Just Another Reason Pt.2

John Mayer- New Light

"Pearl you sent me a text message!"

Shadows eyes shot open at the sound of Stevens' voice. Though he couldn't say the same for Jasper, she was knocked out. The two were taking an afternoon nap, the day just felt so slow so he wanted to play catch up on some missing sleeping hours.

Pearl was looking at Steven, clearly confused at him bursting through the front door and yelling at her. When he showed her his phone her face look like it was about to fall off.

"Oh no," she said, "oh no oh noooo." Pearl kept repeating. She looked at Steven then Shadow who she could see was now awake from the commotion. "One of the other me's must have gotten my phone." The gem looked like she was about to pass out but instead went down to one knee and put a hand on her godson's shoulders. "Steven I need you to go inside of me." Her face was like a stone.

Shadows jaw dropped. He hoped he had heard her wrong, Jasper was snoring so loud maybe that was it.

Pearl looked at him. "You too Shadow."

Now he could feel the heat on his face. I think she's lost it! Shadow thought.

When neither one of them said anything Pearl sighed. "I need you two too go inside my gem and get my phone back!" She sounded less than aggravated.

Shadow only took a few seconds to get the she-beast off of him. "Pearl I really want to say I understand what you're saying but I'm not going to fake my stupidity."

Pearl ignored him.

"Steven all you have to do is enter my pearl, find one of the other me's and retrieve my phone. Its easy as peas."

"You mean easy peasy?"

Peral shushed him. "I know what I meant Shadow you don't have to correct me."

Shadow just chuckled. He kept forgetting, for such a smart gem she was too literal for her own good.

"Will you two do I or not?"

Both of them nodded in unison.

Pearls pearl lit up suddenly. A blue twinkling glow surrounded them, then they were suddenly floating in the air. Steven laughed at the sensation but Shadow felt like he was about to vomit. Pearl closed her eyes when they were floating towards the gem.

Then white.

"I'm going, to be honest. No matter all the things I see I will never get used to anything that I see." He said as he bent over, the three cheeseburgers he ate earlier were fighting to come up.

A gentle humming across the whiteness made them look up.

Pearl was standing in front of floating items humming and going out her business.

"Theirs a Pearl inside Pearl's pearl?" Steven asked.

Shadow would have answered if he really wasn't trying to fight the cheeseburger revolution in his stomach.

Steven ran to Pearl, Shadow shuffled, groaning as he did.

"Pearl Pearl! We've come to get your phone!"

The Pearl turned around, clearly flabbergasted at the little human talking to her. "Oh no you're not stored, I can fix that." Pearl tucked him under her arm and tried to set him up with the assorted items she was so dutifully concerned with.

Shadow pulled at this Pearl's arm. "Hey relax bird-mom we are just looking for your phone. Other… you? Yeah, other you sent us down here to find your phone.

Steven nodded.

Pearl blushed. "Oh, I do apologize I didn't mean to misunderstand. It should be here!" When Pearl swiped at the air the items flew by in a blur then suddenly stopped. Crumbled pieces of papers with numbers from various admirers. Shadow was surprised at the number of numbers that filled her pearl, Shadow was both impressed and jealous. Though he shouldn't be he still was.

"That is odd, I could have sworn I left it here. Oh, what a mess." Pearl cupped her face in her hand. "Go deeper you two, I assume one of the other Pearls have the cell phone."

Shadow was about to argue when another blue light filled the air.

Next was the sound of crashing waves. The sky was pink and he couldn't smell the salt like he normally could, something felt empty here.

"Is that the temple?" Shadow asked Steven. The question was obvious but the temple was different, the cabin was missing. His stomach really was rumbling now.

To the right of them, a stone hand stuck out of the ground, crying.

Steven looked at him confused. "Come on that's not the weirdest thing we've seen." He said as if he was able to read his mind.

Shadow just shrugged. "I've seen Amethyst turn into your dad. Yet still, a crying hand is secondary to that."

The two walked towards the hand.

When they came around it they could see another pearl. She was different than regular Pearl. This one was shorter, she wore a ruffled mesh that flowed down her shoulders to cover the aqua blue top she wore. And leg warmers? The last time he saw those his mom was doing aerobics in the living room. He would never forget that day, ever.

Tiny Pearl cried into her knees that were pulled to her chest.

Steven sat next to her but Shadow sat crisscross in the sand.

"Hey Pearl inside of Pearls pearl inside of Pearl. Are you upset about this phone thing too?

Shadow was tried to act like he understood what Steven said but he only nodded and gave a reassuring thumbs up.

Tears fell down her face in floods. "Nooo its rose," she wailed. "What was she thinking? She can't have a baby!"

Here-we-go-again!

Steven looked at Shadow perplexed. "Well, this is kind of awkward."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Man I hope she doesn't break out into song. I don't think I can handle that right now."

Pearl ignored them completely. "What am I going to do when she disappears? I'm going to lose her." Pearl cried into her hand more.

Her words were starting to strike Shadow a little bit. He couldn't understand how Pearl felt all those years ago. She really loved Rose, it was sad seeing her like this. He didn't know why but he started to think of Jasper and how he would react if she was pregnant. Would he be happy or torn up like tiny Pearl? Crying into his hand while the sea crashed onto the shore to soothe him. He prayed that he would never go through that situation, he didn't think he could take losing her again.

"Pearl, we need to find your cell phone, can you help us?" Steven asked.

She cried even more at that. "I lost my cell phone? Just like I'm about to lose Rose!" She cried even more at that. Steven gave her a hug to console her but Shadow could only continue to act like all this crying wasn't getting to him.

Pearl started to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I think I know where it is, just like I know where everything else is." She outstretched her hands to them both. The tears seemed to stop when she took their hands.

Next thing he knew they were on a field. The sky was red like blood. Axes, swords, spears, they were littered everywhere, something else too.

"Where are we?" Steven started to walk then slipped on something. When Shadow went to grab him Steven shuffled into his shins painfully.

On the ground whole gems and shattered gems lay, scattered, riddled.

This was a battlefield. The Crystals gems last battle during the war. Hearing about the tales from Garnet was one thing. Being here in the flesh was another. Shadow couldn't help but feel the dread in the air. It looked like the apocalypse. The gems always said they won the war but looking at this… he could see why they had tried to protect Steven from this part of their history.

Pearl was ahead of them. Standing amongst what could have been her friends, now, just broken gems already being buried under the Earth. Their weapons were not far from where they once stood possibly, lost weapons without a master to wield them, they would be lost too by the sands of time.

She fell to her knees. You could see the dying flames in her eyes, where the light of what she believed in was suddenly one huge question. Her eyes were as wide as eggs, looking out towards a field of red, like blood. Darkness rose up from fissures in the Earth gripping them or maybe it was that deafening silence that filled the air.

"There was a bright light… they were running away, we thought we had finally one when they fled to their ships, then the light…" Pearl couldn't take her eyes off of the field. "Why did I do it?"

Shadow and Steven worried exchanged glances.

"What do you mean?" Steven sounded scared. "Just tell me."

Pearl just barely acknowledged them. When she did she shook her head in refusal. Instead, she gave them her hands and bowed her head. The light came again.

A loud pop came. Steven, on his knees, picked up pink shards of what could only have been a gem. Shadow felt sick just looking at the hurt confused look on the little boys face when he picked one up.

"Who is-" Shadow didn't bother to finish, he had seen the huge portrait of her above the door in the cabin a hundred times. Shadow was seeing Rose Quartz in person for the first time.

The rebel-held a large pink sword in a two-handed grip.

"Mom?" Steven began to walk towards Rose with a piece of the shard gem cupped in his hands delicately.

As they approached Rose they could see a toppled over pink palanquin. The same one Shadow had seen in Korea when he and Greg were kidnapped by Blue Diamond.

Shadow was hesitant but Steven went straight in. The little boy almost seemed to forget he was with him.

Rose looked at them with eyes as blue as the ocean. Shadow knew something was wrong when Steven gasped. Then Rose turned her head and the truth appeared. A pearl in the middle of her forehead said it all, yet still, something was missing he knew it.

Steven couldn't believe it. "I-I knew it, you did it, you shattered Pink Diamond." The hurt in his voice was evident. Pearl-Rose took a knee then turned her hand over. In the palm of her hand was a whole pink diamond untouched and perfect.

"Steven, what is going on?" Whether it was the cheeseburgers or the tension that hit them like a semi his stomach twisted into knots. I shouldn't be here, Shadow thought. This was Stevens history and tribulations. It felt like a sin to be a part of something that he had no business being a part of. Even if it was to get Jasper an answer some things were better left unseen or more specifically unknown. It was too late to start questioning things now. Who they thought was Rose filled their vision with light from her gem and they were again once gone.

Steven sat in a giant chair, Shadow kneeling next to him.

"The palanquin?"

Whispers so loud that it could be heard off the walls filled their ears.

The two began to make their way around the chair. Just before they came around they stopped. Rose and another tiny-tiny Pearl were in a heated conversation. Pearl clutched Rose's sword in her hands as if it gave her strength.

"There must be another way," Pearl protested. Those big blue eyes looked at Rose like she was the only gem that mattered in this universe.

Rose cupped a hand to Pearl's face. The gems turned her into her hand savoring the feel of her large but soft hand. For a moment she looked as if she forgot there was a war, that their social caste was nothing.

Pearl quickly came to her sense. Her eyes opened, tears began to form threatening to spill over. "Please," she begged. "Don't make me do this, I-I can't do this. This is crazy… I'm just a Pearl."

She put a finger to Pearl's lips. "Please Pearl. I can't take it anymore. All these rules, Blue and Yellow Diamonds authority that continues to destroy this planet. They only care about one thing and that's destroying life, and for what? More gems? No, not anymore, there is too much beauty in this world and so much life that I want to see. We have fought too hard and too long to just give up now."

When Pearl looked as if she was about to start crying Rose got to one knee in front of her. "If we do this we can do whatever we want. I can be free, with you," Pearl touched her face again. "My Pearl."

That was the hook and sinker.

"Okay," determination filled her voice. "Alright, I'll do it."

Stars filled the large gems eyes, that was all she needed to hear. "Thank you, Pearl. I can't exactly shatter myself."

A switch was flipped. Rose began to shine like one big pink light bulb. If she was big now the gem began to turn even bigger. Steven and Shadow took a step back as if to avoid the glow of her shine. Bigger and bigger she grew until the gem that was on Rose Quartz stomach began to turn upside down.

Oh crap.

Standing in front of them, looking at them with back pupils in the shape of diamonds. This was Pink Diamond. Beautiful pink hair flowed down slender shoulders.

Steven stumbled into Shadow and they fell over. Pink Diamond seemed to cast a shadow over the two, the dark curtain was pulled apart and darkness was still on the other side.

Pink Diamond was so tall. You could see Pearl fall in love right in front of them. And Shadow could see why. Just her presence and the way she smiled was enough to do him in. Honestly looking at her made him feel like he was betraying Jasper.

The gem leader walked past them with tiny-tiny Pearl in tow. She reached past the curtains to pluck something from the ground. When the gem turned around and opened her hand Pearl looked like she was gonna cry all over again. A single pink rose was presented to her to wear.

From the dirt, she breathed into clenched hands then squeezed her fists together. Shards of a pink gem are all that remained of the dirt. Pink Diamond knocked her head back and swallowed the shards. The diamond was about to set off when she turned around on Pearl.

"And one more thing. I don't ever want to go back Pearl, to this. So let us just forget everything," She grabbed Pearl's hands lightly and put her hands to her mouth. "As my last order as your Pink Diamond, please let's never speak of this again." Little did TTP know she would obey that command for thousands of years.

The look on Stevens' face was one of utter shock. Shadow himself couldn't believe what he was seeing, he really shouldn't have been here.

Pearl turned around on them when the diamond overlord left. Her eyes looked like she was sympathizing with the little man. Pearl outstretched a hand, the phone they had been looking for safe and sound.

"I'm sorry to have made you come all this way. I just needed to make sure you understood everything, from the beginning." Pearl passed the phone to Steven, a blinding light came from her body then rose quartz was in front of them again. She picked up the sword then began to walk out of the palanquin, with thoughts to end this war with one stroke. Pearl set into motion something she could never turn back from.

Steven looked to Shadow then back down at the phone. His little fingers worked at the keyboard and in bold texts that he sent himself he sent "found it."

Again came the light. Flashes of the end of the past came together. Rose-Pearl "shattering" Pink diamond, Garnet and Pearl on the field of blood-fighting their last battle, a pregnant Rose being held by a Greg when he had a full head of hair.

Then they were back. Steven on his side and Shadow on his knees holding his stomach.

"I know what happened Pearl, we know what happened." Steven stood up to her. "Pink Diamond was mom, Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond. Pink Diamond was Rose Quartz"

Pearl didn't have a hand to her mouth this time. "I wanted to tell you," she looked at the ground as if she would find some courage there to hold back the tears that were coming. Her eyes looked to Shadow. "You saw, she ordered me to never speak of what happened."

His silence did nothing to stop the wave of regret that twisted her insides. Shadow had nothing to say, she did it for love. How could he flaunt her for that?

Garnet and Amethyst were behind them. Both had looks of utter shock all over their face.

Something slammed into the wall and when all of them looked over, Jasper was awake. Her fist was thoroughly planted into the wall sending splinters all over the couch.

Shadow looked between the collected faces of his friends then back to Jasper who looked as if she would burst into flames.

When he opened his mouth to say something words, words did not come up, but the three cheeseburgers he ate hours ago came back all over the floor

At least being sick was the least of his problems now.

Author notes:

Hey, I'm back with another chapter and I have to say this one took me a little bit. That was mostly due to watching season 6 of Steven Universe as well as trying to catch up to RWBY.

A shoutout before I forget. The first to a guest, their artist name being Alatrylinus. Check them out there are a lot of cool Steven Universe arts that I think you might like. who made a review a couple years back that unfortunately, I did not see until now. They did an awesome sketch of Shadow. The link will below so go check it out as well as their gallery, I assure you, you won't regret it. Thank you Alatrylinus!

Now to answer the most recent guest review. I'm going, to be honest, I was a tad bit confused when you asked that question so I had to re-read chapter nine all over again. You had asked about their being a kid at the ending of the chapter. When Shadow was dancing, Amethyst was drunk and so he referred to the gem as his child cause he had to go take care of her. Then when a drunken Amethyst brought up the fact Pearl was missing he said that she was his child too. Chapter ten is season 4 episode 25 of Steven Universe. When Aquamarine was kidnapping Stevens friends to take back to the homeworld. Does that answer your question? If not just DM me or throw another review and I'll answer in the next chapter.

Once again thank for Alatrylinus for the sketch, and I do apologize for taking so long to see it. Originally when I tried to look it up the link wouldn't work for me, maybe I was being stupid? But I appreciate it. It really did motivate me to get this chapter out to acknowledge your work. As always thank you, everyone, for sticking around, stay tuned for the next chapter.

alatrylinus/art/One-eyed-Kelly-699019054

Shadow out...