Steven Universe - Pearl's Story - Chapter One

“Pearl, are you done cleaning the living room?” Jasper called from the stairwell.

“Y-yes, Jasper!” Pearl answered.  She quickly finished dusting the lamp, adjusted its lightbulb, and stood with a wide smile in the center of the living room.</b>

In sauntered Jasper.  His muscular figured towered over Pearl’s thin, fragile one.  His golden eyes made him all the more intimidating, for they had nothing but malice and hatred in them.  Pearl inwardly cringed as he walked around the living room, inspecting every minute detail of her handiwork.  She wondered if things would end up like last time she cleaned this room.

“Pearl!” Jasper demanded, turning towards her.

“W-what is it?”

Jasper spat on his hand and rubbed it on the lamp she had just finished dusting.  He jeered at her, “You missed a spot.  Get to cleaning!”

Pearl rushed over and scrubbed the structure as hard as she could.  She could feel Jasper’s spiteful gaze upon her, watching her every movement.  She tried to ignore him, finished scrubbing, and stood up.  With her eyes glued to the ground, she used her peripheral vision to watch Jasper inspect the lamp.  Jasper had taught her that cleanliness is key.

“You didn’t do a good enough job.” Pearl heard Jasper say.

“W-what?” she murmured.

“I said…you didn’t do a good enough job!!” Jasper’s voice turned into a roar.

“B-but…!”

“There’s still dust on the table, the chairs don’t look shined, and the ceramic furniture doesn’t sparkle!  If Lapis and I are ever to show this house to any superior Gem, you are going to scrub it top to bottom perfectly!!”

“But Jasper, I cleaned all day!” Pearl dared to make eye contact with her Gem master.  When her sky-blue eyes met malevolent gold, she knew she had gone too far.

“Did you just talk back to me?” Jasper glowered at her.  He slapped her harshly across the face, causing her to fall to the ground.

Pearl glued her eyes to the floor once more.  Her face stung as she stared at the carpet she had worked all morning on.  There was not a single fragment of dirt in it, though Jasper claimed that she had done a defective job…the way he always did.  She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she dared not shed them.  Not in front of Jasper.

“I thought Pearls were not supposed to talk back to their masters.” Jasper said, looming over her.

“I’m…sorry…” Pearl whispered.

“Damn right you are, you defective clod!”

“Jasper, what’s going on?” a voice spoke.

Pearl looked up and saw the beautiful Lapis Lazuli walk in.  Lapis had thick, gorgeous blue hair and eyes that shone with kindness.  Her sky-blue skin was untarnished, and she always wore a simple dark blue dress with a ribbon around her waist.  She may have been a lesser Gem, but in Pearl’s eyes she was perfect.

“Oh, this Pearl was just messing up on the cleaning…again.” Jasper answered.

“Do you wish for me to take her to the attic?” Lapis inquired.

Pearl silently sighed in relief.  Anything to get her away from Jasper.

“Would you?  I don’t care to look at her anymore.” the golden-eyed Gem said.

Jasper yanked Pearl up and shoved her towards Lapis, who took her by the hand and led her upstairs.  Neither one of them spoke until they reached the attic door.

When the two Gems reached the door to the attic, Lapis spoke:

“Don’t worry, Jasper was just in a bad mood today.”

“It…seems like that every day.” Pearl replied softly.

Lapis giggled, “I guess he’s just an angry Gem.”

Pearl smiled in return.  She opened the attic door and stepped in to find Peridot, the other resident of the house.  Peridot was another female Gem who was obsessed with technology and kept all of her failed experiments in the attic with Pearl.  Peridot and Pearl never spoke to each other much, but then again there was nothing much to talk about.

“I’ll be out of here in a second,” Peridot said curtly. “I’m simply finding a hard drive.”

“A what drive?” Pearl asked.

“None of your business, clod.”

As Peridot left, Lapis gave Pearl a quick smile and shut the door.  Pearl sighed and walked slowly over to the attic window and sat down.  She laid her chin in her hands and watched all the superior Gems go about her business in the streets below.  Oftentimes she wished she could live with all of them, but Pearls were simply considered eye candy and household servants.  Apparently she was no different.

I could be different…if I tried.

Pearl gazed over at Peridot’s technological junk and crawled over to the massive pile.  She grabbed a few of the parts and started making something coherent out of them.  As she put the parts together and rearranged them, she thought on what memories she had of her life.  Maybe if there was something that stood out…

All Pearl could remember about her distant past was being thrown into a small room stuffed with a plethora of primitive Gem technology and being told to stay there until further notice.  Shortly thereafter, she was introduced to three Gems: Peridot, Jasper, and Lapis Lazuli.  She was never allowed to leave, and her only chore was to be cleaning the house.  All Gems resided in some sort of shelter from the elements of their Home Planet.  Pearl had later learned it was a universal trait.

Pearl realized yet again as she dusted the ceramic lamp that those were the only memories she had in her physical form.  Anything further back was hazy at best.  She had lived with Jasper and his crew as long as she could remember.  She had always worn the same sky-blue dress and transparent shawl, as Gems had no need to change their physical attire.  Gems had no need to eat, and rarely ever became exhausted.  Yet she was confined to this house with these miserable other Gems.

Pearl made a wind-up toy out of the spare parts Peridot had no use for.  It was a simple sphere with a wind-up handle, and had four stubby legs.  The pale-skinned Gem watched it toddle around in amusement, and even giggled a little at the sight.  When the toy stopped moving, she sat it on her windowsill and continued watching the superior Gems walk by the house.

A peculiar sight caught Pearl’s eye.  She watched intently as three Gems passed by the house.  There was a bigger female Gem, and two smaller Gems.  The bigger Gem was elegant, wearing a long white dress and had wonderful, thick, pink curly hair.  Her physical Gem resided on her torso, at least from what Pearl could see.  The two smaller Gems were dancing around and having fun.  One was ruby-colored, with square head of hair, and wore a simple T-shirt and shorts.  The other was a beautiful sapphire color and wore an elegant blue dress.

Suddenly, the two smaller Gems met in an embrace and a white light appeared.  The two Gems lost their physical appearance, and from the light a bigger Gem appeared.  She had the appearance of both the tinier Gems…yet she didn’t.  She was bigger with the square head of hair, and had an hourglass figure and wore a set of sunglasses.  Pearl could not wrap her mind around it…but it seemed wonderful.  The new Gem began talking to the elegant female Gem, and they stayed there for a while.  Before they moved on, however, a surprising thing happened.  The graceful, beautiful Gem looked up at Pearl’s attic window, and waved.  Pearl noticed that the pink-haired Gem and soft eyes and a compassionate smile.  Pearl waved and gave a small smile back, and the two Gems moved on.  She watched as the duo disappeared around the corner at the end of the block, and then the crystal Gem sat back.

Pearl sat with her knees to her chest.  She could not believe someone had gazed upon her with such kindness.  Sure, Lapis was nice to her, but it was most likely out of pity.  That lady had looked upon her as an equal.  Pearls never got that sort of treatment.  Pearl glanced over at the pile of junk that resided on the opposite end of the room.  Maybe…just maybe…she could make something of herself.  She wouldn’t be just an average Pearl.  She would stand out and be something more than what the Gem society expected.