CHAPTER SIX
Pearl walked through the strawberry battlefield, completely unaware that a few hours earlier, two of the people currently occupying her thoughts had been right there too. Usually when she walked these fields, her mind would be full of memories of ancient battles fought at Rose's side. But now, all she could think of was Amethyst's ridiculous accusation.
Jealous! She hadn't been so insulted in years! Her disapproval of this so-called relationship between Steven and Peridot had absolutely nothing to do with Rose. The only connection that could possibly be made was that Rose had trusted her friends to help raise Steven with his best interests in mind, and Peridot simply wasn't good enough for him. If she were quite honest, she didn't think Connie was good enough for him either, no human would've ever been good enough, but Pearl had understood that the options were limited. But Connie had been prepared to work hard to make herself into a suitable partner for Steven, and Pearl had been impressed with the progress she'd been making (for a human)... and now all of that hard work was for nothing. Connie had taken up a human partner, which Pearl found completely baffling. Why didn't she want Steven? He was amazing!
She was suddenly reminded of something that had happened shortly after she and Rose had found Garnet on Earth. Rose had been fascinated by the fusion and wanted to try fusing with them too, but Garnet hadn't wanted to. Pearl hadn't been able to understand why Garnet hadn't leapt at the opportunity to fuse with someone as amazing as Rose- but this had nothing to do with Rose, she reminded herself. This was about Peridot not being good enough for Steven. She'd only been on Earth four years, that was barely any time at all for a gem to really change. She might be on their side now, but who's to say she wouldn't alter her allegiance if Yellow Diamond showed up and offered her amnesty and a new set of limb enhancers? After all, she'd only joined them in the first place to avoid being killed by the Cluster. It wasn't really the most compelling argument for letting her become a Crystal Gem.
Although... she had to admit, the little green gem seemed to be very enthusiastic about their cause, far more so than Lapis Lazuli, who had last been heard of in some place called Six Mile Bottom, and as always, when Pearl thought about Lapis's quest to visit places with rude names, her lip curled with derision. The surly blue gem had always made it clear that the only thing keeping her on Earth was Steven and the unhappy knowledge that Homeworld would not welcome her back with open arms. And Lapis hated the threat of being imprisoned again far more than she hated Earth and the Crystal Gems. Peridot, on the other hand, had apparently accepted her fate (once the shock of turning on her Diamond had worn off, of course) and taken it upon herself to learn as much about her new home as quickly as possible. Of course, it would be a long time before she would really understand Earth, Pearl had been here for thousands of years and it still confused her.
For one brief, shining moment, she had a glimmer of self-awareness. Peridot had sought out information about Earth right from the start, reading books, watching television and carrying out her own observations and experiments. She had borrowed textbooks from Connie and listened attentively to Steven's explanations about how things worked, and of course, once he'd given her the tablet, she'd spent much of her free time browsing the internet and discovering all sorts of bizarre new things and asking all manner of horrible and embarrassing questions.
Conversely, Pearl had shunned humanity. All three of the original Crystal Gems had done so to start with, choosing one of the more isolated landmasses to set up base and warning humans away. But, she reminded herself, they'd had practical reasons for that; the corrupted gems had been drawn to their own kind and in those early days, when there were so may more of them roaming the Earth, it just made sense to stay away from humans and minimise the risk. Of course it had taken them a long time to begin understanding their new home and the creatures they shared it with! Even Rose had only really begun interacting with humans in the last few hundred years and she hadn't really thought of them as much more than charming pets until Greg had come along. She'd tried dating a human once herself, not so long ago, and it hadn't worked out at all. The woman had been attractive enough from a distance, but once Pearl had actually gone on a date with her, she'd been disappointed to find that the woman was only interested in silly, shallow human amusements and had no desire to hear about the glorious battle for her planet's survival. The fact that she'd turned up with green hair hadn't helped either – but that had nothing to do with her superficial resemblance to Rose, it was just a sign that humans were fickle and flighty. Of course, that was exactly what Rose had found so attractive about them. And there was a thought – what if Peridot's fascination with Steven was just more of that same fetishization? She would break his heart and crush his spirit, just as Rose had done to the humans she'd entertained herself with.
No, the dismay she felt over this relationship was simply concern for Steven's welfare. She wasn't jealous at all. She wasn't jealous that Peridot had adjusted to life on Earth so quickly. She wasn't jealous that Steven looked at Peridot the same way Rose used to look at Greg. And she certainly wasn't jealous that nobody had looked at her like that in a long, long time.
xxx
Greg listened to Steven's summary of events with rising concern, gasping with horror when Steven mentioned Jasper's unbubbling and the blow Pearl had given Peridot. He wasn't entirely happy to hear about their relationship either, albeit for very different reasons, but he was smart enough to know that now was absolutely not the time. Steven needed to feel that somebody grown-up was on his side, or he'd run away to become a rock star and cut off communication with his family for twenty years- OK, maybe he was projecting a little there, but it was true that none of the adults in his life had been there to support him when he needed them, and he was determined to learn from their mistakes.
"-And so we kinda don't feel all that comfortable going back there right now," Steven was saying, "so... we came here. Is- is that OK?"
Greg looked at his son's anxious face and felt his heart twist. "Of course it's OK, son! You're always welcome to stay with me. Peridot too. Where is she, anyway?"
"Oh, she's just outside," Steven said. "She was a little... apprehensive about coming with me."
Scared, Greg mentally corrected. And no wonder. "Go ahead and bring her in, it's fine." He followed Steven to the door and waited while his son ran off around the corner, and as soon as he was gone, Greg let out a small sigh of disappointment.
Four years ago, Steven had returned to Homeworld with Pearl and Garnet to rescue Lars. The plan had been to steal a small ship and then get the two boys home and out of immediate danger. Once the heat had died down, they would return for the Off Colors, who would've been much more difficult to smuggle past the guards. As it turned out, those fears had been correct; after Steven's escape, the space ports had been under intense scrutiny and their little group had been spotted as soon as they boarded a vessel. Battleships had been sent after them and Pearl simply didn't have the skill to evade the missiles in the new and unfamiliar ship. But Lars had started screaming in terror and that was when they'd discovered that he had portal powers like Lion. They'd arrived home and he'd immediately passed out from the strain and spent the next month in hospital under Doctor Maheswaran's supervision while the remaining rebels waited for Homeworld to retaliate.
The retaliation never came. Eventually, Garnet concluded that upon seeing their vessel destroyed, Homeworld must have decided to quit while they were ahead. True, they knew there were other Crystal Gems on Earth, but they believed Rose Quartz and her two most loyal followers were dead, and with the Cluster was close to emerging, it made little sense to send more gems to Earth when so many had already been lost there. The loss of Jasper was a massive blow, but after hearing from the Rubies, they must have decided that even with Rose's apparent demise, it was just too risky to make any more attempts to retrieve her.
And so as time had passed and even corrupted gem sightings dropped, Greg had allowed himself to hope that it was all over. No more monsters, no more danger, no more war and fighting and loss. Maybe his son could begin to lead a normal human life, like Rose had wanted. It was a little late to send him to school, but he could still take exams and go to college, get a regular job, buy a house, marry somebody, have children… live the American dream. Dating a gem did not quite fit in with that, something Greg knew better than anyone. But as Steven reappeared, hand-in-hand with Peridot, Greg made sure none of those thoughts were visible on his face. After all, Steven hadn't exactly had a normal life even before he'd moved in with the gems and started accompanying them on missions, so he could hardly blame Peridot for that. And she was a nice enough person, curious and eager to learn. The other gems had been on Earth for so long now that nothing really seemed to surprise them any more, but Peridot was still new enough to be amazed by things like musical instruments or fireworks or electric toothbrushes. Even the incident where she'd pushed him off of the roof was more funny in hindsight than anything else, and she was always happy to listen to his music recommendations.
"Hello, Mr Universe," Peridot said cautiously, coming to a halt before him.
Greg smiled cheerfully down at her. "I told you before, call me Greg. 'Mr Universe' is too formal for someone dating my son."
Peridot flushed and lowered her gaze. "Sorry… Greg."
"Hey, it's fine." Greg jerked his head back towards the building. "Look, I'm gonna go and lock up early. It's only an hour early," he added as Steven opened his mouth to protest. "And I doubt there's about to be a rush. We'll go back to the house and figure everything out, OK?"
"OK," the couple said in unison. They waited while Greg quickly shut down the machinery, switched off the lights and locked up, and then the three of them climbed into the van (even now, Greg still didn't quite believe his bank balance and kept the van close by just in case it had all been a scam and his house suddenly got repossessed) and drove the short distance home.
He parked the van in the garage and led the way inside, doing a quick mental calculation of the rooms in the house. Downstairs, there was the garage, kitchen, bathroom, living room and studio. Upstairs, there was his room, with en suite bathroom, Steven's room, and another room that been marketed as another bedroom but which was, in reality, filled with the contents of his storage unit. He cast a quick, sideways look at Peridot and frowned slightly. Should he try and move the junk out of the room or let her share with Steven? On the one hand, there was really nowhere to put the stuff. He'd stopped using the storage unit shortly after he'd moved into the house, and there wasn't space for it all in the garage, not with the car and van there. On the other hand, he didn't feel entirely comfortable with letting the two share a room and a bed. But there really wasn't anywhere to put all the stuff right now. Maybe tomorrow, if things still looked bad, he could look into renting the unit back, but for tonight… "All right, make yourselves at home. All I ask is that you keep the bedroom door open and, y'know, behave yourselves," he said, trying to look stern.
"Right, yep, of course." Steven quickly agreed.
"And you need to call Garnet and let her know where you are," Greg continued.
Steven groaned. He knew his father was right, but he would've really much rather not, and hope Garnet's future vision would do the job for him so he didn't have to. But Greg was watching him, and there was really no way to avoid it, so he took a deep breath to steel his nerves, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It immediately started to ring and he dropped it with a yelp of surprise.
Peridot shot out a hand and the phone froze before it could hit the ground. "It's Garnet," she said, floating it back up to him.
"Uuuugh," Steven whined. "I hate when she does that!" But answering a call was easier than having to make one, so he tapped the screen and pressed the phone to his ear. "Hi Garnet," he said, trying to sound cheerier than he actually was.
"Steven. Am I correct in thinking you and Peridot are at Greg's?"
"Um, yes." Steven shuffled nervously from foot to foot. Was she angry? Her voice gave away nothing.
"I'm not angry," she said, almost as if she'd read his mind. "And no, I can't read your mind."
Steven pulled the phone away and looked suspiciously at it for a moment before gingerly putting it back to his ear. "Really?"
"Really." She went silent. Steven waited for a few seconds, then wondered if he was supposed to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, she started talking again. "Amethyst told me what happened. I understand that you two don't feel comfortable coming home just yet, but I just wanted to reassure you both that we're not upset, just… surprised."
"I see. And…" Steven caught sight of Greg and Peridot watching him, and turned away and lowered his voice. "Pearl?"
"Pearl stormed out of the house shortly after arriving back here," Garnet admitted. "She hasn't returned yet. I suggest that you both remain where you are until I've had a chance to properly talk to her."
The tiny flicker of hope that had been growing inside him immediately curled up and died. "Oh," he said, struggling to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "Well, when you see her, can you tell her… tell her I hope she's feeling better, OK?"
"I will do. Oh, and Steven?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you quickly explain how a giant, floating island found its way into the Burning Room?
xxx
A/N: The bit about Rose wanting to fuse with Garnet is apparently a scrapped episode idea I've heard can be found in the art book, and involves Pearl pressuring the newly-formed Garnet to fuse with her and Rose. I doubt it counts as canon, but it's an early warning sign of Pearl's unhealthy attitudes toward both Rose and fusion, which I found quite interesting considering how she behaved in both Rainbow Quartz and Sardonyx's debuts.