Why'd You Have To Go? // Steven Universe (Pearlmethyst)

Chapter 4: Pearl Unleashed

It had been a week and nothing had changed. Pearl's memories were still non-existent and yet the gems were slowly starting to get used to her.

Amethyst sat in her room, leaning against a particularly comfortable pile of junk. It was quiet but she didn't mind.

Suddenly she heard a crash somewhere close to her. Pulling out her whip, she walked soundlessly towards the noise. Surprisingly enough she found herself at the temple door where she once again heard a crash and more yelling.

Amethyst opened the door just in time to catch Pearl off balance, as she had been going to kick the door, and watched her fall on the floor.

"Yes!" Pearl smiled once she stood up and saw the door open, "I-oh...you opened it, didn't you?"

Amethyst nodded, trying to hold back her laughter. Pearl groaned.

"I've been trying to open the door all morning," Pearl slid down the wall to the floor again, "You guys make it look so easy."

Amethyst stared at her. She was serious. Did she really forget how to use her gem too?

"Let me help you out there," Amethyst said, leading Pearl into her room, "I know a short cut."

"It's quite messy in here," Pearl commented, looking around the room.

Amethyst ignored her like she always had before. Once the two came to a small area with different pools of water, they stopped.

"You can get to my room from here?" Pearl asked skeptically.

"Like this," Amethyst ran towards one of the pools and jumped in, causing a splash of water to hit Pearl. Amethyst disappeared in the water, falling into Pearl's room.

A few seconds after Amethyst landed, she heard Pearl jump in. Although she didn't stick the landing, she seemed alright.

"That was incredible," Pearl shot a dorky smile at Amethyst causing her to chuckle a little. Pearl stood up looking around the room.

"Honestly what was I thinking when I decorated this place?" Pearl laughed a little, "Its literally just fountains."

"That's what I said the first time I came in here," Amethyst shook her head, forgetting for a moment that Pearl wouldn't remember that day.

"I just wish some of them would go away," Pearl said, "I'd rather to have just a few pools or something not necessarily-" Pearl was cut off when the water underneath her began to tremble.

"Whoa!" The two exclaimed as they fountains began to crumble away. They fell once more, this time landing in the giant pool that now made up the floor.

As if the room had a mind of its own the water formed small fountains off to the sides and in the very middle of the floor.

"Wow," Amethyst looked around the room, "I didn't know your room could do that."

"Me neither," Pearl mumbled taking a few steps towards one of the fountains. She held a hand out and carefully touched the surface of it. Taking a breath she attempted to reach inside before quickly pulling it out.

A collection of swords drifted out of the fountain, floating in the air around Pearl.

Amethyst watched Pearl carefully, as if she might cut herself on accident if she didn't watch her close enough. Geez, is this how she felt about me?

"Pretty cool, huh?" Amethyst tried to break the tension. Pearl didn't really process her words just mumbled her agreement absentmindedly as she reached towards one of the swords. It was long and simple, with a thick bronze blade and a hilt that was once a gold color but was now chipped away to a dark grey metal.

"Pearl?" Amethyst said hesitantly just as Pearl grabbed it. When she turned around she no longer saw Amethyst or her room for that matter. Instead she was standing in a grass field.

Pearl could hear the buzzing of noise as people yelled and weapons clashed. Around her were other gems. Most ran past her.

When she looked down at herself she was wearing armor and holding a shield that had a rose on it. The sword in her hand was a brighter bronze and the hilt looked brand new, glistening in the sunlight. The wind whipped at Pearl's hair as she tried to make sense of it all.

She thought she heard someone call her name. She turned around but nobody was there. Everyone was just running. Where? Where was she?

She heard her name again, this time more clear. They kept calling her but Pearl couldn't move. Everything was happening so fast. How long had she been there? A day? A second?

"Pearl!" The voice was so loud it shook Pearl from where she stood and suddenly she was back in her room, on the ground and staring up at Amethyst. The sword in her hand felt heavier than before. Darkness almost immediately consumed her as the weapon fell and she heard Amethyst's franticly calling her name.

•••••

"I'm telling you it was freaky," Amethyst explained to Garnet. The two were standing next to the couch where Pearl laid unconscious.

"We had just been talking in her room when the room started reacting to her," Amethyst said, "I thought it was a good sign but..."

"But then she passed out," Garnet attempted to finish for her.

"Well not exactly," Amethyst sighed, "She found her sword collection and it's like the room got...colder. Like something was off. We could both tell something was going to happen- she just had this far off look on her face- and I tried to stop her-"

"Amethyst calm down," Garnet put a hand on her shoulder, seeing how agitated Amethyst was becoming.

Amethyst nodded, taking a deep breath and continuing, "When she touched it she started shaking real bad. And it was like she was looking at something and she seemed scared. When I tried to snap her out of it she just fell to the floor."

Amethyst grabbed the sword which had been resting on the table and handed it to Garnet.

"I tried to grab this from her," Amethyst said, "I thought it might help but she had a stone cold grip on it. She didn't let it go until she fainted."

Garnet nodded and bubbled the sword, sending it away. Amethyst awaited some other sort of response or reassurance but found Garnet had none.

Once more the gems were left with nothing to do except wait for Pearl to wake up.