Death before dishonor

Pearl stared at Shadow from the kitchen. She watched as he tussled around in his sleep no doubt from a nightmare he was having. It was sad to see that even in his dreams he was still suffering as much as he was when he's awake.

"P you okay?"

Amethysts sudden voice startled the gem and she dropped the dish she was washing into the hot water. The loud bang of the dish woke Shadow up who sat upright breathing heavily. His steely eye gaze casted towards them.

Amethyst pointed a finger at Pearl. "She did it."

Pearl went to argue but realized it was worthless. "Good Afternoon Shadow."

The man rubbed at his face in surprise. "Afternoon? I didn't mean to sleep so long." Shadow stood up to his feet. His hands instinctively went to rub his right eye or lack of an eye. Shadow leaned back on the couch with his arm over his face. No matter how much sleep he got he felt to tired to stay awake for to long. Maybe if he didn't stay awake for so long he wouldn't be this way.

Both Amethyst and Pearl were now staring at Shadow. "He really isn't getting any better is he?" Amethyst asked Pearl.

Pear made a frustrated sound not towards her friend just at everything wrong. "It's only been a day Amethyst we really can't hope for much right now. We be patient and understanding… will see some improvement. Just trust him."

A knock on the door startled everyone except Steven. The little boy ran to the door with a goofy smile on his face. He opened the door to Connie who had a huge pink sword strapped to her back and a sports bag over her shoulder.

Connie came in smiling and greeting the lot. "Hi mister Shadow."

Shadow looked past him arm to Connie's small brown face smiling at him. "Umm hi Connie whats going on?"

"Today is weapons training!" Both Steven and Connie said in unison.

Pearl was once again startled. "Oh my I totally forgot." Pearl set her eyes on Shadow then smiled. "Shadow why don't you join us today?"

The man looked over to her then back up at the roof. "Maybe next time Pearl I'm not really in the mood." Shadow went to roll over until a heavy weight started to crush him.

Steven and Connie jumped on top of Shadow giggling like the kids they were. "Come on Shadow you can watch us fuse into Stevonnie."

"Stevonnie?" Shadow said in confusion.

Now the two kids were even more excited. Connie looked at Shadow with the most puppies face her face muscles could conjure up. "Please mister Shadow come watch us pleaseee." Connie kept pleading.

Shadow actually grinned for once but he quickly hid it before Pearl could see he was amused.

"Alright alright I'll come." Was what he simply said and that was all it took for the kids to hoop and holler in excitement, they never passed up a chance to show off Stevonnie.

The group stood on top of the warp pad about ready to go. Shadow looked down at the crystal thing with curiosity, he remembered a long time ago Pearl using one of these.

A blue light casted around them. No one was freaking out except Shadow whose eyes turned into saucers. The group was suspended in the air for a moment before their bodies started to move towards whatever their destination was.

After a few more seconds they touched down on another warp pad and the light disappeared. Shadow was in awe at what he was seeing. Giant crumbling pillars holding up a triangular ceiling. What really confused him was the structure that floated beneath the entrance above the stairs. White, yellow, blue, and a crumbling pink made it up the diamond shaped symbolizing something that long ago meant something. Just in front of him was the same shape just not destroyed.

Pearl could see his curiosity to it, a perfect time to educate Shadow on the gems past. "That is the diamond authority you're looking at."

"What is it exactly?" He asked.

"Their powerful gems that conquer planets within the solar system. Long ago Pink diamond looked to Earth to take for the great gem empire, they were gonna destroy everything on this planet. Rose Quartz on the other hand saw life and beauty on Earth, she couldn't be apart of something so cruel so she rebelled." Pearl sounded sad at the history lesson but also proud.

The two walked and talked up the stairs. "Lemme guess. That is how the Crystal Gems came to be."

"Correct. We fought the homeworld gems for a long time. The war ended when Rose shattered Pink Diamond-" Pear cut herself off before they came within earshot of the kids. Shadow didn't really notice her stop talking he was mesmerized by the coliseum in front of them. You could tell it was used for battles because the broken debris. Hell he didn't even realize they were floating until he looked over the edge to see that they were above a valley. This was all way to crazy for him, in a good way.

Pearl was standing in the middle of the arena with a sword drawn. Actually it wasn't Pearl at all it looked like her but not her.

"Prepare yourself for combat!" The not-pearl said with a robotic tone.

Pearl actually stood next to him grinning at Steven and Connie. "Pay attention Shadow. You'll miss the good part."

Shadow didn't know what she meant so he did as she said. The kids looked at each other then began to dance, Shadow tilted his head in confusion he didn't think their training consisted of doing the robot. Stevens gem began to glow a bright pink then their was a flash. What Shadow saw next blew his mind. In the place of the two stood a tall woman with long black hair and dark skin. The women withdrew the pink sword Connie had earlier then in her other hand she summoned Stevens shield.

One plus one equals two and Shadow put it together. "Is that Steven? Or Connie? What the hell am I looking at?"

Pearl started to laugh she enjoyed his confusion it made him look like his old self. "That's both Steven and Connie, or more specifically Stevonnie."

The two watched as Stevonnie fought the holo-pearls. Shadow watched in awe at Stevonnie fighting. Something about it made stroked a fire within Shadow. Everytime she or they swung the sword he edged closer to the seat. The reverberating sound of a strike deflecting off the shield made him want to fight. When Stevonnie sliced the gem in half Shadow could have sworn his heart beat out of his chest in excitement. A few more hours went by before Pearl had called it quits.

Shadow still sat on the steps looking out towards the sun settling. He would've smiled at the beauty of it it would make anyone really take a moment to just breath. All it did was make Shadow mad, furious that he couldn't admire this scenario with two eyes. That anger was what made him violent. Sparks of electricity bounced off his finger tips at the rise of his emotions. The electromagnetic field pulsing from his body disintegrated the small rubble in his radius. Shadow lifted his hands towards one of the pieces of floating rubble. A bolt of lightning released from his hands striking it with so much force that it exploded. The power that he almost forgot he had filled him with a thirst for more. Shadow kept zapping more pieces of floating rubble till a headache came on so strong he thought he was going to vomit.

"Stop it you're pushing yourself too far." Pearl came running from behind the pillar. She reached Shadow as he was falling on his hands and knees. Pearl reach down to help him up, "don't push yourself too far."

Shadow looked up, a crazy look in his eye made Pearl stutter backwards. It was an animalistic look that she'd seen before. "Get back Pearl!" Shadow got to his feet wobbily. The headache was increasing in rhythm with every step he took away from Pearl. Shadow continued to destroy everything around him even when his nose began to bleed. The stress of his powers with everything that had been happening was too much for him he wasn't in the right state of mine to be lashing out like this.

Pearl couldn't deal with this any longer she had to intervene. "Stop you're hurting yourself Shadow!" Pearl rolled out of the way right before his strike was about to hit her. Pearl countered back with a spinning kick to his chest. Shadow skidded across the ground close to the edge of the arena in a heap. The gem kneeled down to Shadows level.

"Something is wrong with you Shadow your not acting like yourself." Pearl touched his arm for comfort.

Shadow looked up at her with a darkness in his eyes she was not expecting. "Can I ask a question Pearl?" He said in a low tone.

Pearl shuffled closer to him to hear Shadow better. "Of course please ask anything."

A sadistic smile grew on his face just like the look in his eyes. "Is the scared look on your face because you're afraid to plunge that sword through my heart or is it something else?"

Shadow slammed his fist to the ground. An electric field lifted her up from the ground and tossed her back. The dishonor he brought upon himself for attacking Pearl and all together just feeling so pathetic, to losing control, missing an eye, when he spoke to Pearl about Erica he felt ashamed. Now he had a chance to make things right by himself. "I hope your watching Jasper because this is what you've done to me." Shadow didn't take a second thought to end it he was ready to go damn the consequences.

She couldn't have predicted that he would do such a thing. Pearl never thought the pain had torn at him so much that instead of seeking help he would rather just end it all. Maybe Shadow had tried to let go some of the pain by destroying everything around him but that wasn't enough to heal his broken heart. Yet the facts were clear and Pearl refused to believe that he was a lost cause he couldn't have been.

So she jumped..