We Aren't the Crystal Gems Without You

When He Wasn't Here, We Had Rose

     It had been a whole day and Sapphire still had not emerged from her room. Ruby was starting to get worried. Pearl tried to reassure her that everything would be alright. Sapphire would calm down and come back, hopefully ready to fuse again.
Connie had finally gone home to her parents because of their non-ending phone calls, but she was planning to return later in the day.
"Do I really have to go home?" Connie had asked Pearl. "I want to stay. What if Steven comes back and I'm not here?!"
"It's for the best, Connie," Pearl answered. "And besides, you're only leaving for a few hours. What could possibly happen between now and then?" So Connie was taken home by Greg in his van.
Around a half hour later, Pearl and Amethyst were fighting, which wasn't so unusual, but after Steven was poofed, it has been happening more frequently.
"Amethyst! If you had just been more careful, we would've bubbled the corrupted gem! It was supposed to be an easy mission!" Pearl exclaimed.
"Oh yeah? Then why was there no one to back me up, huh?" Amethyst countered.
"You can't be serious, Amethyst!" Pearl said matter of factly. "You know Ruby and I were busy with the other gem, which we caught."
"You think it's my fault that I couldn't catch it, but I was the one on my own? If Steven was there, I would have been able to poof it!"
"Be quiet! Just because he's not here, doesn't mean you get to slack off!"
"How dare you!" Amethyst screeched. "Slacking off? I'll show you "slacking off"!" She reached for her whip, but decided against it and let her hand fall to her side. "And when he wasn't here, we had Rose!"
"Well, Rose always did well on missions!"
"So? Fine. You don't have to think I'm perfect! Because she already said I was!"
"That hardly means anything compared to everything she told me," Pearl boasted.
There was silence in the house for a few seconds. "You didn't really mean that, P, did you?" Amethyst whispered, looking at the floor.
     Pearl tried to keep her anger glued to Amethyst, but her guilt got the better of her. "I-I'm s-sorry!" Pearl looked down at her feet as well. "I just miss them both so much," she added in a lower voice.
     "We all do," Amethyst said.
     "No. None of you have what I had with Rose. She trusted me. I was her first in battle. I felt like I was everything with her."
     "But that's no excuse to fight over it. And besides, Rose cared about all of us. Don't try to convince us it was just you to try to make yourself feel better," Ruby sneered. She was now up from the couch. She had been watching the whole time.
     Pearl sighed. "I really am selfish, aren't I? I'm so sorry, both of you. I feel so terrible. First Rose, now Steven. I felt like there could've been a way for me to save him, to save one of the people Rose cared about most. She must despise me now."
     "I don't think so," said Amethyst. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. Steven being poofed, I mean."
     Ruby nodded. "Even without future vision, I must admit, I knew it would probably happen eventually."
     "I guess you're right," Pearl said. "Though I still wish you were wrong, that none of this ever happened. That Steven and Rose could still be with us." She sighed. "That would be the perfect earth. An earth with Rose and Steven. An earth with every original Crystal Gem, unshattered, after the war."
     "Bismuth mentioned those gems," Amethyst noted. "What were they like?"
     "Courageous, loyal," started Ruby.
     "Kind, Strong, and hardworking," finished Pearl.
     "Loyalty..." Amethyst said, lost in thought. "... Loyal enough to be shattered?"
     Pearl nodded, tears shining in her eyes.
     "Well, then... I'm glad I never got the chance to see..." Amethyst replied. "Was it right after the war when you found me?"
     "It was just a few days later," answered Ruby. "Rose wanted to make sure there wasn't any activity at the kindergartens." She gave a hollow laugh. "The was only a little bit of activity." She looked at Amethyst. "How long was it? How long had you been alone there?"
     "Two, three weeks maybe? I don't know. All I know is that I was the only one there."
     Pearl's lips were pursed. "So they abandoned the kindergarten before the war," she figured. "They knew it was coming, so I guess they were going to abandon the kindergartens for some time to train their gems and then return to growing the gems?" Pearl shuddered a bit, but not enough to let Amethyst see.
     "Perhaps," a soft voice said, coming from the gem room door.
     "Sapphire!" Ruby shouted. Sapphire smiled a little. They ran to each other and Ruby swung her friend around and they fused, forming Garnet again.
     "Hello, everyone," Garnet said.
     Pearl and Amethyst both breathed a sigh of relief. "Garnet," they said in unison. They stood to greet her.
     "It seems as if almost everything is back as it should be," Pearl sighed.
     "If only Steven were here," said Amethyst.
     Pearl thought for a moment and then her gem glowed. It projected and replayed images of Steven. Apart from the bluish-white hues of the projection, it seemed like Steven really was there.
     They watched the projection for about a minute until Garnet said, "Pearl, stop."
     The images of Steven wavered and then disappeared. "But why?" Pearl asked, confused.
     "I don't like it. It's not right, tricking ourselves and not facing the problem itself.
     "What, do you think I can fix it?" Pearl said to Garnet.
     "Of course not," replied Garnet. "We're just going to have to wait and see if he'll come back."
     "But we have been waiting," Amethyst complained.
     "Gain some patience then," Garnet said. Pearl began to cry again and Amethyst looked like she was about to. Garnet embraced them in a hug.
     They stayed there for countless minutes until Amethyst said, "Uh, guys?" She was pointing to the spot on the floor where Steven's gem was.
     It had begun to glow.