The Long Way Home(Doctor Who/Steven Universe crossover)

Into the Unknown

The Doctor tried to tear Pearl's fingers off of his gullet, but as he struggled the irate Gem only tightened her grip, while keeping him pinned firmly to the ground. The usual nervous, reserved Pearl had long since left the building and she was not holding back anymore. Unfortunately for her, neither was the Doctor, who fished his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket and stuck it in Pearl's face. The minute it began humming, Pearl was shuffled off of the Doctor, clutching her head in pain. The Doctor began crawling towards Pearl on his hands and knees, his sonic still held up. In a few seconds, her body was starting to flicker again. The Gem curled herself up into a tiny ball, her screams becoming distorted, as the Doctor towered over her with his sonic poised. The Doctor inched closer, until Pearl had stopped screaming and fell limp onto the ground. After that the sonic screwdriver went back to the pocket- the Doctor had given Pearl just as much punishment as she needed. Slowly, the Doctor turned away from her and stared off into the darkness spreading out into the tunnel before them.

"That could have gone better," choked the Doctor in a hoarse whisper as he held his sore throat. "But the sonic should have at least calmed her down for a bit."
"Shut up. Just...shut up, you idiot...", came a soft, yet rough whisper. Pearl was awkwardly propping herself up on one elbow, as she tried to remain conscious.
"Look, I'm sorry to rattle you... for the fifth time today", the Doctor grumbled indignantly. But we can't very well get out of this situation when you're having a fit-"
Pearl stumbled onto her feet, waving her arms to keep balanced, but her expression remained bitter and just plain frustrated.
"No! Just stop talking! Since we began its been nothing but talking with you...and questions and-and science fiction gibberish....AAAAH!" Pearl buried her face in her hands and forced herself to take a few deep breaths.
"Pearl, calm down," the Doctor reassured. "I'm sure we can get out of this cave if we just-"
"The cave? THE CAVE!?" It was clear at this point that Pearl was now past frustrated; furious was a better word.
"This planet is going to ruin in case you haven't noticed! Everything is gone! My friends...Steven...". Tears welled up in Pearl's eyes again, but she shook them off. She couldn't show weakness now. This so called 'doctor' wouldn't get the best of her after all that has just happened. "I could've stopped this, but I wasn't here, and it's all your fault!"
"I already told you I'm not into kidnapping," the Doctor called bluntly.
"Well, if you hadn't shown up in your stupid phone box thing and landed us both here-"
"I didn't drop us here!" The Doctor's spoke slowly and mechanically as if Pearl was the one who was being difficult. "The telepathic circuits-"
"And we're back to 'sci-fi' gibberish", Pearl grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Just admit it! You have no idea what you're doing!"

The Doctor sharply turned around on his heel, stalked over to Pearl and firmly gripped her shoulders. Pearl felt herself flinch slightly as he reached for her; she didn't know why.
"I got us out of the coliseum, didn't I?", he droned out with a shaky, heaving breath. Pearl, her anger slightly fading, only nodded.
"So what do you think I'm going to do now?"
Pearl began shuffling uncomfortably where she stood.
"That's right, nothing." He released Pearl and began frantically pacing back and forth in a short line in front of her.  "I'm probably miles away from the TARDIS by now." The Doctor stopped in his tracks, and flicked a sharp, accusing glare over his shoulder and right into Pearl's blue eyes. "The TARDIS is the one thing that can get you home-fix all of this-mind you!" The Doctor's face fell, losing all judgement, as he brought a nervous hand to his head.
"Not that she's really in a position to help us out, because she's dying."

"Doctor...I am sorry..for blowing up", Pearl trembled quietly. "I'm just not used to being on my own." The Doctor raised his hanging head and to meet Pearl's eyes again. He hoped his grim expression came across as more 'serious' than it did 'hopeless.'
"So here's another question for you. What are we going to do now?"
Pearl looked back at him curiously.
"Either we stay here and whine about how lost we are, or we can try and find a way back to the TARDIS and find a real solution." He waved his hand gently towards the dark maw of the tunnel, as if he really needed to prove his point. "I can see a good place to start looking right here, now it's your call."
It only took Pearl about a second to think it over, before letting out a beam of light from her gemstone, illuminating the stone walls around them and revealing the rest of the winding tunnel. She gave the Doctor a quick stern look and a few words: "No wandering off, though."