Takes place immediately after "Mindful Education." This is my first SU fic and I'm a little nervous about getting the characters right because I absolutely adore them.
The Scars of War
Stevonnie lay back in the grass, looking up at the clouds. Somewhere on the other side of them was the sky arena.
"I wonder how we're gonna get back up there."
Just then, Pearl and Garnet burst through the clouds. Garnet had shapeshifted herself into a parachute and Pearl dangled below her.
"Stevonnie!" Pearl jumped down and ran over to hug the fusion. "Oh, thank the stars you're okay!"
"I told you they'd be fine." Garnet said as she snapped back to her normal shape.
"Sorry to scare you guys, but everything's okay now. Can we go back to training?" Stevonnie asked.
"Of course!" Pearl agreed. "Come on. There's a warp pad over this way."
An hour later, Steven and Connie were unfused and sipping on water bottles as they rested on the bottom tier of arena seats. Steven was unusually quiet and contemplative.
"Something on your mind Steven?" Pearl asked as she caught him looking at her.
"Pearl, how come you never shapeshift?"
"Whatever do you mean?" Pearl asked, somewhat nervously.
"It's just that, when you came down to get us earlier, it seemed like it would have been a lot easier and faster if you both just turned into birds and flew down. And then I realized that I've never seen you shapeshift. Ever. Not even a little." Steven explained.
"That's a good question." Connie said. "Shapeshifting seems like such a cool and useful power to have. Why not use it?"
"Um… well… I'm not very… good… at it." Pearl mumbled, blushing and averting her gaze.
"I bet you would be if you practiced!" Steven said brightly. He ran out to the middle of the arena and held up his hand. "Come on, Pearl! Gimme five!"
"Yeah, Pearl! You can do it!" Connie encouraged.
Pearl hesitated. "I… uh…"
"Pearl." Garnet was standing several rows back, looking down at the others. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to."
Pearl looked back at Connie and Steven, who gave her encouraging smiles. She looked down at her hands. Connie was right about shapeshifting being useful. And she could have gotten down to Stevonnie faster if she'd turned into a bird. If she could shapeshift, she would be better at protecting Steven.
"O-okay. I'll try."
"Yeah!" Steven whooped.
"Go Pearl, go!" Connie cheered.
Pearl faced Steven and held out her arm. At first, nothing happened. Then, her thin body began to tremble all over. Her breathing came in rapid pants.
"Pearl?" Connie asked, becoming concerned.
And then Pearl burst into tears.
Garnet leapt down from the stands and caught Pearl as her legs gave out. Steven ran back over, frantic.
"Ahh! What's wrong? Does it hurt? I'm sorry!"
Pearl shook her head and pressed her hands to her mouth.
Garnet steadied Pearl on her feet and steered her toward the warp pad. "Let's get you back to the temple."
Amethyst was raiding the fridge when they returned. She looked up at the sound of sobbing and watched as Pearl fled into her room. "What happened? I thought you guys were just training today."
"I-I was trying to get Pearl to shapeshift and…" Steven trailed off, gazing sadly at the temple door.
"Shapeshifting?" Amethyst asked in confusion. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen her do it."
Steven's eyes widened. "You neither?" He turned to Garnet. "You've known her longest. Have you ever seen her do it?"
"Yes. A long time ago."
"So, what's her problem with it now?" Amethyst asked.
"Come sit down." They all took seats in the living room, and Garnet began her tale. "I think it was something that happened during the war. Specifically, during the battle where Rose Quartz slew Pink Diamond."
Steven winced a bit, still not comfortable with the idea that his mom killed someone, even if that someone was evil.
"I've told you before that Pearl always made sure to stick close to Rose's side in order to protect her from danger. But on this occasion, Pearl had gotten lost somewhere in the chaos, and Rose faced Pink Diamond alone. She had to retreat quickly before Pink's vengeful court could close in, and for a while, we lost track of her too. Apparently, she went to go find Pearl, because they returned to camp together."
"Was Pearl okay?" Steven asked.
"She was in much the same state as you just saw her. She kept trying to apologize to Rose and Rose kept telling her she had nothing to apologize for. But not even Rose could comfort her. Pearl wept for hours. I haven't seen her shapeshift since."
"Poor Pearl. She must have been really traumatized." Connie said sadly.
"And I brought it all back by asking her to shapeshift!" Steven cried in guilty dismay.
"No, Steven!" Garnet reprimanded. "This isn't your fault. Even I wasn't sure before today if that event had anything to do with shapeshifting."
"So, Pearl never told you what happened?" Amethyst clarified.
"She wouldn't speak about it to anybody. A few of us tried asking, but that only made Pearl upset and Rose asked us not to bother her about it."
"But back at the arena… you knew this was going to happen, didn't you." Steven said. As always, Garnet's lightning-quick reflexes had been a little too lightning-quick.
"It was a very likely outcome." Garnet admitted. "But I didn't want to tell Pearl she couldn't do it, because that would push her towards a future where she never learns to shapeshift again."
"Is there still a chance?" Connie asked hopefully.
"A small one, but yes." Garnet smiled at Connie and Steven. "It will be a while before she's ready to try again, but when she is, she's going to need a lot of encouragement from you two."
Steven perked up a little at this and glanced towards the temple door again. "Do you think Pearl will ever tell us what happened to her?"
"Yes. That much I'm certain of."