CHAPTER 11: PEARL AGAINST PEARL

"That arrogant little-" Pearl muttered under her breath as she walked through the dark corridor alongside Steven and Amethyst.

"Come one P, calm down! She just wanted us to be out of here as soon as possible!" Amethyst said snorting.

"Besides the fact that splitting up is always the wrong choice, I just can't stand at her! She thinks she's superior just because of my origins!" Pearl said before Steven began to speak.

"Pearl… what did Peridot mean when she said 'the others of your kind'?" Steven asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"U-uhm… I… I… well… on Homeworld… there are… hundreds of my kind Steven… hundreds of pears… and we… well we have been created to be servants... just servants with no particular abilities or even a free will… that's what Peridot intended… since I'm a common Pearl she-" Pearl said before being interrupted by Steven.

"That's not true!" Steven said as he took Pearl's hand with his own one.

"W-what?" Pearl asked in disbelief.

"You aren't common at all Pearl! If the other pearls don't have abilities or a will than you are completely different from them! You are really smart and you can swordfight and you can build things and many other things! You are amazing!" Steven said as Pearl smiled at him.

"Thank you Steven…" Pearl said as she gave him a slight kiss on the cheek.

"Is this the place?" Amethyst asked as they stopped in front of iron gate.

"I think it is… now let me just-" Pearl tried to speak but was interrupted by the sound of the research room's door opening.

"Pearl? Did you-" Steven asked as Pearl began to step back.

"I… I didn't do anything… s-stay back!" Pearl exclaimed as she summoned her spear.

"What the…" Amethyst whispered as the door opened completely, revealing a dark entrance to the research room… dark… but not completely… since two… yellowish eyes shined in the shadows as steps could be heard.

"Guys… I don't think we're alone in this place…" Steven said as Pearl stayed in front of him, ready to protect him from everything that was going to emerge from the darkness.

Needless to say… none of them… especially Pearl were prepared for what came in the next moment. Slowly, a tall, thin figure emerged from the darkness… she was wearing a long, black dress with a yellow diamond on her chest, long, black gloves covering her arms… but what startled them the most… was the black, round gem… on her forehead.

"No… how is this even-" Pearl managed to say before being interrupted by a yellowish light coming from the black gem.

"Pearl what-" Steven tried to speak but was cut off by Pearl, who rushed towards him and pushed him aside before the attacker could hit him.

In fact, it was a matter of seconds before she placed her hand on her gem and extracted a long, white katana blade and jumped towards Steven, who barely managed to dodge her attack, thanks to Pearl, who began to attack the black gem as soon as she pushed him away. Amethyst summoned her whip and rushed towards the fighting duo and as she cried Pearl's name, she spin dashed towards her opponent, who jumped out of her way dodging her attack. Despite the fact that she was alone, the gem managed to dodge all of Pearl and Amethyst's attacks, that was until, dodging Pearl's spear she left herself exposed, giving her back to Amethyst.

"You're mine!" Amethyst cried as she tried to slash her opponent.

But as her whip was going to struck the attacker, the black gem jumped in the air and landed behind her. All happened in a moment, Amethyst turning around, Pearl and Steven's eyes becoming wide as a white blade emerged from her back. In a matter of seconds Amethyst disappeared into clouds leaving her gem on the ground.

"Amethyst…" Pearl whispered as she remained motionless.

"Pearl!" Steven said as he rushed towards the immobile gem, looking at the black one who charged with her sword, ready to strike.

"Steven… Steven!" Pearl yelled as she realized what was happening.

The black gem rushed towards Pearl, sword in hands, ready to eliminate another of her opponents, but as she reached her and lowered her weapon, she found herself hitting a bright, pink bubble.

"Pearl, are you ok?" Steven asked as he stretched his arms forward, preventing his bubble from being crushed, as Pearl stumbled and fell back, struck by a great sense of disbelief, what was a pearl doing here? And why did she look so different from the other pearls she had met during her life on Homeworld?

"Yes… thank you…" Pearl said as she kept her gaze on the black gem, who stared back for moment, her two, yellow, malicious eyes meeting hers, before she began to hit Steven's bubble mercilessly.

"Stop! Why are you doing this?!" Steven asked as the gem stopped hitting for a moment.

"Why… why am I…" The black pearl whispered as she lowered her gaze.

For a long, tense moment, Steven hold his breath, keeping his eyes on her, he didn't know anything about this gem, but he could tell that what she was doing, has probably been imposed to her and maybe, just like Peridot, he could do something to help her… but it all ended when she shook her head and raised her gaze.

"I'm doing this for my mistress! Her will is also mine! She wants me to eliminate her enemies and this is what I'm supposed to do! This is what I had been created for!" The black pearl yelled angrily as she lifted her sword in the air.

"That's not true! Whoever told you that is wrong! You don't have to do this! You can chose!" Steven said clenching his fists.

"I… I can c-" The gem managed to say before being cut off by a scream coming from behind the bubble.

It was Garnet, who managed to reach Steven and Pearl in time. She jumped over Steven's bubble and landed behind the assailant, quickly disarming her. She was going to hit her but just as she throw a punch towards her, the black pearl dodged her attack and rushed towards the research room's entrance, she briefly turned around only to see five opponents ready to fight her, and that was the moment when she began to experiment something new… something her mistress didn't tell her about… fear.

"I… I don't want to… die…" The black pearl whispered as her eyes became wide, before turning around and disappearing into the shadows.

"Guys? Who was that?" Steven asked as he helped Pearl up.

"I… I don't… know… I have never seen a gem… like that before… but… there was… something… something… familiar…" Pearl muttered as she reached for Amethyst's gem, while they all looked towards the dark room where the gem disappeared.

Meanwhile:

"Servant… did you accomplish your task?" The tall, humped figure asked turning towards her servant.

But the pearl remained silent, because she knew what was going to happen if she said that she had failed her task.

"Servant… answer my question…" The dark figure hissed as she moved towards the pearl.

"I… I…" The pearl muttered in fear as her mistress came nearer and nearer.

"Answer me now…" She asked as she stopped in front of the now trembling pearl, towering over her.

"N-no…" The pearl said as suddenly… she was lifted in the air by her mistress… who held her up by her throat.

"You failed… and you escaped like a coward… even if you knew what I would have done…" The figure hissed maliciously.

"No… no please… please d-don't shatter me… I'm afraid… I… I d-don't want t-to die!" The pearl cried as her mistress let her fall on the ground.

"It seems that whatever I'll do… wherever I'll search… I'll never find a proper servant… fear is something that you shouldn't feel… how could I even think that some lost, broken, defective pearl like you could be helpful… I should destroy you now… but at least… you should work as distraction for those traitors… follow me…" She said, as the two of them silently made their way towards the center of the facility, the pearl wondering if all what she would have felt during her entire life would have been what her mistress called fear… needless to say… she didn't like the idea.

Hi guys! We hope you have liked this chapter, sorry for the delay but I had so many things to do and I didn't even find the time to update a chapter, so we hope you are enjoying our story and this was the real first appearence of my coworker's character Black Pearl, her origins and her character will be explained much more deeply during the next chapters, we hope she made a good first impression, to the next chapter!