My Name is Emerald

Thirteen

The days turned into weeks, each one passing like the one before. We continued to search for Jasper and Peridot with no success. It felt to me like we had combed the entire ocean floor at least three times by now, and we had still seen no sign of Jasper or Lapis Lazuli. We had scoured all the land within a hundred-mile radius of Beach City and found a few small pieces of the destroyed ship, but little more. We began fanning out from where Steven had found Peridot's escape pod, but she still managed to evade us. I grew impatient and moody, and I was close to giving up the search. The other gems seemed unaffected by the lack of progress in our investigations, however. They frequently left for missions and eventually grew comfortable leaving Steven with me. I suppose I did manage to earn some amount of their trust, which made me glad. It seemed to me that Amethyst, surprisingly, was the hardest to convince of my honest intentions. She acted playful and trusting when we were around the others, but she avoided speaking to me when I was alone. I didn't blame her, but I still regretted that we couldn't get along better. She had such a fun, spontaneous personality with the ability to liven up any conversation and bring life into any setting.
Pearl warmed up to me first, bonding with me over our mutual need for order and cleanliness. She enjoyed my company, and I enjoyed hers. We could probably talk for hours about the most obscure things, though we rarely had the chance to do so.
Garnet was somewhat of a mystery to me. I learned most of what I knew about her from Steven. She was a fusion as well; Ruby and Sapphire cared so deeply for each other that, Steven told me, they couldn't bear to be apart. She was quite the enigma, but I found myself growing very attached to her. Despite her seemingly cold exterior, she was warm and welcoming to those she cared about, and she loved deeply and wholly. I admired her strength and her stability.
On a night like any other the gems had departed for a mission, leaving Steven and me with the house to ourselves. It was humid and pleasantly warm, and Steven and I laid on the floor before the television watching an old movie. Steven was completely enthralled, lying with eyes glued to the screen, occasionally reaching into a half-empty bag of popcorn to lift some into his slightly open mouth.
"Whaaaaaat?!" he cried in shock as the movie reached its climax. "I didn't see that coming at all!" I laughed.
"It was pretty obvious," I said.
"Shhh," he whispered. "I think this is the good part." I stood with a stretch and wandered over to the kitchen to grab a snack. Light from the television screen illuminated the house with an eerie, inconsistent glow, which I used to guide myself to a cabinet. I found a box of crackers and took it back upstairs where I rejoined Steven, sitting cross-legged with my back against the bed. Munching quietly, I turned my eyes to the screen and lost myself in the highly overused, predictable (yet not unenjoyable) plot.