of her, causing to fall on her rear, and saw him create a shield to block to Holo-Pearl's attack!
The vibration from the shield caused the hologram to disappear.
Steven lowered his shield and said with a sad expression on his face, "Someday soon, we may be fighting some really bad guys,".
He turned to look at Connie with a look of determination and continued with stars in his eyes, "and when that day comes, I want to fight with you, together!"
Connie was shocked at such a declaration, a desire to fight alongside the very person he was supposed to be protected by!
She soon noticed Steven lowering his hand to help her up as he said, "So please…"
She immediately noticed four Holo-Pearls coming at her and Steven at all sides!
Unafraid, Steven finished his question, "…Won't you share this jam with me?"
As time slowed to a crawl, she was in deep thought.
All this time, she began her sword training with Pearl with a desire to protect Steven, and now here was the man himself offering her a chance to fight together with him, not as master and servant, not as liege and retainer, but as equals and friends.
True, there was some merit at being able to stand on her own feet and to be able to fight her own battles, but perhaps, she thought, that was far more honour, and far more glory to be had, by fighting together with Steven as a united team that was more in sync and harmony, rather than fight alone, with no one to watch her back.
Deciding that the idea of fighting alongside Steven, each one protecting the other to be far more appealing and alluring, she took Steven's hand with a confident grin, and without a second thought.
Just in time as well, as the four Holo-Pearls jumped into the air, each looked to impale their two targets on the way down, only to be blocked by Steven's shield, which expanded to block their combined attack.
"This is much easier!" said Connie, her confidence soaring.
"That's the idea!" replied an equally confident Steven.
Steven then created a pink bubble around them and expanded it to blow all the Holo-Pearls away!
Two of them shattered upon landing on the ground, the third laid on its back before dissipating, while the last one got up to resume the fight, but both its right hand and the sabre it held broke, the hologram itself fell apart seconds later.
Within the bubble, Steven looked at Connie and told her, both holding each other's hands, "No matter what comes, we do this together!"
Steven was mentally skipping with joy!
He had managed to stop Connie from making a most grievous and fatal mistake and managed to bring her back to her former self unharmed!
"That's one less thing to worry about!" Steven thought to himself jubilantly, "Now, the only thing left to do is- "
"STEVEN!" cried the booming voice of an outraged Pearl.
Steven's bubble popped on that instant and the expression of Steven and Connie's clearly showed what they were both thinking; "Uh-oh, busted!"
As the clouds parted, they turned to see Pearl, who looked absolutely livid due to her young ward's interference.
"Steven, don't interfere." said Pearl in an authoritative tone that would not stand any sort of argument.
"She needs to take me on herself!" she added, swinging a few swipes of her sabre for dramatic effect.
"WHY!?" Steven demanded, adding, "She's the strawberry!"
"And he's the biscuit!" said Connie, continuing where her friend and equal left off.
"…and that makes us… JAM- "began Steven, his face and voice full of determination.
Connie finished the words with both face and voice with equal determination, "-BUDS!"
"Wha-?" squawked Pearl, utterly confused at the most ridiculous thing she ever heard.
The metaphors made no sense at all!
But she was given no time to ask for clarification, as two young warriors charged at her with a joint war cry.
The final battle had begun!
Connie reached her first and launched a barrage of fast and fierce attacks, recalling everything Pearl had taught her up to this point.
The blows were deftly blocked by Pearl, who was much more experienced from centuries and centuries of combat as a member of the rebellion army.
Growing tired of this show of futile resistance, she swung her sabre to disarm her rebellious student, planning to do the same thing to her insubordinate young ward next.
However, Connie spun around and Steven took her place, blocking the Crystal Gem's attack with his shield!
Pearl was shellshocked at this display of fluid and exemplary team work.
No, she would not entertain such thoughts, Connie needed to learn that Steven was more important than she was and needed to be prepared to give up her life to save him if necessary!
She already failed to do so with her beloved Rose Quartz, she would not fail again by letting Connie believe that Steven would always be there to protect her like Rose did!
Connie used Pearl's distracted state of mind to slide under her, stood back up and rushed at her with Steven doing the same, cornering the ancient warrior in a pincer attack!
"ENO- "
Whatever Pearl was going to say was cut off as in an unexpected move, moving his left arm in an uppercut motion, Steven slammed the rim of the shield, right at the centre of Pearl's stomach!
"UARGH!" cried Pearl, as pain writhed throughout her body.
Connie caught a glimpse of this and was truly surprised at what Steven just did.
Connie soon focused her thoughts at the battle at hand.
Now was not the time to be distracted!
Steven had given her an opening and she needed to capitalize on it!
Connie resumed her assault and slashed the ivory gem at the back!
"ARGH!" Pearl yelled as pain seared through her back!
Connie slid under her and resumed her place at Steven's right side, some distance from Pearl.
Pearl clenched her stomach with her left hand, her whole body riddled with agony, tried to regain her footing while glaring at the young troublemakers and spoke, her breath ragged and filled with uncharacteristic anger, "You… You disobedient, insolent little!", her emotions clearly getting the better of her.
These words and the anger behind them, which were out of character for Pearl, fell on deaf ears as Steven pulled his left arm back, shield in hand and said resolutely, "I'm sorry Pearl, but this is for your own good!"
He threw the shield and it struck her in the face!
Pearl howled in pain as she dropped her sabre and covered her face with both hands.
When the shield returned to Steven, he did not waste a second as he threw it again, this time striking in the stomach again!
On its second return, Connie, sword in hand, stepped in front of Steven and yelled, "Try dodging this!" and struck the shield, sending it back to Pearl, again hitting her in the face!
This was repeated several more times, each ricochet Connie made striking Pearl in the face and stomach alternatively.
After the last shield strike at the stomach, Connie allowed the weapon return to Steven.
Both of them looked at Pearl, who was dazed and looked thoroughly exhausted.
Steven looked at Connie and nodded, Connie nodding as well.
Both he and Connie knew what they had to do.
They needed to put an end to Pearl's grief driven madness, once and for all!
Steven ran forward with Connie following close behind.
Steven skidded to a stop as Pearl tried to look at him, but was too dazed to do anything.
Quoting the catchphrase of Ziegpried, the main protagonist from another of Steven and Connie's fighting games, Spirit Gram, he cried while uppercutting Pearl's stomach with the shield, "The price of- "
Steven soon moved out of the way so Connie could reach Pearl and finished the quote, "integrity!" while delivering a devastating uppercut to the chin, using the handguard of her sabre for additional strength!
Pearl flew through the air for several seconds before landing face first into the arena grounds, and she laid there in a crumbled heap at her crushing and ignominious defeat.
Steven and Connie both sighed in relief, knowing they had won a hard-fought battle.
"Steven, we won!" cheered Connie, looking at her friend, her eyes turning into the shape of diamonds, "I can't believe we did it, I can't believe we actually defeated Pearl!"
"I know, right?!" replied Steven, with a huge grin and his eyes turning star shaped.
"I've gotta say though, I never would've expected you to punch Pearl like that, especially with the shield!" replied Connie with a confident smirk.
Steven rubbed the back of his head nervously and replied, "Well, I thought I need to improvise and do something she wouldn't expect me to do."
Connie replied, "Well I'm glad you did, otherwise this battle could've gone completely the other way!"
"Yeah, Pearl would've creamed the both of us!" said Steven, glad that things didn't go that way.
"Now I know I made the right choice; this was so much easier!" said Connie, her confidence reaching cloud nine.
"Like I told you before," Steven replied, grinning from ear to ear, "No matter what comes our way, we do this together!"
"Darn straight!" said Connie, "When we work together, we will always prevail! Homeworld doesn't stand a ghost of a chance!"
"True dat!" replied Steven, elated that the spell was now broken.
Connie's confidence, evened out with humility, would now be unbroken.
Her self-esteem was now repaired and unbound, never to falter again.
Connie began to kneel before Steven, but the son of Rose Quartz stopped her saying, "Nope, none of that."
He then summoned his shield to his right hand and lifted his arm in a diagonal line.
Connie soon stood back up, smiling, as she understood what this meant.
She swapped her weapon to her left hand and raised her sabre to touch the shield.
With this, Steven's mission was now complete.
Their salute would be the act that seals their pact.
From now and forever, they will fight as one!
The forces of evil will falter in the face of this ultimate dream tag team!
Never, will they know defeat at the hands of an enemy!
Homeworld can lead thousands upon thousands of their finest troops against them, but these new stalwart defenders of humanity would still defeat them and emerge from the battle unscathed!
The combined powers of the Sword and Shield will always prevail!
Nothing can ever break the unique bond that Steven and Connie both share!
Their bond will be eternal!
No known force throughout the entire universe can stop them now!
Both soon laid down their arms to their sides.
"So, what do we do next?" asked Connie, still fired up from their recent victory, "Should we learn how to fight in unarmed combat next? Having a weapon is good and all, but I would like to be prepared in case if they took my weapon away and you somehow lose your ability to create that shield."
Steven pondered for a moment and said, "Well, I do know that Amethyst has several sets of different martial arts training video tapes in her room that we could use…"
Their planning of the next phase of their plans were soon rudely interrupted when someone decided to rain on their parade…
"NO!"
Both Steven and Connie knew whose voice that was and assumed battle positions, weapons at the ready, only to see a starling sight before them!
How was Pearl still standing!?
Her body had taken a serious battering, filled with bruises and dirt everywhere!
She maybe a humanoid alien from outer space, but after the thrashing the two children gave her, Pearl shouldn't have any energy left to stand, let alone talk!
But both Steven and Connie knew they had taken a lot of energy out of her, as Pearl was using her spear as a crutch, trying to maintain her balance and trying to keep her eyes on the rebellious children that were in front of her!
She looked like she would drop dead at any moment!
Even her gem was slightly cracked!
"In a real battle, Steven won't be there to save you!" Pearl continued, panting.
"Yes, I will!" Steven argued.
This was now getting ridiculous!
Why was Pearl being so stubborn to admit that she was in the wrong!?
Her appearance was a clear indicator that they were in the right, but she absolutely insists on having the final word when the evidence was proof to the contrary!
"You don't know that, Steven!" Pearl replied angerly.
"Yes, I do!" Steven countered, "If Connie is going to fight, we're going to fight together!"
"That's right!" agreed Connie, "All this time, I could've tried to talk to Steven about what was going on, but I didn't because I let fear blind me to what I should have done in the first place!"
Connie pointed the sabre that she held in her left hand directly at Pearl, her face set at an angry scowl as she continued, "All this time, you constantly made me feel like my life was insignificant to Steven's, like anything I say or do wouldn't matter in the grand cosmic scheme of things!"
"Do you honestly believe the absolute nonsense that you are spouting!?" raged Pearl, her emotions running more wilder by the second.
"Yes, I do!" Connie replied, "Steven and I could have been training together all this time, but you constantly said that I could rely on no one but myself, that I shouldn't let such feelings get in the way of my better judgement!"
Connie pointed a right finger at herself as she continued, "You constantly put down what confidence I have in myself and projected your own low self-esteem on to me! I can't believe that for one second that I actually listened to everything you said to me in the first place!"
"I'm doing this for your own good!" argued Pearl, "You need to be ready for what is to come! The harsh reality that you need to face!"
Her eyes looked completely manic now, her control of the situation was drastically slipping away…
"I REFUSE!" roared Connie, swishing her sabre to her left, with Steven yelping, "Whoa!" and jumped away to avoid getting cut by the unintentional swipe.
Connie realised what she did as she looked at Steven with sheepish look and said in a rather sheepish tone, "Whoops, sorry!"
The Indian American swordswoman resumed her full attention on Pearl and continued, "We've already proven that we can beat you by working together! With Steven by my side, we can take on everything Homeworld can throw at us!"
Steven nodded, showing he shared Connie's sentiments.
"Steven shouldn't be anywhere near the fight!" yelled Pearl, who was about to be pushed beyond her emotional limit, "He's too important!"
"I'm not!" Steven argued.
"YES, YOU ARE!" Pearl bellowed, her manic eyes turning red, and voice becoming hysterical!
"Why don't you just leave Steven alone, Pearl!?" retorted Connie, her patience for the ivory gem now completely gone, "Let Steven decide for himself who he wishes to be! Who the heck do you think you are, trying to dictate who he needs to be!? Why won't you let him be who he wants to be!?"
Pushed beyond her emotional restraint, her voice full of sadness and despair, Pearl screeched at them,
"WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU, ROSE!?"
Steven and Connie just stared at Pearl in startled silence, the sound of the Gem's outburst reverberating throughout the arena,
"If that is the case, then let me answer your question with another question." came an all too familiar female African British accent.
Steven and Connie turned their heads around while Pearl lifted hers to see who had entered the arena.
The figure was a tall soft cerise skinned humanoid woman with short and small cube-shaped afro coloured dark purple.
Her right leg was a midnight stocking while her left leg was a dark orchid stocking.
Both halves of her lower body were of the same colour.
Her shoulder pads were both pear-shape and were coloured dark orchid.
The star on her upper body was coloured amaranth with a soft pink outline.
To complete the ensemble, she wore soft pink and pale blue shades.
She was holding a bottle of some kind in her left hand.
The new arrival was none other than Garnet, current leader of the Crystal Gems.
Looking straight at Pearl, Garnet asked calmly, "Why do you so stubbornly and doggedly refuse to let go of the past, Pearl?"
"GARNET!" cried Steven and Connie joyously as ran up to Garnet, who kneeled down to embraced them with a hug.
"Did you just get here?" asked Steven, after Garnet released both him and Connie from her hug.
"I've been here for quite a while, actually." Garnet replied with a smile.
"You were!?" exclaimed a shocked Connie, "Since when!?"
Garnet answered, "Since you and Steven made that adorable Jam Buds speech."
Both children's faces flushed red with embarrassment at this.
"When you ran off in a panic, I was concerned Steve." Garnet continued, "I followed you here and I had planned to jump in and help you if things got out of hand."
She first looked at Pearl, then she looked back at Steven and Connie and said, "But it seems you two had the matter well in hand."
"Although you two may have gone a little too overboard…" she added.
The two children turned to see the rather battered gem still holding on to her spear, her red manic eyes shrinking in fear.
Garnet then stood up and walked over to Pearl, with both Connie and Steven following after her.
"By the way, what's that bottle you got in your hand for?" asked Connie inquisitively.
"I just made a quick stop to the Fountain to get something before I followed Steven, just in case if things did go a bit hairy." Garnet replied.
"Wait, you went to Mom's Fountain?" asked Steven, remembering his last escapade there.
"Hold up, your mom had a fountain!?" said an astonished Connie, her eyes again turning into diamonds.
"Yeah, I'll tell you about it later." replied Steven.
As Garnet walked towards Pearl, the pale Gem's eyes widened with fear.
Her leader was going to condemn her, and there was nothing she could do...
Garnet soon stopped in front of Pearl, opened the bottle and said, "Here Pearl, this will fix you up."
Garnet then poured to contents of bottle over Pearl, in the way a friend would when asked to pour water over their friend's head when they to cool down from intense heat.
The effects were instantaneous.
Peal's eyes were now back to normal and the crack on the gem was now fixed.
The bruises were completely gone and the dirt was washed away.
She was totally spotless!
It was if she had taken no damage at all!
Passing the bottle to Steven, Garnet said to Pearl with full seriousness, "Pearl, I never thought that you would go this far…"
Pearl, no longer using her spear as a crutch, merely hung her head in silence and out of shame.
"I never had thought that your sadness and lack of confidence had pushed you to this extreme," Garnet continued, "and the sad thing is, it's all my fault."
This admission had caught everyone off guard.
"Wait, what? Why would it be your fault?" asked a confused Pearl.
"Yeah, why are you blaming yourself for?" inquired an equally confused Steven.
"I should have been more certain," replied Garnet, looking at Steven, "I should have made sure that Pearl had truly moved on. But I didn't and like an infected wound, I allowed it grow and fester."
She looked back at Pearl and continued, "In one possible future, when we were hunting for Peridot, the fact I said we needed Sugilite to take down the Homeworld communications tower before Steven's abduction by Jasper, it had hurted you deeply. It made you feel that you were weak, that you were worthless. "
"Sugilite?" asked Connie with a confused look on her face.
"I'll tell you later, Connie." Steven replied.
"It hurt you so bad," Garnet resumed, "that, in a desperate attempt to prove that you weren't worthless or weak, you would repair the tower every time, behind out backs, after we destroyed it each time as Sardonyx. You also did you because liked the feeling of being strong, you even lied to my face just to do it."
"Sardonyx is you and Pearl fused!?" asked an amazed Steven, his eyes turning into stars.
"Not now, Steven!" said Connie, reprimanding Steven
"Sorry..." replied Steven with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Garnet, how could you say such a thing!?" cried Pearl, aghast at such a serious accusation, "I would never- "
"I said in one possible future Pearl, not this one." Garnet interrupted.
"That means there's probably a timeline where we both got beaten by Pearl…" Steven whispered to Connie, who replied, "Your totally right…"
"All this time, I simply assumed that you had moved on when you acknowledged Steven as who he is after that first winter with him, but I was wrong. Terribly wrong…" said Garnet, her voice taking a sad tone.
Silence hung the air.
"I did not follow up on how Rose's sacrifice had affected you deeply, how that it was so grave that it scared you for life." Garnet continued, "You may not have realised it, but somewhere, in the depths of your mind, you still saw only Rose instead of Steven, the one gem you loved more than life itself."
Steven was honestly quite hurt to hear that, but soon noticed that Connie placed a comforting hand on his left shoulder.
"As leader of the Crystal Gems, it is my duty to make sure that everyone is alright and all is well." said Garnet her voice rather sombre, "But I failed to make sure that you had truly healed from the events of that day. I did not see what was happening until today, watching your confrontation with Connie and Steven. This means that I've failed the team; I've failed you, Pearl. For that, I sincerely and profusely apologize."
There was silence for a few moments.
Pearl hung her head down, turning to look at the opposite direction.
"Pearl?" asked Steven, unsure of what was going on.
A sad chuckle came from Pearl's mouth, her shoulders moving up and down.
A chuckle that quickly turned into giggling and then into full blown laughter, her head looking into the sky, laughing at no one in particular.
"Oh no, that's not good…" Connie murmured worryingly.
"What a poor excuse of a gem I must be…" sobbed Pearl between laughs, "Me, a gem who was known as the 'Renegade Pearl', reduced to relying on trickery just to make myself feel better, to be to nothing more than some jaded teenage girl who is jealous that some nobody managed to win the heart of the girl that I have known more than anyone else, the girl I prayed and hoped that would acknowledge me as more than just as a close friend and confidant…!"
She wheeled around to face everyone as she screeched with tears rolling down her manic eyes,
"DON'T YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE HERE JUST FIND THIS TO BE WONDERFULLY HILARIOUS, GARNET!?"
All except for Garnet reeled backwards at this emotional outburst!
"Oh great, Pearl's mind has been shattered!" Connie frightfully remarked as Pearl resumed laughing.
"What do you mean? Pearl's gem is still intact." said Steven, who was rather confused.
"That's not what I mean, Steven!" Connie replied, looking rather annoyed, "What I mean, is that she's gone absolutely bonkers! She's completely of her rocker! She's totally lost it!"
For the next several hours, like a madwoman, or rather a mad gem in this case, Pearl, her back turned raved on and on and on about her numerous failures, her inadequacies as well as her own self perceived incompetence.
In all honesty, if it wasn't for Connie comforting him, Steven would have broken down in tears after the first several minuets!
It was about night time by the Pearl had finally calmed down, although this did not quell the sadness that was inside her.
"Who am I trying to fool?" said Pearl, her voice full of sadness, "I never seem to be able to do anything right, not without someone to hold my hand and tell me what to do..."
She turned to look at everyone, her eyes no long crazed, just sad, with tears rolling down her face, and said with a sad smile, "Who am I, a truly weak and worthless Pearl, a directionless gem who can't protect the numerous friends I made during the Rebellion without Rose to guide and inspire me, compare to a gem like you, who never loses composure, who always makes the right decisions, who always knows what to do without prompting, Garnet? How could I, a petty and pathetic gem could ever hope to compete with a perfect and flawless gem like you…?"
Garnet, her arms crossed, was not at all impressed at Pearl's overly self-deprecating and self-humiliating remarks.
Steven was about to ask what Pearl meant, saying she was a 'directionless gem', when Garnet interrupted saying, "Contrary to popular belief, I'm not the 'flawless gem' as you make me out to be, Pearl."
Pearl was about to ask Garnet was talking about when the Crystal Gem leader to her by the hand and led her to the seats to the left side of the arena, with both Steven and Connie following after them.
Once all four were seated, Garnet resumed, "As I have said, I'm not the 'flawless and perfect gem' that you seem to believe me to be."
"But you are!" Pearl replied, still believing in her own self-deprecating words.
"No, I am not." argued Garnet, "I'm not as strong as you think, there are times that even I lose control."
"You can lose control?" asked Connie, who was confused.
"Well," Garnet began, who turned to look at Connie, after which he moved the right side of her glasses to reveal her red coloured right eye and opened her left hand to show Connie the gem stone in the centre and continued with a smile, "let's just say it's sometimes hard to control your temper when one part of your fusion is a rather temperamental Ruby."
She then gave Connie a playful wink and placed her glasses back on.
"Garnet is a Fusion!?" Connie whispered to herself before she turned to her fellow warrior and asked with an incredulous look on her face, "Steven, when were you going to tell me about this!?"
"Err… I guess after everything that's happened recently, I never found the time to tell you about it…?" said Steven nervously with a shrug.
Connie groaned as she faced palmed and moaned in a muffled voice, "Oy vey…"
Garnet turned back to Pearl as she resumed, "What you did in that other timeline? It threw Ruby and Sapphire into turmoil, it caused me to be undone."
Pearl merely kept silent as Garnet continued, "I have weaknesses too. But I choose not to let them consume me. I struggle to stay strong because I know the impact that I have on everyone on the team."
She placed her hands on Pearl's as she said, "Please understand Pearl, you have an impact as a member of the team, too. There are times when I look up to you for strength."
Pearl looked at Garnet with a speechless look on her face as her friend continued, "You are your own gem, you control your own destiny. Not me, not Rose, not Steven. But you must choose to be strong so you can move forward."
Garnet placed her left hand on Pearl's right shoulder as she added, "So please, it's time to end this. It's time to let it go, Pearl. It's time for you to move on from the past, and free yourself from the chains of the prison you have made in your own mind. Rose would be heartbroken to see you act like this."
Pearl whimpered at first, but soon her emotional dam broke and grabbed her leader as she finally let out all the pain she suffered for millennia and in the recent years
Steven and Connie went to and gave her a hug too.
This lasted for several minutes.
When she calmed down later on, Pearl said "Thank you. I needed that, badly."
"You're welcome." Replied Garnet with a smile.
Pearl looked Steven and Connie and said, "I apologize for my actions. I was a fool to try and divide you two the way I did."
Both children nodded, to show that all was forgiven.
"I truly see now that you work better as team rather than separate. Especially with the impressive teamwork you displayed!" said Pearl with a smile before adding, "You both will make excellent knights!"
Both Steven and Connie hugged Pearl with smiles on their faces.
Steven was especially overjoyed as Pearl was back to her old self again.
Steven, Connie and Garnet had managed to save her soul from being consumed by her grief and sadness.
Plus, she'll be all the better and wiser for it.
"I can't wait to take things to the next level!" said Pearl, practically giddy with excitement, "Next, we'll need to start on you mid-air and underwater duelling exercises! Oh, I just know it's going to be boodles of fun!"
"Just try not to overdo it, Pearl." Garnet remarked with a smile, "Besides, you have an impact on this team, you know."
"Oh, I will. You just try not to lose that composure of yours. After all, you have an impact on this team too!" said Pearl with a sly look and a sly tone.
"Hey!" cried Garnet in false indignation, with a grin on her face.
All four laughed together in perfect harmony.
A harmony that has been healed by trust and love.
The End
A/N
Spirit Gram is a parody of Bandai Namco's fighting game series, Soul Calibur, while Ziegpried is a parody of Siegfried, a character from the same series.
While many of you will see this a being mean to Pearl, I do not hate her. I just felt that her grief at losing Rose Quartz (aka Pink Diamond) had not been fully explored, so I wanted to create a scenario where all her insecurities and lack of self-esteem would be on full display.
I also feel that Garnet also had some responsibility for what happened her first fallout with Pearl as she ignored Pearl's warnings about Sugilite and she did nothing to see if Pearl truly had healed after Rose's sacrifice, which contributed to Pearl deceiving her in Cry for Help.
If I ever lived in Steven Universe and I wanted to form a relationship with any of the gems, it would be Lapis Lazuli, poor girl needs some love and I would try to find a way for me and her to have kids without Lapis sacrificing herself to do it.
Finally, since I never seen anyone else do an alternate ending to Sworn to the Sword, I felt that I might as well be the one to do it.
Steven Universe is the property of Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network.
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Finished writing on 27/07/2021
Story written by H411OWED KN1GHT 64