Hello! Finally back with a new chapter, let's hope that I can at least keep a schedule of every Saturday.


Chapter 6 - Reveal

Pearl couldn't move. It was as if time had stopped and she was watching a slow motion of her impending doom, Lapis had started frowning and Pearl couldn't even splutter out a response to defend herself or come clean.

"Sorry Lapis!" Pearl could hear Amethyst hastily burst out from inside the house, she finally moved and took a step back so the short girl was somewhat visible to Lapis. "Earl isn't here!"

Lapis raised an eyebrow and glanced at Pearl, she did not look convinced.

"Is Earl a cross-dresser?" she asked bluntly, 'she hit the nail on the head there!' Pearl could hear Amethyst burst out laughing.

"M-my name's Pearl," she finally introduced herself to the girl, ignoring her earlier statement. If only her true reveal wasn't under such pressured circumstances. Pearl blushed slightly as Lapis's face brightened up from hearing her name, it was as if she had realised something for the first time and the small look of delight was enough for Pearl to brush-off the earlier incident.

"Wait.. You and Earl-" Pearl panicked at the thought of being found out so suddenly,

"I'm his twin," she said it before she even thought about it, if it had been any other person she would have face-palmed so hard she would have been left with a permanent hand-print on her face. Amethyst seemed to have quietened down after that, 'probably realised how big a hole I had just dug myself' Pearl nearly groaned.

"O-Oh, I'm Lapis," She coughed slightly and looked away with a slight blush, Pearl raised an eyebrow curiously and then persevered through another moment of awkwardness.

"Why don't you invite her in?" Bismuth suggested, "This place is completely unrecognisable!" Pearl watched her wink in her direction and she instantly knew that this was because of the whole 'Earl' thing she found out earlier.

Pearl looked back to Lapis, reading her expression carefully, Lapis blankly looked back with her eyebrows slowly tightening, her fists were still clenched and now her knuckles were turning white. Pearl cleared her throat.

"If you're not comfortable, you don't have to…" She said and she surprised herself by using a deeper voice than usual, in fact, it's become so strange to talk normally around Lapis that it may have physiologically affected her.

Lapis looked at her and gave her a small smile, she shook her head slightly.

"Maybe for a moment," Lapis replied.

The taller girl tentatively stepped back and opened the door wider, Lapis quickly glided inside. She walked in such a way that it looked like fabric was flowing behind her, making Pearl's eyes follow her movements. 'Maybe one day I'll ask if she can dance…' She closed the front door. 'Maybe… She'll even dance with me.' The thought made Pearl's chest grow warm.

"Lapis!" Amethyst grinned, "haven't seen you around lately," She wiggled a pen and indicated her cast.

"'lately' before, or after you broke your leg?" Lapis asked a little coldly, but she took the pen and left a signature on Amethyst's cast.

"Oof, got me there," Amethyst grin waned slightly and Pearl found herself holding back a chuckle. Something like this was a new experience for her, it wasn't regular that Amethyst's jokes were shot down so coldly by anyone besides her and Peridot, all whilst slowly draining her positivity and will to continue.

"Burn," Bismuth commented,

"So what brings you here?" Amethyst asked, "looking for your 'boyfriend'~?" she said it a teasing, sing-song way.

Lapis blushed, "he's not my boyfriend," she pouted slightly, "but yes, I'm looking for Earl… I thought he lived here."

"Yeah, it's the name thing," Bismuth spoke up and then finally introduced herself, "Earl… Umm… Lives out of town and visits Pearl." The girl in question could applause at the mastery of a lie the large woman came up with. But when looking over at Lapis she felt her heart in her throat, she looked disinterested all of a sudden and simply had a blank look on her face, she would just have to assume that she bought it.

"So, um," Pearl cleared her throat, she looked to Bismuth and Amethyst for support,

"Oh yeah," Amethyst nodded and winked at her understandably, "why're you visiting suddenly?"

"Hm? Oh yeah," Pearl watched Lapis produce a small phone from her pocket. Her heart and everyone else's dropped when they recognised it as Pearl's mobile phone. "Earl left this, I don't know if it's his but I somewhat doubt it."

"Isn't that your mobile Pearl?" Bismuth said and she was greeted with two unpleasant scowls along with a curious gaze from Lapis.

"It's yours?" Lapis turned and Pearl slowly took the phone from her, buying time for her to pound at her brain for an explanation.

"Earl, he um… Lost his phone, so I gave him mine temporarily." She smiled slightly, "I thought he had left with it." She let out a small sigh and prayed that Lapis would understand, but her frown only grew.

"Wait, you just gave him your phone?" Lapis asked bemusedly,

"He said it was an emergency," Pearl put the phone into her jean pocket and cleared her throat again, she couldn't wait until this was all over and she could get some tea.

"Oh, I see," Lapis gained a small smile, it quickly disappeared as she glanced at everyone, "I've got to go now, just tell Earl once he gets back that I said 'Hi,'."

"Will do!" Amethyst playfully gave her a small salute.

Pearl was surprised at just how quick the girl left, she went flying out the door before another word was said. She shut the door and let out a loud groan.

"Twin Brother?!" She felt like tearing her own face off,

"Calm down, it's not the end of the world," Bismuth tried to reassure her but Pearl shook her head.

"No! This is catastrophic!" She clenched her temples, "just what am I going to do now?! I can't deal with being two different people!" Pearl cautiously stepped to the window and opened the curtains, she glanced at Lapis leaving and then slumped on the wall.

"This will all get sorted out eventually! You have a plan right?" Bismuth asked, Pearl noticed the small shake of Amethyst's head,

"No, no I don't." Pearl sighed and stepped away from the wall, "but I'll think of something…" She glanced at her phone skeptically, "…Eventually."

Lapis rushed out of the house and walked down the street in a fast pace. The whole thing was incredibly uncomfortable and tense, 'Pearl was beautiful.' She concluded, this only resulted in her putting a hand on her forehead and groaning slightly. It was too weird, Earl disappears and suddenly she learns that he has a twin sister? Not only that, now just thinking about either of them made her head hurt.

She tutted and stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets, 'no time to think about this now. It'll just have to wait till later.'

As she continued to walk down the street she spotted Peridot turn the corner and begin to walk up the hill, her face was bright with a large happy smile cemented on her. In the green girl's hands there was a relatively large box, the way it wiggled slightly and that she was having difficulty carrying it could only tell Lapis one thing.

"Hi!" Peridot stopped looking at the box in her hands when she nearly collided into Lapis, "how'd it go?"

"You won't believe what I discovered," Lapis began, "I met Pearl."

"Amethyst's new room-mate? So what's she like?" Peridot hummed, "and did you give Earl his phone?"

"One question at a time," Lapis lifted her hand, "Pearl was the owner of the phone."

"Oh…" Peridot looked at Lapis sadly, she was pitying her despite not even knowing anything.

"She's not his girlfriend."

"Oh?" Peridot's eyes lit up again,

"She's his twin," Lapis replied and Peridot seemed to gawk,

"Seriously? That sounds-"

"Suspicious? Yes it does," Lapis ended it for her and watched the girl struggle with the box in her arms, she sighed slightly, "I know that you wanted to visit Amethyst, but it looked like I caught them in the middle of something… And you have your hands full…"

Peridot narrowed her eyes, "true…" The box rattles slightly in her hands and Lapis could have sworn that she heard a whimper, "anyway, what's this Pearl like? Anything like what you thought?"

"She is so much like Earl that I thought he was cross-dressing," Lapis replied with a small grin, "she's also pretty cute, but I don't know how I feel about that when all I see is Earl…"

"That sounds complicated," Peridot tried to say but the box suddenly opens and a small ginger puppy poked their head out of the box, "umm… Surprise!?" Peridot chuckled.

Lapis smiled slightly and petted the small canine, she felt their collar and read the small name tag, just as Peridot said, the word 'pumpkin' was very clearly printed on it.

"Do you need some help?" Lapis chuckled as the puppy began to whimper and scuttle around the cardboard box.

"Are you asking me or pumpkin?" Peridot asked, her eyes glanced to the puppy and then back to Lapis worryingly, "I don't have a lead…"

"I'll just carry her… Him… Them…" Lapis corrected herself as she picked the puppy up, she chuckled as Pumpkin began to lick her face slightly.

'Maybe everything will get better from now on…' Lapis thought as they walked back home.

Pearl put a hand to her chin, lowly grumbling to herself and began to pace. She didn't pay any mind to the two pairs of eyes that watched her, all she could focus on was Lapis. Things were getting far too complicated, now even if she did reveal herself to Lapis there would still be the underlying doubt. 'I took it too far.' She groaned and hid her face behind her hands.

"I'm such an idiot, I should have just listened to Garnet or told her there and then," she muttered,

"You are many things, an idiot is not one of them," Bismuth said,

"Depends on who you ask," Amethyst grumbled, Pearl cast her a scolding look,

"You were in shock, none of us expected Lapis to suddenly come here, she's never done that." Bismuth explained, Pearl gave them a doubtful look, biting the inside of her cheek as she frowned, "Listen…" The large woman began again with a gentle sigh, "I know this means a lot to you and there is still time."

"Then she'll never talk to me again…" Pearl sighed, "I don't want that."

The girls looked at her wordlessly with a look of surprise, Pearl's cheeks grew red and she looked away with her fists clenched.

"Woah, you've fallen this hard?" Amethyst commented,

"N-no, I just-!" Pearl huffed, "yes, yes I have."

"It's the bad girls, I'm tellin' ya," Amethyst chuckled and wiggled her eyebrows at Bismuth, "but seriously, it's not the end of the world. Why are you so worried about Lapis anyway?"

"Look, I just… She needed help! I couldn't leave her, and now, I can't walk away from this." Pearl walked away from the two and grabbed her equipment bag she meticulously prepared the previous day. She glanced at the clock and sighed defeatedly.

"I need to go."

She left them without another word and without a glance, only with the click of the door shutting behind her.

Pearl briskly walked by the beach, her head held high and her ears attentively listening to the sounds of the waves hitting against some of the rocks speckled across the shoreline. The smell of saltwater was something that she missed whilst she was away studying abroad, unfortunately, the smell of grease and fries being cooked in the nearby vendors was something that she could have done without.

Her walk eventually led her up a small hill where an extravagant looking building stood, the front was nearly all made from glass that made it sparkle when the reflection of the sea was cast over it. The material almost looked like crystal, this was to be expected however as the diamonds were not modest about their success.

Before she walked any further, Pearl glanced back and looked at the various buildings surrounding the studio. One of the establishments in particular caught her eye, it was worn down, but still looked to be managed by at least one person. 'Beach City Fencing' was eloquently written on a sign that was severely vandalised, another sign asking for more members was also broken and painted on. It was like the instructor was begging and like the building was begging with them. It almost broke Pearl's heart seeing something she once loved dearly turned into a dump. 'I wonder if they even do tournaments anymore…' she sighed and continued her way up to the now rather menacing, crystal building.

Pearl opens the glass door, if it had been any other person they would have ran into it due to how clean the near invisible glass was. Inside she finds a small counter, but no-one managing it. The fact that a diamond establishment had an employee that was slacking off was something unheard of. She heard some faint unrecognisable music come from further along the hallway but she chose not to go and explore, she would see everything eventually given she had some patience left in her.

Pearl turned when she heard some light foot steps creep towards her carefully. She watches the corner and then spots two dancers approach her, one in yellow, the other in blue.

"We leave for one second and she's already here!" the yellow one grumbled, "I blame you for this." She turned to her companion who just gives her a polite smile in response.

"You're Pearl, correct?" The blue one asked her with an infectious smile.

"Yes, that's right," She replied with a small nod of her head,

"Well, let's go get this questionnaire over with," The yellow one crossed her arms and pointedly looked into one of the rooms in the corridor,

"Questionnaire?" Pearl echoed,

"Yeah, I mean it's pointless to even ask you it when we're so understaffed that we're taking anyone that can shake their hips and pretend to dance." Yellow scoffed, 'Ah, so that's why I managed to get in here.' Pearl tightened her grip on her bag.

"Just be patient with her," Blue said in a hushed voice just as Yellow waltzed into the room, Pearl gave her another small nod and they followed the obnoxious dancer.

The room was just a regular office, it looked very similar to a meeting room where you go into when interviewing a business. That is if Amethyst's horrible show taught her anything.

Yellow pointed impatiently to the lone chair in front of the table as she and Blue sat across from it. Pearl never wasted any time and quickly found her place before Yellow had the opportunity to shove another snide remark into her face.

"Let's begin," Yellow's voice reverberated across the room, "to save confusion due to having three Pearls, which I never thought possible, in this room. I go by Yellow and she goes by Blue."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Blue Pearl quickly pipped in before Yellow Pearl had any opportunity to add anything more.

"Likewise," Regular Pearl replied,

"Ahem," Yellow scowled and Pearl couldn't keep the small frown from showing on her face, Blue prepared a small clipboard with a pen at the ready. "Question one, why do you dance?"

'Well, they certainly aren't going easy with the questions.' Pearl took a breath and thought carefully about her response, partly because she really needed it, but also because she started to like making Yellow angry.

"Because I love it," Pearl started, "dancing has helped me through many hardships. It's become a big part of my life."

"Clearly," Yellow remarked and Pearl had to fight a grin when Blue pinched her, making the dancer in yellow jump with a yelp.

"Your application mentions your success at fencing," Blue took over as Yellow cradled her arm and looked at her in betrayal. "Why do you choose dancing instead?"

"O-oh, well," 'she got me there…' Pearl cleared her throat slightly and thought about her answer, she noticed that Yellow looked at Blue with an unclear expression, yet the dancer remained peacefully smiling. "Fencing was only ever a hobby for me, it was my gateway to start dancing again when I was younger."

"Yeah, but why did you choose dance?" Yellow asked, "I mean you're a multi-tournament champion!" she expressively spread her arms,'I don't know if she's complimenting me or aggravating me… Probably both.'

"I don't think that I would get anywhere with fencing, especially not here…" Pearl sadly sighed and she could have sworn that Blue and Yellow looked at her with a melancholic expression.

Yellow huffed, "that's good enough for me."

"Agreed," Blue put the pen down and dropped the clipboard on the table, Pearl glanced at it and just seen a sheet of blank paper with what looked to be a small sketch of something on it. "That's enough questions."

"Wait, so, um…" Pearl watched in confusion as Blue and Yellow stood from the seat,

"Hm?" Yellow raised an eyebrow, "oh yeah, welcome to the team I guess. You're our fourth member. Congrats."

Pearl eyes widened in alarm, 'Fourth member?'

"Fourth member?" Pearl mumbled as she stood up and trailed behind the dancers as they walked out the room.

"Well, yeah," Yellow frowned, "you don't get many wannabe dancers in a shit place like this."

Blue pinched her again, "language." She scolded and Yellow hissed painfully as she tried to hide her tears. "But yeah, this place is pretty bad…"

"We were going to give you one of those tours that you get. But we're seriously behind schedule and I now have to teach two classes of ballet all whilst rehearsing for a show in ocean town and so much more." Yellow sighed, she began walking briskly down the corridor, "So just wait out in the lobby for now!" she threw back an order at her.

"Another dancer who's lucky and got a clear lunch will tour you. She should be there to meet you in any minute." Blue added quickly before sprinting down the hall and ran up a few stairs with elegant leaps.

Pearl let out a long breath and sat on one of the couches as she waited for this mysterious third dancer to appear. It still baffled her, such a large, diamond owned studio like this and there was only three dancers looking after it. Perhaps there was a cleaner or something, but with the way Yellow said it… it was unlikely.

Even so, deep down she knew what was the cause of this shortage of employees.

Jaspers gang.

Everything lead back to her, from the vandalism, to the paid off cops, to Lapis and now even her job. It was like everything in Beach City, now old and new had a small parasite residing in it. Something that no one wants to talk about yet everyone knows what and who it is.

'I bet that's also a reason why they only asked me two questions… I shouldn't have said anything about fencing in the first place.' she put a hand onto her forehead.

"Pearl?"

She heard a voice call her name and she instantly looked up to see who it was. A smile came to her face when she seen Rainbow Quartz looking at her with utter joy and surprise, Pearl couldn't help but give her a big hug. Being rumoured to be Rose's half-sister, her hugs felt nearly exactly like Rose's, minus the rose perfume.

"Wow I never expected to see you here!" She grinned, "well, I DID, but still!"

"It's good to be back," Pearl gave her a small smile as she grabbed her bag and Rain led them down another hallway,

"You're a terrible liar," Rain gave another small smile back,

"Everything's so different," Pearl sighed, "I still can't wrap my head around it all."

"It is a lot to take in…" Rain paused for a moment.

Pearl never ever thought that a moment of hesitation could press against her brain so much throughout the entire tour, not that she didn't pay any attention. The building was fascinating, with several dance rooms, office's, common rooms, a large cafeteria and a stage. The building was a scrapped project that the diamond company had, Rain explained the original intent of a building that housed several different studios and have them work together in harmony. Only the dance studio became up and running before the whole Jasper catastrophe.

Perhaps that was why Rain paused, because of Jasper. So, with some courage, Pearl asked her.

"Why did I… Stop?" Rain hummed and raised an eyebrow, she had bought herself a bottle of water from the vending machine in the cafeteria and Pearl flinched slightly as the sound of money slotting loudly into the machine, echoing across the vast emptiness of the hallway.

"When I mentioned that everything was too much, just before the tour," Pearl emphasised, "you looked like you were going to say something."

Rain looked at her with a grave expression and she quickly looked away, "I forgot."

Pearl rolled her eyes, "you are a terrible liar."

Rain remained silent, but Pearl remained persistent. Her eyes never left the tall woman and she smirked slightly as Rain grew very self-conscious as she drank the bottled water. Eventually she sighed and but the bottle onto the nearby bench and sat down, Pearl quickly joined her.

"I was going to mention Rose…"

"Oh…"

'Oh.'

"I know how you felt about her… and just now you come back and she's gone. It must have been painful." Rain gently put her hand on top of Pearl's limp one lying on the bench.

"I tried not thinking about it." Pearl looked away, she could feel a tight knot forming in her throat. "Telling myself that she's out touring with that rock-star…"

"But you know she's not, right?" Rain asked gently with a quivering voice, and Pearl slowly nodded her head. "Did they tell you how she died?" Pearl shook her head and looked back at Rain, her eyes where going pink as tears were about to escape at any moment. "Childbirth."

"Child…-Birth?" Pearl echoed, the knot grew tighter and her eyes started to sting. 'That does sound a lot like Rose.' Pearl shuddered, "and the child?"

"Steven," Rain said, "she named him Steven, he lives with Greg at the carwash."

Pearl could have laughed breathlessly, but it came out as a small, depressing hiccup. "Greg and a carwash… Something I would never have imagined to hear together."

"Times really do change," Rain awkwardly chuckled,

"I'll have to visit them at some point," Pearl sighed, "I have to see Steven at least once… It's what Rose would have wanted."

Rain slowly nodded her head, "she would… But maybe you should hold off on that visit." Pearl looked at her quizzically. "It's not safe right now, the carwash isn't up and running yet so it acts like a cover against… Well…"

"Jasper."

Rain nodded her head, "but try to keep that name to yourself, the last person I seen uttering that was a drunk that ended up in hospital when he was found nearly beaten to death in a ditch." Pearl absently nodded her head, "Pearl, I'm serious."

"Alright, I understand." She wiped her eyes and glanced down at the time on her phone. She had somehow managed to spend two and a half hours running around the insanely large building and if she remembered correctly it was time for her to leave.

Rain walked her back to the lobby and Pearl was surprised to see Blue and Yellow nearly lying onto of one another on the couch, they had lunch out on the small table but they looked far too tired to eat anything yet to hungry to actually get any rest. 'They are so overworked.'

"Hello White," Yellow remarked and Pearl jumped slightly,

"Excuse me, but, White?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Listen, we're all Pearl's, you get a nickname too." Yellow sat up but instantly flopped back down again, she gave off a strange whimper.

"It's because of your blouse," Blue briefly explained through her delirium, "it's just so crisp."

"Oh, thank you?" Pearl continued to awkwardly stare at them and then she glanced at Rainbow with a determined look. She sighed defeatedly.

"Let us take some of your shifts for today," Rain said and Pearl smiled at the surprised looks of delight on the dancers faces. "I don't mind doing some unpaid overtime this once."

"But White has only just started! She doesn't have-!"

"I brought a change of clothes," Pearl quickly cut Yellow off, "and yes, I can dance so I can take over some of the ballet lessons you need to give. You do need to rehearse for a show after all."

Yellow looked like she was going to cry, "I- I'll allow it this once, but once you start you will have a lot more to do then ballet lessons!"

"Wait a minute, that means we're free!" Blue gasped,

"For now…" Yellow scowled, "we still need to do the ritual that is cleaning."

"Do you want me to help with that too?" Pearl asked,

"Well once you start you will," Rain chuckled, "but right now, handling two ballet classes is more than required for an initiation."

"The ballet classes are both an hour long and back-to-back," Blue explained,

"Still up for it?" Yellow teased,

"I'll try my best," Pearl took a deep breath,

"One is a class of beginners, the other has more experience but are practicing pirouettes." Blue sat up straighter and picked up a carton of fruit juice.

"Okay. I can manage that much." Pearl smiled.

When Pearl was finally done and dressed back into her regular attire, she let out a content sigh. It really wasn't that bad, sure there were some students that had difficulty in performing some basic moves. But Pearl really couldn't blame them when Rain explained that some of the students never had the time to practice at home for many different reasons.

Pearl left the building with a hug from Rain, an approving handshake from Yellow who made it way more awkward than it should have been and a few documents that Blue had printed out with a small smile.

The day was a success.

Pearl grinned at that, finally, finally, she was doing something worthwhile. Something she loved doing. She carefully put the documents into her bag as she walked down the hill, only to stop when she seen the fencing building again.

She took a deep breath and quickly zipped up her bag.

As the building grew bigger in the slow approach, Pearl could finally see the damage done to the intricately designed exterior. Plants were overgrown, stone slabs and windows cracked, several windows even had protective bars put outside. She shivered as she walked inside.

The inside was even colder than the cool weather outside. At least everything looked near enough the same since she last visited, it was just darker, dustier… Lonelier. The chocolate brown wooden floors didn't have the polished shine it once had and the furniture had seen better days.

But amongst the ruckus, she heard the clanging of metal and every so often a loud beep. Curiously she followed the noise to a new branch in the building, obviously built sometime after she had left. She opened the gymnasium door and watched the light from inside blast away the darkness of the corridor. She walked in slowly and smiled slightly when she seen two fencers currently sparring, the masks were fastened securely and Pearl had no idea who could have been under them… Now that she thought about it, there is one person.

"Stop, that's the spar over," Pearl heard a recognisable voice ring out from one of the fencers,

"Already?" Pearl grinned, she recognised that voice too.

They pulled off their helmets and introduced their faces to the world. Opal was wiping some sweat off her face and Smoky was panting off to the side. Out of everyone in the whole of Beach City, Pearl never knew that Opal would have started fencing and that Smoky joined in.

"Am I interrupting something?" Pearl smiled and walked closer, Opal and Smoky jumped at first but soon grinned widely.

"You just keep surprising," Opal commented, possibly a friendly remark at her sudden leave and then sudden reappearance. "Smoky, do you even remember Pearl?"

"Of course I do!" Smoky grinned,

"Well look who's all grown up now," Pearl smiled, "you make me feel old."

"Ha! Do I need to get you a walking stick grandma?" She cheekily stuck out her tongue, "or maybe some tea?"

"Tea? Yes, but hold off on the walking stick."

"So what's the surprising occasion?" Opal interjected. Ending the war of the young and the old. 'Old-ish.' Pearl corrected.

"More like this is surprising, what about your archery and yoga?" Pearl smiled, turning to her friend.

"Someone needs to keep this place running," Opal tutted as she put her helmet under her arm, "memories too I guess."

"I just volunteered for the fun," Smoky winked, "poking people with pointy sticks is satisfying."

"Please," Pearl scoffed, "poking people is an art form." Smoky chuckled at that.

"So are you looking to join again? We really need help, I don't really know anything about fencing." Opal burst out in a calm and well-mannered way,

"Yes, I am actually." Pearl could see the delight in Opal's face, "but what happened to everyone? I remember that Jade was the instructor last time I was here."

"Oh," Opal's face dropped, "Jade and nearly everyone left Beach City. I'm guessing by the look on your face you already know why." Opal wasn't wrong, unknowingly a scowl had spread across Pearl's face and even the forever optimistic Smoky looked down at the ground sadly. "We can't even do tournaments anymore… Not even the solo ones."

Pearl looked to her determinedly, "well, that's going to change. When is the next Solo tournament start?"

"Some time next month in Ocean Town," Opal replied,

"Wait, you're not seriously-" Smoky tried,

"I am," Pearl cut her off, "If I win, I can get this place some attention it needs."

"But then those thugs will just mess this place up! Have you seen what the outside is like?!" Smoky gasped, "We have bars on the windows! Bars! On the windows!"

"I know," Pearl tightened her jaw, "but I'm not going to just give up."

Smoky just looked at her in bewilderment and slight awe.

"Be careful Pearl…" Opal said, "I hope you know what you're doing."

Lapis groaned as yet again Jasper had found a way to contact her mobile, she deleted more messages of pure hate as she sat on the couch with pumpkin falling asleep on her lap. The messages, as always, were never ending and honestly Lapis had grown bored of them. 'The threats really don't work when its the same text message over and over again.'

She sighed as she continued pressing delete on the screen. It would have been fine if it was all in one conversation but no, Jasper just had to have been extra and spam the same message multiple times on several different conversations. 'How did she even do this?' Lapis gently petted Pumpkin and the dog made an affectionate nuzzle into her.

Her text adventures did come to a close when she found an interesting string of messages.

"COME TO THE LIGHTHOUSE." Was cemented instantly into her mind, this was different from all those other messages asking her to come back, this was something new and terrifying.

Lapis simply deleted all the messages and yet again Jasper as a contact. She really needed to lie down and take her mind off of this pathetic attempts of frightening her. Even though that's what she told herself, Lapis couldn't lie that it hadn't worked.

Gently putting Pumpkin onto the floor, Lapis stood up and walked into her room. Pumpkin followed her closely until they got bored and went away to find Peridot.

So many thoughts were in her head that it was so difficult to swim through them, from Jasper, to work and to how shitty life could be. But then something surfaced and Lapis imagined seeing an anchor in the distance. Pearl and Earl. The mysterious twins who smashed their way into her life as elegantly as they could, she couldn't disagree that she felt some sort of attachment to Earl and now that when she tried to think of him she only thought of Pearl. It made things really confusing.

They were far too similar, the way they talk, the way they stand, the thing they do with their hands when they're nervous or confused. Something about them was off. 'Are they the same person?' Lapis thought, 'well, that could explain a lot.' She sat up from her bed and grumbled.

'Why would one dress as the other? What would that achieve? Are they trying something?' She cupped her head and sighed, that theory was just bringing up more questions than answering.

'But what if they are the same person?' 'Who would be the real one?' 'Who do I want to be real?'

Lapis nearly slapped herself, she couldn't think like this, theories weren't her strong point and she couldn't be able to find a long red string in a tiny hay bale rather than a needle in a hay stack.

But there was one person that knew her theories more than she knew herself.

"Peridot?" Lapis tapped on the door and walked in, she seen the green girl looking into her laptop with Pumpkin playing with a tiny ball on the floor.

"Oh Lapis! You want to the the Camp Pining Heart Leaks too?" She grinned,

"What? No! Don't you dare!" Lapis looked away before anything was spoiled,

"It's okay, you're safe for now… But just remember I'm armed and dangerous." Peridot maniacally laughed.

"Yeah, Yeah," Lapis sighed, "Look I need your help."

"What would you do without me? The great and lovable Peridot?" She closed her laptop and with a small smile and a roll of Lapis's eyes she slung her legs over the edge of her bed. "What can I do you for?"

"I think that Pearl and Earl are the same person," Lapis said and she sat down on a random chair that Peridot kept in her room.

"Okay, what?" Peridot gawked,

"I'm serious!" Lapis huffed, "They're both mysterious and so similar!"

"But you barely know Pearl," Peridot added,

"So? I barely know Earl."

"Touche."

Lapis reached round and grabbed Peridot's theory notepad from her desk, careful not to disrupt one of her robot projects. She gave it to the girl and passed her a pen. "You're good at theories, help me clean up my thought process."

"I thought you didn't like my theories," She narrowed her eyes,

Lapis looked sheepishly away, "I kinda do… I don't like it when you talk about it for hours though…"

"Well!" Peridot huffed, "If you don't want then-"

"No! Please, I really need your help on this!" Lapis nearly pleaded, "you know I'm terrible at mystery stuff."

"Seriously? You say 'it's the butler, or the wife, or the detective' nearly all the time, how could I not see the true Sherlock in you?" Peridot laughed and opened her notepad to a random blank page.

"Haha Watson, now help me with this."

"Okay," Peridot replied, she threw the ball that Pumpkin was playing with, making the puppy chase after it and giving them some space on the floor.

Before they knew it, they were constructing graphs, comparing the twins and even created important details such as Pearl has never been seen other than that one time at Amethysts.

"She could just be busy," Lapis suggested,

"The fact still stands," Peridot huffed proudly,

"Fine," Lapis grumbled.

They were about to continue when they heard some footsteps and the ominous clanking of metal outside. Lapis and Peridot glanced at each other in pure terror before they rushed to the windows and shut the blinds and curtains tightly, turning off all the lights.

Every so often a loud 'clang' would punctuate the silence, Lapis held her breath as the clanging would change to metal scraping together. Peridot held Pumpkin tightly, who was whimpering in her arms as the sound grew louder and louder.

They hid when it finally reached their window.

But then it got quieter and then disappeared all together.

This wasn't the first time that Jaspers gang had done this, but it was still terrifying. It was like they were looking for her, wanting to hurt her with a metal pipe and beat her half to death.

Lapis watched Peridot crack and shake a glow stick, they nervously smiled and continued their theories.

That night, Lapis didn't feel safe enough to sleep.


Before there is any confusion, in the show, Steven refers to Pumpkin as "He" and Peridot as "She" and because I'm indecisive, I went with "they". If I slip up however, remember that Pumpkin can go either way. (Just roll with it please.)

Anyway, Till next week! :)