I was a little disappointed when I started my salvage stripping of the control room because a lot of it I couldn't get out. The terminal and the flooring I was unable to rip out but the power cables lining the walls, the Plug Robonoid that was transformed into the elevator, and the power core are what I was able to make use of. Before I could transport the power core, I brought in my droids to make use of their repair functions, gathered up all the pieces of it, and had them reconstruct it. Once the power core was fully functional, I got started in tearing through the memory banks of the terminal for any information I could find.

Unfortunately, I found none. Most of the data I found was wiped when Amethyst destroyed the power core with her whip and the hand construct. The power failure made a large majority of the data, functions and capabilities completely untraceable and unrecoverable. That means while it's good for them that I wasn't able to get the information, it also means that if they want to reactivate this place they'll need to install an entirely new control room to make this place work again. Since Peridot said the Gem tech underground was archaic, I imagine after the few thousand years old this place was abandoned, Homeworld would have changed some things around when it comes to their tech and how the information would be locked down, not lost. Still, unless they have anymore tricks up their sleeves, this should mean the end of the Kindergarten.

Without anymore information for me to take, I went ahead and started stripping the place. I hacked into the Plug Robonoid, made it look dead, transformed it and sent it off to the temple where I would begin my upgrades for it later. Next, I removed the power core from the place and the gems were nice enough to transport them to the temple as well. Finally, my droids went to work breaking down the visible wires and cables present along the walls to the surface and storing them for later use. The room that the terminal is in and itself were not able to be broken down as easily as the power cables could so I had to leave that behind. Even so, this was a gold mine for me to use and I still got a veritable smorgasbord of materials and items for me to work with.

Still, while I was going through it all, my mind was elsewhere the majority of the time.

My mind kept going back to that target board in the van The Iron Kings had. I took the rest of the photos and kept them all in my jacket but while I was working, I couldn't help but keep looking at them over and over again. It's one thing for them to go after me… but they have ideas for my friends and acquaintances. When I was done, I made my decision on what to do about that.

And with Jenny… I stopped anything from happening.


"Wait, what?" She asks.

"Listen Jenny, back at the rave, you coming over to check up on me… I want to make things clear. I can't have a relationship." I tell her bluntly.

"What made you think—?"

"I just…" I interrupt her before she can say anymore. I let out a sigh, "Look, I'm not the type of person to get into any sort of relationship so if I brought up any signs of being interested or looking for someone… I'm sorry but I can't." I tell her sadly. "I don't want to stop seeing you or hanging out, but… friends is about all I can be, okay?"

She looks at me for a second and what looks like she's probably heartbroken… I can see it in her eye's. But she nods and gives me a comforting smile. "I'll admit, I have thought about it a couple times. Your nice, a pretty cool guy and it's hard for anyone to give you crap about… well, anything really." She chuckles and so do I.

"Yeah, there were some moments where I was… tested, you know." I say with a smile.

"So yeah, I did think of something happening between us…" She says with a frown aimed to the ground, making me frown as well. But she brings her head up and gives me a firm look. "But if you're not comfortable with something like that, then I don't want to force you into anything."

I let out a breathe of air I was holding and smile. "Thank you Jenny."

"Your welcome."

"Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to end everything. I still want to be friends and hang out, and maybe… I might change my mind." I say before slowly shaking my head. "But right now… I'm sorry."

"That's okay." She says sincerely, then it turns to a cheeky smile. "I guess I'll have to be patient then."

"Hahaha, we'll see." I say good heartedly before embracing her in a hug. "Thank you for understanding."

She lets go and takes a step back. "No problem." A small vibrating noise turns her attention to her phone. She checks and purses her lips. "I should get going. My dad needs my help at the restaurant. Apparently it's a lunch rush and their shorthanded. Ugh!" She lets out a disgusted noise before placing her phone in her purse. "I hate it when that happens."

"Hehe, yeah… I can only imagine." I pull out my phone after getting a notification. It looks like all my droids are ready. "I gotta get going as well." I say as I begin to back away. "Good luck with those people!" I call back.

"Thanks! See you around!" She replies with a wave before heading off to her place as well. When we are well out of sight from each other, I start sprinting and I get a deep scowl on my face.

'I'm sorry Jenny. The Iron Kings won't stop… and neither will I.'


After much consideration, mostly when I was working on my gear and trying to rip out the Kindergartens tech, I decided that anything that could even remotely happen between us was going to be impossible with The Iron Kings shadowing my movements.

I can't put that on her, her family or any of my human friends. The Crystal Gems are an exception because they are not human, nor can they be killed by a single bullet from a distance, or even be kidnapped as easily as I was or a regular human can be. I'm limiting as much human contact as I can with anyone fully human until I can deal with The Iron Kings.

And that's where my home, and my base of operations, comes into play. I spent a couple days gathering the supplies I would need for my home and lugging them up the hill to where my house is going to be above the temple. When it was all done and ready, I got to work on the construction. The gems, Steven, even Greg, all gathered around and watched as my droids started breaking down the house materials I got and went to work making my home. I made the place a two-story house and had it installed with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living area, kitchen, and two empty rooms for me to do with as I please. I also made sure I had windows from all levels aimed at least in each direction, especially from the long hill up, so if anyone comes up on my house, I can see them clear as day. I made so many rooms so in case any of the gems and the Universe family need somewhere to crash, I have that option for them. It took almost an entire days worth of time to get the whole place made and built but when it was done, I was happy. The place has the look on the outside as your average red brick house but is actually lined with steel and the composition of the metal used in the power cables under the Kindergarten. From what I can tell, the walls will stand up to most small arms fire and small explosions, even take a couple vehicle hits, but it would take some powerful high caliber rounds and heavy duty machinery to break through the walls in one go. I still have the standard stuff inside the walls like wood, drywall and insulation for comfort purposes too.

Unfortunately, I still need to furnish the place with furniture and utility's before I can properly move in.

In the meantime, while the others left to that gem battlefield we went through covered in strawberry's and weapons, I'm here in the temple tinkering with the Plug Robonoid, installing the upgrades I already had done with its smaller counterparts.

"Alright… aaaanndd… done." I turn off the torch and lift up my welders mask before shutting the panel. "Alright, you should be ready to go just like all your friends." I say to it as I pat it. It doesn't really acknowledge my words but I'm not too beat up over it. "You know, you had a lot of room in there surprisingly. Enough room for maybe… hmmm." I start to think on what I could do for the big guy. I don't have anymore of the Plug Robonoids since this was the last one Peridot sent so I have to be careful with what I put into and integrate with it. I won't have anymore to experiment with.

I'm brought out of my thoughts as the Warp activates. "Oh, hey guys. How was iiiiiiittt?" I draw out the 'it' as I see all my friends, where Amethyst is carrying a bunch of weapons by the armful, but mostly what gets my attention is the GIANT humongous axe Garnet is carrying. "It… went good?" I ask as a question.

"It went good." Garnet confirms it.

"It wasn't just good. It went great!" Pearl announces happily as she twirls around while holding something pink.

"It did?"

"Amethyst! Help me with this axe." Garnet asks the purple gem as they head through the temple door to Amethyst's room but I'm more curious as to what's got Pearl so happy.

"Yes, it did. Not only did we find many gem weapons to store, but we also found…" She blushes deeply and gives a wide smile. "This!" She extends the thin pink object to me.

At first, I'm not sure what it is, but upon closer inspection I see that it's a scabbard for a sword. What gets my attention however is the Rose symbol on it. "A scabbard, that belonged to Rose, right?"

"Yes, it is." She looks at the item lovingly before dragging her fingers along it. "Oh, it's been ages…" She trails off as I imagine she's recalling memories of the gem that once used it. Silence follows as she stares at it but Steven's staring at her makes her snap out of it. "What is it, Steven?"

"What was mom like?" He asks her.

Pearl smiles as she recalls the attributes that Rose was. "She was courageous, and brilliant... and beautiful... Sometimes, you look so much like her." She tells us. I smile at the memories that Pearl seems to have of the gem. Her happiness is practically radiating off her and its nice to see her in such high spirits.

"Really…?"

"Eh—"

"Yeah, lift it backwards!" Pearls interrupted a bit as Amethyst and Garnet try to fit the giant axe in.

"You mean pull!"

"Yeah, pull, sure."

I chuckle a little as the two of them try to angle the axe in but to no success.

"I'll bop them with this!" I look back as Steven swings the scabbard down, almost hitting me in the shin.

"That's not what that's for Steven." I say. "It's the scabbard. It's supposed to hold a sword in it, not actually be used as a weapon." I tell him. "Although, I do remember some cultures, TV shows and different animes that a sword fighter would sometimes use the scabbard as means to deflect attacks."

"Well I don't know about that last part but he is right about the first part."Pearl says. "It held your mother's sword. Nothing else could fit so perfectly inside. For all this time it's been... incomplete." She tells in a somewhat somber tone. I raise an eyebrow at the way she maneuvers her fingers between each of them as she talks about the sword. If I didn't know better, I would think she was talking about something else. Something more… personal.

"Well, let's complete it." Steve says with a smile. "Where's the sword?" He asks her.

"That's it!" Before she can answer, Amethyst's voice cuts the air loudly. We look over and see that they finally got the axe in. "Yeah, you got it!" She continues to say happily before walking into the room with Garnet, the door closing behind with that weird purple goo it's a part of.

"Can you keep a secret?" Pearl quickly asks Steven once the door closes.

"A secret?!" He replies loudly in excitement.

"Shh! It's a secret, even to Garnet and Amethyst. Rose had a place that she kept hidden from all but me, but you have her gem. That place is yours now, and I can show it to you!" She happily says with a smile.

"Uh, okay."

"Great!" She says with a smile before turning to me. "Marcus, would you like to come too?"

"Really? I thought it was a secret?"

"Well, for one you heard me talk about it so you have some vague idea about it." She tells me with a cheeky smile, making me smirk. "Second, in the time I've known you, I think you can keep a secret." She tells me with confidence.

"Aww, thanks."

"So, do you want to come along?" She asks again but by this point, I already have my answer. I was mostly just screwing with her.

I nod. "Definitely."


"Welcome to Rose's Secret Armory!" Pearl happily announces.

"Woah… we've been here before!" Steven's moment of awe turns to recognition as he remembers the journey he, Marcus, Connie and Lion took to this place.

"Wha—?" Pearl's smile fades at the news. "You must be thinking of someplace else—"

"Ugh… oh man." Marcus tiredly groans out as stumbles up the stairs, interrupting her. To him, Steven was the lucky bastard in this adventure. And while he doesn't like to speak ill of the kid, ever, seeing his happy expression while Pearl carried him for 3 HOURS… Marcus's mood is a little in the red zone right now and his breathing is labored. "Phew! At least we made… it." His relief goes from happy, to confused, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! AGGGHHHH!" To anger. Marcus lets out a strangled cry as he remembers this is the same armory that Steven, Connie and he came to when they were going to go to a movie. "Seriosuly?! If this was the place, you could have just asked. Not had us climb a 90 degree cliff for 3 hours!" He angrily says, grumbling to himself as he walks next to Steven.

"But… I'm the only other Crystal Gem that's witnessed the Armory's magnificence before now." Pearl tries to reason away their view of the place.

"Sorry to break it you Pearl, but we already witnessed this place and it's magnificence." Marcus sarcastically says the last part, remembering his battle with that training machine that electrocuted him and gave him 3rd degree burns.

"Yep, Lion showed us." Steven says nonchalantly.

"The lion?!" Pearl asks loudly, bewildered at the idea that it was Lion that showed them the armory.

"Yeah! There's all kinds of great stuff hidden in here." Steven activates the pedestal like how they first did when they came here.

"I know! That's why I brought you here!"

'Denial much.' Marcus thinks as he places his hands on his hips in prepartation for anything else that might pop up.

"Now let me show you how you can access the artillery."

"That's okay! I can do it without you. Wham!" Steven slaps his hand down on top of the pedestal. Nothing happens… until he remembers what he has to do to activate the place. "Oh, right!" He pokes his cheek, making the group of axes appear. "We got some… axes."

"The Axes of Ages?" Pearl calls out their name in surprise at seeing them

'I should really broad my weaponry with melee weapons.'

He then pokes his side, making more items appear. "We got spikey chain lady and her metal dealies."

"Flails, Steven." Marcus corrects the kid.

"The Herectic's Anguish?!"

"We got a…" He pokes his side once more, activating the laser light cannons. "Three pack of laser light cannons."

"The Quartizine Trio!"

"And…" Steven pokes his nose, activating the last part. "A whole lot of these armor guys."

"The Armor of the Fallen!" Pearl says in a frustrated tone, more than likely annoyed at how the first time she expected to show them was actually their second.

'I should ask Pearl's permission on those armor's later. I've got some ideas for them.' Marcus thinks as he stares at the armors around them, at least until Steven deactivates it.

"What were we looking for?" He asks her, completely lost in the moment that he forgot what their original intentions were.

"Her sword!" She almost yells out. "Your mother's sword! It's a straight bladed saber that's pink with a red handle. There are vines etched in the guard that connect to a rose-shaped pommel." She gives a description of the weapon as her gem shows them a hologram of what Rose's Sword looks like. As Marcus gets a closer look at the weapon, his mood deflates, again.

"Oh crap." He groans as he remembers the weapon

"Oh, I know where that is."

"Huh?" Pearl asks, completely and utterly confused.


"Dadadadada... here it is!" Steven announces happily as he pulls out the sword he and Connie used against the machine from the armory when they went to the movies from Lion's mane.

"Damn, I forgot to keep working on my rebreather." I mumble to myself as I remember the airless atmosphere in Lion's pocket dimension. The gems are all surprised to see Roses sword in front of them so suddenly, but none more so than Pearl.

"Rose's sword, how did it get in there?" She asks in surprise.

"I don't know, but there's a ton of stuff in there, I keep stuff in him too." Steven then proceeds to jump into Lions mane.

"There is a small hill with a tree on top of it with the base of said tree littered with a bunch of items that seem to have quite a significant personal value to a specific person." I begin to explain, and I idly look over at Lion who is licking one of his paws. "And from I saw, the signs point to one Rose."

"You've seen this place?" Pearl asks.

I nod, "I have."

"Ta-da!" Before anymore could be said, Steven comes out of the dimension inside Lion on a bike. 'Huh, so that's where that went. I remember he had a bike but I forgot where he put it.'

"But how?" Pearl asks to no one in particular. She starts rubbing Lion's mane in hopes of somehow finding this portal Steven keeps using. "Does Lion have something to do with Rose?"

"Grrraaaa!" Lions growls at her for her continuous groping of his mane.

"Oh… of course! THAT'S why he's pink!" Amethyst somehow deduces.

"It's a little obvious." Garnet agrees as well. I don't really have a retort for the both of their answers on this subject, I just raise a questionable brow.

"But… Rose didn't have a lion." Pearl points out.

"It seems like her stuff in there." Steven says as he puts his bike back inside Lion.

"No, Rose didn't have a lion, because if Rose had a lion I would have known about it!" She says loudly, her voice starting to get louder. At this point she seems a bit in denial about the idea of someone she cares about keeping secrets from her. I look down as I think about the similarities.

"Rose kept many things secret, even from us." Garnet says somberly at her memories of Rose.

"But not from me, I was the one she told everything!" Pearl say in a slightly frustrated tone.

"She didn't tell you about my mom." I point out. She looks at me. "How would you feel if someone you respected and cared about harbored a known enemy of your group?" I ask her. She flinches at the news, and breaks her eye contact from me.

"Besides, you're not the only one who misses her!" Amethyst says loudly, a little ticked off at how Pearl is acting now.

"You can't understand how I feel, none of you had what we had!" She yells loudly.

"Whoa!" I cut in. "Calm down Pearl. That's not fair to them just because you spent more time with her." I try to calm her down before she managed to say something she might regret.

"What makes you an expert on her?! You were never there to begin with!" She yells right in my face.

'…The fuck Pearl?' I think from her outburst, making me take a step back in surprise. 'I haven't seen her this mad before. Fuck.'

"She probably just wanted to protect you, like everyone else." Steven says in hopes of calming the gem down.

"What do you know?! You've never even met her!"

"PEARL!" Her anger disappears before she can punch the wall. Immediately replacing it is a flinch at the loudness of my voice. She and everyone look at me, rage clearly written across from my face, my fists clenched tightly and gritting my teeth. I walk up to her and get in her face like she did me. "That… is not fair… to either of us." I say, my voice low so only she can hear it as I wave my hand to indicate Steven as well. "WE didn't have the luxury to meet her… ever."

Her eyes widen at my words, before bolting past me straight towards the Warp.

"Fine, go! Go cry about it!" Amethyst yells to the gem as she warps away.

"Where did she go?" Steven asks.

"Who cares? I HATE it when she gets like this." Amethyst grumbles as she walks away from everyone to her room.

"Garnet?" He asks the tall gem, but she doesn't reply. He wipes his eye of tear that was beginning to form. "Is she okay?" Again, nothing. "Marcus?" I barely register my name being called, but I lean head downwards, starting to regret what it was I said. "Well, I am going to find her." He turns to Lion. "Do you know where she went?" He asks him. Lion gives off a low growl as his response. "I'm going to assume that means you do." He hops onto his back. "Let's go find Pearl!" He orders determinately. Lion then roars a portal open before jumping in.

"Good luck." Garnet says about Steven after he leaves. I feel her eyes on me. "Was your action the best?" She asks.

I don't answer right away. Instead I let out a long sigh before laying my hand on the wall for support, not even looking at her as I feel like crap about the situation. She begins to walk away from me.

"It wasn't…" I say loud enough for her to hear me, and stop. I turn back to her and purse my lips. "But neither was her's."


"Get that thing away from me!" Pearl yells as she begins traversing away from Steven and Lion via the floating the chunks of earth leading up.

"You better sit this one out, Lion." Steven tells the animal, knowing how much Pearl abhors the creature. He starts his climb up the floating earth chunks. "Okay, I've had a talk with Lion, he's gonna, uh, chill out here, uh, we're alone now, nice and private." He tells Pearl uneasily as he tries to keep his balance on the shifting rock. She doesn't listen as she continues her trek upwards, making the kid struggle to follow up. "Good idea, I'll meet you at the top." He tells her in a good hearted nature. Pearl is already at the largest chunk of rock floating while Steven continues jumping from one to the other. Slowly het gets better and more at ease with his movement until he makes it to last one from the giant piece Pearl is on. "This is really hard to do in sandals. Ha, ha." He laughs but the unease of it makes it known that he's not really all that happy with it.

"Go away!" Pearl orders him to go.

He doesn't listen. "Pearl! Did I... did I do something wrong? You got to tell me!" He pleads to her for some sort of reconciliation, but she doesn't answer.

When she doesn't reply, he looks down at the massive gap that leads to the ground before taking a step back. Right now, he is unsure of how things are with Pearl and if she won't stop to talk, then he'll just have to keep going to get her to talk. After taking as many steps as he can on the small amount of earth he's on, he runs as fast as he can forward before jumping. To him, everything goes almost in slow motion as he moves through the air, getting closer and closer to the land Pearl is on. At first, it looks like he'll make it. His momentum looks like its enough that'll be able to land and finally get the answers he needs… at least until Pearl turns around. Steven's determined expression turns to one of confusion as he sees the scared and near in tears look on her face. Out of all the times he's been with the Crystal Gems, all the times Pearl has been so supportive, happy and helpful to him that never did he think that he would see her so… vulnerable.

That moment's hesitation is enough to break his forward momentum. He starts to plummet downwards well below his ability to catch the edge of the chunk of the earth she is on. "Steven!" Pearl cries out as she realizes he's not going to make it.

"Whoa! Whooooaaaaaa— Oof!"

*Slam*

Before he could fall past the roots at the very bottom of the ground, something tackles the kid through the air and slams the both of them against the ground. Steven has his eyes clenched shut through the ordeal but when he feels the arm wrapped around his waist, he looks to see who grabbed him. Looking up, he expects to see Pearl… but his eyes widen when he sees Marcus holding onto him. "Marcus?" He asks his friend in confusion at his sudden appearance. His fellow human-gem doesn't reply, instead he keeps one arm on him, his other tightly gripping the climbing axe embedded in the ground, and staring at Pearl, who is looking down at them. "Pearl!" Steven calls out to her but she just goes back out of view.

"Mm." With a grunt, Marcus begins his climb up with Steven as his cargo. He kicks himself upwards with his feet so he can have the chance to stab his climbing axe into the rock at a much higher point without risk of falling off. Steven remains quiet as his friend continues climbing until they make it to the top. Marcus places him on the flat surface first before pulling himself up the rest of the way. Now that they're on top, it's time to fix this.

"Pearl, you have to tell me what's wrong." Steven demands of her. He's tried to be nice and ease her into this, but at this point he knows she can't keep running from this.

They both see her sitting on the other side of the rock, legs curled up to her chest and face buried in her arms. "Sometimes, you even sound like her…" She speaks after a few moments of silence. Unsure of how to respond to that, he looks to Marcus for an answer or some idea of what to do but he nudges for him to get closer to her. After a moment's hesitation, he walks over to her. "Do you remember this place? Do you have any of her memories? We were right here, over 5,000 years ago." She tells him, referring to the previous owner of the gem he now carries.

Before he can answer though, Pearls gem begins to glow as she gets into a one-legged kneeling stance. A hologram appears in front of her… in the shape of Rose.

"Pearl…" The holo Rose says, Pearl mouthing her voice along with it to give the image a voice that she remembers so long ago.

"Yes?" She asks.

"I'm going to stay and fight for this planet. You don't have to do this with me." Holo Rose says.

"But I want to!" Pearl replies without hesitation.

"I know you do. Please, please understand if we lose, we'll be killed, and if we win, we can never go home." Holo Rose says somberly.

"But why would I ever want to go home, if you're here?" Pearl asks a question to the hologram with a smile even though she still looks sad.

Holo Rose chuckles lightly at her friends determination and loyalty before offering her a hand. "My Pearl." She says sincerely.

"You're wonderful…" Pearl begins to grasp the offered limb, but the hologram disappears soon after. She looks saddened at seeing a small shred of her friend disappear after so long. "Everything I ever did, I did for her. Now she's gone, but I'm still here." She begins to say sadly. "Sometimes, I wonder if she can see me through your eyes." She lets out a sigh as her eyes start to well up with tears. "What would she think of me now?" Her voice sounds like she's on the verge of breaking at this point. Seeing the sword again, the memories bubbling back up to the surface and the feelings, it's almost too much to comprehend.

Steven is unsure how to comprehend the feelings she might have in this situation. He doesn't have any memories of Rose to begin with so he doesn't feel as sad as one would expect in a lost mother. But Pearl… she's been with Rose since the beginning and has so many memories to remember her by.

*Thump*

Without anything else to say or do, he simply gives her a hug from behind. "Well… I think you're pretty great." He tells her, genuinely sincere about it.

And that's what it takes to break the dam on her feelings. At the words from Steven, the son of the person she cares so much about, she chokes up and tears start openly flowing down her face. For a few seconds they simply roll down her face until she places her hands on her face and quietly sobs into them. Steven continues to hug her while she lets it all out.

After a few moments, her tears start to slow down until they finally stop. She sniffs a few times before letting her hands drop. "Thank you." She thanks him.

"No problem." He lets go of her and takes a step back. "Do you… want to go?" He asks her.

"You can… I think I'll stay here for a bit." She replies while wiping her eyes and still looking to the open expanse of the sky.

"Oh, okay." He somewhat agrees before starting to walk away. He doesn't know how to best help her in the state that she's in right now. Instead, he walks over to the only other person here who waited patiently for them to finish. "She wants to stay here for a bit." He tells Marcus. The tall human-gem stares at him for a second before looking towards the other gem. "I want to help her some more… but I—"

"You've done enough." He says, interrupting the kid as he walks past him. "It's my turn to clear things up."


I walk over to Pearl calmly. I'm not a hundred percent sure on what it is that she's feeling right now… but I know we both sad things we didn't mean to hurt each other with.

"Pearl…" I say in a calm voice. I see her body flinch a little at my voice, or me calling her name, but she doesn't turn around.

"Marcus." She replies. We both don't say anything at first. Both us unsure of what we are to say one another after our… words earlier.

I walk over and carefully sit cross-legged next to her, staring into the sky in the same direction as her. "I'm sorry."

"What?" She asks. "No… no I'm the one that—"

"We both…" I quickly interrupt her so she doesn't have to give me the reasons for why she did what she did. "Were in the wrong, somewhat."

"What… do you mean?" She asks as she looks to me.

I let out a sigh before I continue, "You had… no right… to call Steven and I out on how we were born." I grimly tell her. She looks down and I swear she looks like she's going to continue to cry. I place a hand on her shoulder, "But…" She looks at me. "I shouldn't have… emphasized how we are. Making you feel bad than you already were."

She looks at me for a few seconds, contemplating my words and what it was we did. She looks down in sadness, but she nods nonetheless. "I guess we're both sorry."

"Yep." I calmly say. After a few more tense seconds of quiet, I look back to see Steven still chilling on the other side of the rock, far enough away that he can't eavesdrop. We lock eyes and he waves at me, giving me a smile as well. I reciprocate the actions to him before I turn back to Pearl. "Rose was… more than a friend… wasn't she?" I ask without looking at her. Even through my peripheral vision, I can see the look of surprise on her face as she whips her head to look at me. I close my eyes and sigh, "At first, I didn't put too much stock into it. But as time passed, I noticed all the times you talked about her. How much you revered her, how much you talked about how great she is, courageous… beautiful… " She looks away. "You loved her, didn't you?" I ask her, looking at her this time. She continues to look away as she hugs herself.

"Marcus…" She begins to say, her voice barely breaking. "She did so much for me. She showed me I could be so much more than a… servant." She chokes out the last word. "Pearl's are meant to perform menial tasks and be status symbols." She manages to explain.

I stare at her, "That's… it?" I ask in disbelief.

"That's it." She confirms it. "We aren't meant to lead individual lives. Only to follow another." She explains sadly.

It's a little hard for me to comprehend that. In this sense, the gem hierarchy must mean that's all Pearls are meant to be when their made. Not their own person or their own selves… only someone else's. 'That's… that's so… bad. Horrible.' "I… can't believe it."

"It is." She curls up her legs and gets a somber look on her face but still smiles. "Rose… was something else. She taught me to be how to be my own gem, how to fight, how to survive… how to live." She says sweetly. "Because of how she was… such strength, bravery, compassion and kindness I had never seen before. At first it was just out of loyalty but after some time, I just…" She trails, unsure of what to say next.

But I do. "Wow. I never really thought of it like that." I look down as I remember how I acted towards her before. "I also want to say, I'm sorry about some of my actions in past. The comments I made and how I acted… especially when you fixed my truck." I bring up that moment. I don't want to but now that I think about it, how she acted kind of made sense, especially the hostility since she still has feelings for… someone else.

"Oh!" She blushes and looks away. "Yes, well, you're forgiven." She quickly says.

"Thanks." I thank her before silence takes us again. "Listen, I have to ask. Do you… really love Rose? Or do you feel indebted, infatuated by her, because of her actions?" I ask her. I know of some moments in the past or some people who are so grateful or have placed a person on a pedestal to the point that they kid themselves in thinking they love them. She looks at me with an open mouth, like she's got something to say but she freezes before looking away. "You don't have to answer right now. We have more important things to deal with at the moment. Like Homeworld."

"Agreed." We compromise on that at least. I don't know the full extent of her relationship with Rose, and I'm only asking so she's doesn't get hurt later on when she finds the answer.

"But I do have to ask you one other thing though."

"What is it?" She asks.

"Do you… want to tell the others… about Serpentine?" I ask her hesitantly. From what I remember about Fusion, fusing is an important aspect with gems and some could perceive it as a sort of intimate notion. The time when we fused was mostly out of desperation when we were almost killed… but it was still fusing nonetheless.

She looks at me before turning back around and staring at the open sky around us. She contemplates her answer about what we should do on the matter. I don't really care if we tell them or not, but she's in this as much as me so I'll defer to her on the final outcome. "We all have secrets we do or do not want to keep from our loved ones. Serpentine…" She looks at me and smiles. "I think we can keep her to ourselves."

With her answer given, I nod. "I'm good with that." I slightly grunt as I stand up. Offering my hand to her, she takes it and lets me help her to her feet with ease. As we stare at each other, we give each other comforting smiles before walking over to Steven, who's ecstatic and happy to see us smiling.

Still, while he's happy I'm not so much. I'm alright with not really telling about Serpentine… but I am a little uneasy. 'Another secret to add to the pile.'

Even so, with those issues cleared up, we head back down to Lion who is just idling about. Pearl it was necessary to return Rose's sword to its proper place now that it's completed. She hands the sword in the scabbard to Steven for him to place it in Lion, but he grabs her hand and places it on the pommel while he gives a smile, signifying she should be the one to do it. When Steven activates the portal, Pearl gently inserts the sword into Lion. When its done, there is an air of peace about her but she still has a sad look on her about giving the weapon up. I place a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She appreciates the sentiment but it seems that Steven has a much better option in mind. He does a magic trick for us, first bringing out a top hat for him to wear, then he does the classic magic trick of pulling out the long line of different colored handkerchiefs from Lions dimension as well. We laugh about it

Next, after giving Pearl the top hat and string of cloth to wear, which is awesome by the way, we sit down after he showed us a few more tricks, but the granddaddy of them all comes in the form of him jumping into Lion and comes out with Rose's Battle Flag. Pearl looks stunned and in shock at seeing the item in question. She hands me the top hat and string of cloth before taking the flag into her own hands. Next thing we know, Steven and I are chilling against Lion as Pearl recounts a harrowing battle she took part in while holding the flag and waving it around. What also made it cool was how Steven brought out some snacks from inside of Lion so we could eat. I know he said he keep stuff inside the animal but holy crap, how much did he put in?

Regardless, when we were all finished having fun, comforting each other and giving rousing battle story's, we rode Lion back to the Warp with Pearl holding the flag.

All in all, there were some problems, some emotions brought up and our friendships were tested… but in the end, we all cleared things up with each other.

No more unease. Just… peace.

If Marcus came off as harsh to Pearl when she went crazy at finding out about Rose's secret, I hope you guys understand about his closeness to Steven and how unfair it was for her to call him out on that. I admit, when I first heard Pearl say that to Steven of all people… I was a little ticked off.

I mean I like her and all, she's one of my favorites, but that was a pretty low blow.

Even so, I hope everything was still good for you guys. I'm still unsure about some of the more sensitive emotional scenes in this chapter but I don't know where to improve on it, otherwise I would have held on a little bit more to try to make it better but I'm somewhat stumped.

To also add to slight delay on this chapter is Dishonored 2. Seriously, playing low chaos really eats up your time and how much you work with. It's so tempting to just go crazy, slice-n-dice, shoot, blow up every single guard that really screws with me, but I'm good guy so I'll bear with it.

For now.

Thankfully, I'm almost done so I shouldn't have anymore delays in the coming days. The only other game I would rent to play would be Titanfall 2 and I'm sure that ones campaign isn't as careful or methodical as Dishonored 2's is.

Apologies again, thank you for your time, and have fun reading.