Max and the Crystal Gems

Pearl

Max heard the crash and tried to sit up, pain coursing through his veins like his blood was on fire. A face loomed over him and someone gently pushed him back down. Max stared- it was a boy a few years older than him with a round face and a head of curly black hair, just like him. His brown eyes were kind as he smiled at Max.

"Hey there," he said. "Not so fast. You need to take it easy. My name's Steven; don't worry, you're safe here."

"Where the hell am I?" Demanded Max, then cried out as pain exploded in his jaw.

"Beach City," Steven said, looking worried, but he couldn't get another word in before a  woman marched in.

Max stared even harder at her than Steven. She was tall and stick thin, with unnaturally pale skin and a pointed nose. There was a large round ...something on her forehead.

"Steven!" She said severely. "Do not repeat what that boy just said. Do you understand?"

Max rolled his eyes, the corners of his vision beginning to blacken. Steven nodded.

"I don't know where you learnt such potty mouth, young man, but please refrain from spouting such phrases in our presence!" The woman scolded. Max scowled. She was as bad as David.

"Pearl, don't be so hard on him!" Steven said reproachfully. "Can't you see he's hurt?"

"What's wrong with him?" Pearl asked, seemingly genuinely confused.

Max groaned and, annoyed, jabbed a finger to his leg and his mouth.

"Foot... speak?" Pearl said.

Max face palmed.

"No, Pearl, he's a human. We don't recover like Gems, remember?" Steven said. "It looks like he's maybe broken his jaw. And his leg's in a bad way, too. I think we should just take him to the hospital."

"Well... you know more about this than me," Pearl said, frowning.

A second woman walked in- she was huge, much taller than Pearl. She was dark skinned, muscled, wore reflective glasses and had the kind on square Afro Max had secretly always wanted, if only he could get his hair to behave.

"Pearl," she said in a commanding, accented voice. "What's the plan with the tiny human?"

"Steven thinks we should take him to the hospital," Pearl said.

The pain suddenly peaked and tears welled in Max's eyes. He clenched his teeth together try to stop from crying out.

"Yes, I think so too," the woman said, observing Max moan in pain expressionlessly. "But the hospital is all the way out in the city. We'll have to take the van. Steven, call your father."

Then Max finally gave in to the agony and let the darkness swallow him.