Chapter 2:The Urge

PEARL

She turned on her soft instrumental music and walked into the shallow pool of water. Her gemstone was acting up again. During her time on Earth, Pearl had realized that this sensation occurred every three moon cycles or so. It wasn't a strictly Earth thing, any Gem who choose to take a human-like form as a base form had to deal with this small side effect. Homeworld Gems dealt with this powerful event as well, though less frequently probably only once every twenty four Earth moon cycles. It seemed to occur more often on Earth for some reason. Each Gem had a different way of dealing with it, Pearls were programmed to wait it out in solitude unless urgently needed. That's what she had learned to do for centuries; wait out The Urge until five Earth rotations pass and she can focus on her tasks again with complete control.

She sat down on her knees waist deep in the puddle and tried to center her thoughts. It was apparent this would take a while, she didn't exactly feel great about what she had done anymore. She didn't exactly regret it, Amethyst had deserved it for all the years of causing her to dread this date, but she can't say she liked noticing the smaller Gem trying to recover from crying. Amethyst had certainly taken this event more dramatically than Pearl had thought she would. There was a time Pearl would have protected Amethyst from anything regarding sadness. Those were fond memories, but they were a thing of the past. Things changed, they grew apart. Amethyst became rude, messy, and obnoxious and Pearl became too disheartened to understand why. All they did was get on each others nerves for the stupidest reasons not knowing why this cycle always repeated. A part of Pearl wanted to apologize for the severity of her 'prank' and shelter the younger Gem as she once had, but that part was drowned out by the ever present obstacle between the two Gems.

Pearl was finding it difficult to block out the heartbreaking images of Amethysts' white mane covering her face as she her puffy eyes as she attempted to correct them for her teammates. As much as she wanted to go comfort Amethyst and ask for a little understanding, the conversation would have to wait. Trying to talk to the smaller Gem while dealing with The Urge could end very badly, and besides, maybe it would be best to talk about it once everything had calmed down. She knew how Amethyst turned pretty much any emotion into destructive rage these days. It was then that the lock on her door started to rattle forcing Pearl to snap out of her thoughts and turn to face the door.

"PEARL!" It was the very Gem she didn't wish to see. "Open this door or I'm breaking it down!"

Pearl sighed "Not now Amethyst, I'm meditating." She got up and walked over to her speaker system, turning the soothing music up a notch. Not worried the least bit about the door being broken in, she sat back down. Ripples in the pool formed with every violent shake of the door, as they broke on Pearls' legs she had to admit it felt better than she would have expected.

AMETHYST

"Oh no you don't! You are not blocking me out for a week after that shit you pulled!" Amethyst knocked into the door harder not caring to shield her language form Stevens' ears. But her efforts were in vain, it appeared the restraining system of the door had been improved since she had last tried to break it down. Amethyst was steamed to say the least.

"Who does she think she is." She huffed to herself slouching against the wall with her arms folded. "It's like she thinks I'm nobody! Fake dieing on me and then not even facing me afterwards! I'm not going to just let this one slide! You've gone too far Pearl!"

With that the stocky Gem stormed into her room, avoiding the videogames, worn in couches, and comfort snack supplies. She stood in front of the waterfall connecting her and her neglecters rooms. Nothing had ever climbed up this waterfall. It's not as if she hadn't imagined it from time to time, especially after nightmares. It got lonely sitting in her cave and she had longed for the comforting actions of the graceful protector in her memories. But she had long ago accepted that That Pearl wasn't coming back, she left when Rose started seeing Greg, and had never returned. This Pearl looked the same as That Pearl, though less light shined in her eyes, and it would often trick Amethyst into thinking That Pearl had come back to her. But, that just wasn't true. Every now and then one of This Pearls' swords would "fall down" into Amethyst's cave as a futile attempt to get her to stay for a bit which only ended in another fight. But, there would only be immediate scolding if she had appeared in This Pearl's' room uninvited. Her loneliness wasn't enough to get her to try it, but her rage sure as hell was.

With a low growl, Amethyst reached into the waterfall and grabbed the first stone. The anger pulsing through Amethyst was enough to boil the water that surrounded her as she pulled herself up the cliff. Eyes only on the top, Amethyst worked harder physically than she ever had before. She didn't care if Pearl wanted space or not, she wasn't going to ignore what she had done, she wasn't going to push Amethyst farther away. As she neared the top, her hair was drenched, and through the roar of the falls came the soft floating music of Pearl's room. By now, Amethyst was too tired to be planning to physically lash out at her alien teammate, but that didn't mean she wasn't gonna raise some hell.

PEARL

Pearls senses caused her to open her eyes. Long ago the banging of the door had ceased but the ripples were returning on their own. The ripples were more violent even, and over the falls she noticed bubbling and separation of the streams. The nimble Gem gazed curiously at the phenomenon for she had never seen it happen before. Her curiosity of its cause was answered when a short violet hand gripped the floor of her room and a tuft of white hair was seen over the edge.

The alabaster warrior was shocked, and appalled. She stood up and pulled her rapier out if her gem not knowing what to expect next. With one last struggle induced grunt the stocky figure of her teammate surfaced and faced her with the demented look of rage lingering in her eyes. "I'm not so easy to get rid of Pearl." Came the panting introduction of a fatigued Amethyst.

BOTH

Pearl tried desperately to sound confident "Amethyst, I said I didn't want to be bothered. You need to leave." but despite her words she took a step back. There was silence other than her music as the invading violet Gem slumped over attempting to catch her breath with her hands on her knees. Pearl was terrified, not of Amethyst, but of what was to happen. Pearl had already decided to deal with The Urge and at this point it was too strong to back down from. She needed to get Amethyst out of her room quickly as possible. But right now, all she could do was stare as the water dripped slowly off of her teammates sublimely soaked body into the rippling pool around her. 'Wrong' she thought 'Snap out of it, act natural.'

Amethyst heard Pearls words and inhaled sharply "Right" she remarked "Because that's all I'm capable of right?! Bothering you! Well then I might as well do my job! I'm staying Pearl! Even though it's clear you don't give a damn about me, I'm staying!"

Pearl flinched. "Amethyst…" she spoke softly. "Don't say that...I do ca"

"SAVE IT!" She was getting her energy back. "If you cared you wouldn't be so fricken cruel to me all the time! So why don't you just save your lies and apologize already."

The alabaster warrior turned her head though the words bit into her. "I'm not cruel to you, and I have nothing to apologize for. The "prank" was well deserved for all your hurtful tomfoolery over the years."

Amethyst stood shocked. "What?! You think I'm upset about being pranked! Open your clod damn eyes Pearl! All you've done for years has been corrected me, nagged me, and pushed me away. You don't even try to understand anyone else anymore! So of course you think it's the prank!"

The taller Gem faced her teammate, face peaking blue with frustration. "All I've done! All I've done is single handedly taken care of the balance and neatness of this house and all you've done is call me names and make a bigger mess! You say I'm cruel, but you steal my valuables, trash the common area, and insult me on the daily! You have no respect for what I hold dear and insight these childish fights. So don't tell me I'm the one acting unfairly."

Amethyst let out a fervid scream "I'M NOT INSULTING YOU I'M TRYING TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!"

Pearl's heart stopped as she watch her intruder slump down onto her knees and cry into her chest. Amethyst wasn't supposed to break down like this...and what did she mean trying to get her attention. Before she could formulate words Amethyst was talking through her sobs.

"I looked up to you Pearl. You were closer to me than anyone, even Rose. She may have found me but you took care of me. I...I grew feelings for you even. Strong, beautiful, my protector. I vowed one day I would be strong enough to protect you too. You comforted me through everything. But you didn't see me as you saw Rose. And when she started to spend more time with Greg, you started to die inside. Your jealousy made you cold, you no longer cared enough to spend time with me. It was all about proving you're better than Greg. When she left you left too. What little of you remained devoted your entire being to the wellbeing of Steven, what little you had left of her. For a split second I thought maybe you'd care about me again, maybe even learn to care about me as I cared for you. But, you didn't even try. I gave you time, but I needed you. You just..weren't there anymore. So if I could even spend a little time with you, even if we were trying to scream each other's heads off…" the speech taking what little energy she had left, Amethyst gave into the water and face planted

The standing Gem was taken far aback. How could she do this to Amethyst? How could she have never seen this before? Memories flooded over her of all the days and nights she would spend with the younger Gem, teaching her, laughing with her, fighting with her and not against her. For the first time, in a long time, warmth spread through her mind. In that split second she realized, she was programmed to serve one Gem faithfully. She thought it was Rose because Rose gave her commands and praise when she completed them. But Rose didn't want to be taken care of, Rose wanted to be independent and passed that on to Pearl. Maybe instead of an obedient servant, Pearl was looking at things all wrong and she was meant to take care of one Gem faithfully. What if she had been put here to take care of Amethyst and in her blind devotion to a Gem who didn't need her care she had abandoned the one she was meant to be here for. She sat on her knees besides Amethysts' quaking body and attempted to comfort her by running her long lithe fingers through her unruly hair.

"I'm so sorry Amethyst...I didn't realize any of that." Pearl whispered

Amethyst swatted her hand away and pushed herself up onto her feet sniffing. "Yeah...well it's whatever. It's my fault for thinking I could have your attention back someday. But you left me, you left me long ago. So, don't give me pity. I don't need it."

Pearl looked up at the distressed Amethyst. "I'm not pitying you Amethyst...I understand now. I wasn't there for you, I should have been. I thought I was meant to be Rose's servant but I wasn't, I was meant to be your protector. I was meant to show the affection I held for you instead of fight it down all these years. And I failed...and I failed you."

Amethyst wiped her eyes with her wrist. "Don't say things if you don't mean them P, it's just gonna hurt me again and then I'm just gonna get mad again."

Pearl stood up timidly. "But I'm not just saying things...I mean them. I care about you Amethyst. Whenever I saw you, whenever I felt something for you, I had to try and tell myself you were imperfect for me because I...I thought if I let my affection out it would make me unfaithful to Rose. But I wasn't meant for Rose, as much as it hurts I see that now... I was meant to give you the affection you needed and deserved. But in my error, I also made you feel imperfect and unwanted. I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. I was meant to give you my affection, not Rose."

Amethyst turned her head away. "Why do you say these things now? I can't believe them. So either find some way to prove it or don't speak to me again because I can't take your lies."

Pearl could see Amethyst was trying to remain strong and that this may soon cause her to spike in anger. Her words were having no effect. She needed to try something new. Smoothly she tread over to the violet intruder and placed her hands under the smaller Gems chin. Lifting her head up slightly, Pearl bent her head and kissed Amethyst's forehead and the tip of her nose. "Is that proof?"

Amethyst stared wide eyed in disbelief. "But...but you think I'm bothersome and messy and unfocused.."

Pearl interrupted her babbling teammate. "At times...yes...but I also think you're admirably strong and funny and brave and physically appealing… on top of other things" a blue blush spread upon her cheeks as she spoke those words.

Amethyst blinked regaining some of her nerve and grinned. "That didn't prove anything then. If you really think I'm all that, why did you miss?" the shorter Gem wagged her eyebrow.

"Huh?" Pearl was only half sure what she meant by that. "But...um" Pearl blushed harder "If you're asking for mouth to mouth contact..I don't really know how to do that."

This time it was Amethyst's turn to blush as she scratched the back of her neck. "Ah, really P, I thought for sure with Rose and all.."

The alabaster Gem shrugged "A quick peck during fusion but other than that...no. I'm afraid I have no experience with that." Pearl was heating up, partly from embarrassment and partly from her gemstone.

Amethyst rubbed her foot on the ground. "Well, I could show you. B-But only if that's what you want I mean!"

Pearl knew it wasn't a good idea to go through with this at this time, but as she glanced down at Amethyst's plump, surely soft, lips her mouth salivated and with a nervous swallow she nodded her head.

Amethyst reached up and draped her arm around the lithe Gem's neck ever gently closing the gap between them. Standing on her toes she tilted her head slightly and the struggling attempts to breath normally between them met on each others faces for a second or two before Pearl wrapped her arm around the shorter Gems' waist and pulled her towards her. Their lips crashed together in a heated urgency at first then slowed as Amethyst took control focusing her attention on Pearl's bottom lip. Amethyst was pleasantly surprised by how well Pearl was catching on when they'd switch positions and it would taste just as good and be just as affectionate as the last one. Then Pearl did something unexpected to even herself, she let out a small pleasurable moan into the kiss. Immediately startled she broke about from the younger Gem and took a step back.

Amethyst was astounded "Woah, P, who know you had that in you?"

Pearl was flustered and her head was killing her. She held her gem but it shone through her hand slightly. "I...I think you should go Amethyst."

Instead of being offended Amethyst only grinned. "On the contrary Purrly, I think you want me to stay."

Pearl shook her head and backed up farther. "No, as pleasant as that was I need to meditate. It's just not a good time for me to be around other Gems, especially not ones I'm physically attracted to."

Amethyst's grin widened. "You find me physically attractive P?" she took a step forward. "Then I think I know what's going on here. It's that time for you isn't it?"

Pearls face went paler than before. "Y-yes" more dull pain "So you understand..I need to be left alone."
Amethyst laughed "Leave you alone?! For five days to sit in here and suffer. Not likely P. What if I told you there's a way this could be over sooner."

Pearl frowned "Amethyst, I don't know how you were taught to handle The Urge, but Pearls are taught to meditate."

The shorter Gem smirked deviously. "But you're not a Pearl, you're The Pearl. So why don't you let me help you?"