Summary:
Steven and the twins make a discovery that leads them to learning more about the ever-mysterious Rose Quartz.
Surprisingly, not all of the Gems' missions involved fighting monsters. More often than not, they traveled to check in on long-abandoned ruins or to go searching for some sort of ancient artifact. These harmless, easy endeavors were the kind of quests the Gems were much more willing to bring the kids along on whenever they begged to join them. And today's trip to a distant, sunny, grove was no exception.
"Whoa," Steven took in the landscape, fascinated, as soon as they warped in. "I've never seen so many strawberries before!" He ran over to one of the larger fruits, which was almost as tall as he was. Plenty more surrounded it, all ranging from massive to miniscule as they thrived in the lush greenery.
"Looks like I wore the right sweater today," Mabel grinned down at the strawberry stitched onto her sweater. "Oh!" She stopped short, just shy of nearly running into a giant sword sticking out of the ground. "I guess I should get started on a big sword sweater to wear the next time we come here…"
"Um, what's the deal with all these weapons anyway?" Dipper asked the Gems as he cautiously touched a nearby spear.
"Excellent question, Dipper," Pearl chimed in with an eager smile. "This field was the site of a historic battle. Every weapon here was left by a Gem over 5,000 years ago!"
"No way!" Steven gasped, amazed. "But… why did they leave all of these things behind?"
"Many of them didn't even mean to," Pearl explained. "Most of these weapons serve as the final memorials to the Gems who met their ends here. I don't like to disturb them, but Garnet says we can't just leave them lying around."
Sure enough, Garnet had already pried a massive battle axe out of a patch of strawberries. "Never know when you might need one of these," she easily slung the weapon over her shoulders.
"I need one of those all the time!" Steven exclaimed, stars in his eyes.
"Me too!" Mabel agreed. "Can we take some giant weapons home too, Pearl?"
"Come on, Mabel," Dipper scoffed. "These are huge, deadly weapons we're talking about here. We can't just carry them back to the shack like they're some kind of souvenir… Can we?" he asked, looking to Pearl.
"Hm…" Pearl paused to ponder the question. "I suppose there's no harm in it. But instead of one of these larger weapons, why don't you kids look for something that's a bit more… you?"
"Done and done!" Mabel hardly heeded her advice as she rushed over to a tall purple saber. "This one just screams me, doesn't it?"
"It's taller than you are," Dipper dryly pointed out. "How are you even going to get it back over to the warp pad?"
"...Where there's a will, there's a way!" Mabel blithely proclaimed. "Now get over here and help me with this thing, will you? It's gonna look sooooo cool hanging over my bed!"
"As if it'll even fit over your bed," Dipper deadpanned. Even so, he joined his sister as she worked to pull the weapon out of the ground. While Amethyst could have helped them, she opted to simply stand by and watch, laughing to herself every time they failed.
Steven perked up when he saw the twins make such an impressive find, hoping to have one of his own. "Ok, Lion! Come help me look!" Despite his enthusiasm, Lion simply walked off in the opposite direction, without so much as sparing Steven a second glance. "Aw, come on!"
"You really need to train that thing better," Pearl frowned as Lion passed her by.
"We've been making progress," Steven said. "Now he even looks at me when I say his name. Watch: Lion!" Unsurprisingly, Lion was barely listening; instead, he'd taken to digging in a nearby patch of leaves, not even looking back when Steven tried again. "Lion! Lion!" He winced when he caught the doubtful look Pearl was sending his way. "Uh, well, sometimes he does…"
By now, Lion had pulled his head out of the dirt to reveal he'd actually found something. "What's he got now?" Pearl curiously eyed the object in Lion's maw. Her suspicion swiftly turned to shock however, as soon as she realized exactly what it was. "It's the scabbard for Rose's sword!"
"Really?" Steven watched as Pearl managed to pry the scabbard away from Lion before she shooed him away. From what he could see of it, the scabbard was unsurprisingly pink, as most things related to his mother seemed to be. Still, he couldn't help but be utterly fascinated by it all the same. "Hey, guys! Get over here and check this out!"
Garnet and Amethyst were the first to head over, and the twins followed soon after, temporarily abandoning their struggle for the sword stuck in the ground. Pearl happily held the scabbard out for all of them to see as they gathered around. Despite being exposed to the elements for untold centuries, it was miraculously intact and immaculate–even if it was noticeably empty.
"Ooo, so pretty…" Mabel cooed, dazzled. "What is it?"
"It's a scabbard," Dipper said, only to catch blank looks from Mabel and Steven alike. "You know, the thing you put a sword inside? And to be honest…" he took another glance at it. "This scabbard looks… kind of familiar."
"What?" Pearl's smile swiftly fell. "Oh, you must be thinking of a different scabbard. This scabbard has been missing for years now. Why, it's been centuries since I've even seen it!"
"Uh, no, I'm pretty sure this is it," Dipper flipped through the journal to a sketch of the very sheath Pearl was holding. "I mean, the author didn't label it or anything, but they look exactly alike, see?"
Pearl's eyes widened with alarm as she briefly examined the page. Even so, she was quick to shrug it off as she turned her nose up at the book. "I-I'm sure that's just a mere coincidence," she dismissively concluded. "Whoever drew that must've only guessed what the scabbard looked like and… somehow got incredibly close to the real thing by accident!"
"A coincidence?" Dipper questioned as he looked back to the journal. "But how would he have-"
"And besides," Pearl continued. "This isn't just any ordinary scabbard. This is the scabbard to Rose's very own sword, the very same weapon she skillfully wielded in battle in this very field centuries ago!"
"Mom fought here?" Steven asked, intrigued.
"That's right!" Pearl proudly nodded. "And I fought alongside her!"
"Man, I bet that battle was nuts !" Amethyst exclaimed, excited. "I wish I could have seen it!"
"No, you don't," Garnet firmly countered. "Countless Gems were broken here. It was a maelstrom of destruction and death-"
"But we won !" Pearl cut in, grinning. "Steven, your mother led us to glorious victory! The odds were against us, and our hearts were uncertain. The enemy's forces outnumbered our own, but we didn't give up!" She struck a heroic pose as she continued regaling her epic tale to the captivated kids.
"We chose to fight by Rose's side as we made our stand against our Homeworld! She was the one who led us to victory that day, and in every battle that followed it. She was the one who brought us together, who inspired all of us to be more than what we were made for…" A soft blue blush dusted Pearl's cheeks as she held the scabbard a bit closer, a bit tighter, a bit fonder. "She was… exceptional …"
With their newfound treasures in hand, the Gems and the kids left the strawberry battlefield behind. Pearl still held onto the scabbard, even as they warped back into the temple. In fact, she was so distracted by it, that she hardly even paid attention to the others and the much larger weapons they'd managed to haul back with them.
"This is great!" Amethyst grinned down at the armful of smaller swords and flails she'd claimed. "My room's been needing another pile."
"Now, be careful with this sword, you two," Garnet instructed the twins as she lowered the oversized saber into their arms. "It's very sharp and very heavy."
"Don't worry, Garnet," Mabel assured, confident. "Getting this thing back down to the shack should be a piece of–" She stopped short the second Garnet let go of the sword. Even between the two of them, they weren't able to keep the weighty blade from slipping out of their hold as it fell to the floor at their feet.
"You were saying?" Dipper raised an eyebrow at his sister.
"Um, Garnet?" Mabel asked. "A little help here?"
"I'm a bit busy," Garnet grunted as she lifted her own giant ax onto her shoulders, heading to the temple gate. "Amethyst! Help me with this ax!"
"I guess we'll just have to figure out some way to get it down the hill ourselves then," Dipper concluded, frowning down at the sword.
"Isn't it obvious?" Mabel shrugged, smirking. "All we gotta do is round up a bunch of squirrels and build them tiny sleds–or 'squeds' as I like to call them–to carry the sword down the hill on. Duh."
Dipper shot her a baffled look before he finally, flatly deadpanned, "...Honestly, I don't know why I expected you to come up with anything else."
For his part, Steven stayed on the warp pad, barely stifling a laugh as he watched the chaos unfold. His attention was soon drawn back over to Pearl as she stood alongside him, letting out a wistful sigh as she stared at the scabbard in her arms. "It's been ages…" she gently murmured. She quickly snapped out of it, however, when she noticed who was curiously looking up at her. "What is it, Steven?"
Steven hesitated, rubbing his arm as he looked over at the portrait hanging on the far wall of the house. He'd asked this question before, and had gotten plenty of different answers, but he still couldn't help but wonder once again: "What was Mom like?"
Pearl's blush only deepened as she glanced up at the portrait herself. "She was… courageous, and brilliant, and beautiful …" She sighed again, warmly smiling down at the scabbard first, then at Steven. "Sometimes, you look so much like her."
"Really?" Steven asked with a wide, schmutzy grin.
"Er…" Pearl paused to look back at Amethyst and Garnet. Unsurprisingly, they were still trying to simply just get the ax through the temple gate. Likewise, Dipper and Mabel were warped up with arguing over how to even get their saber off the ground, much less how to get it down to the shack. With no one really paying much attention, Pearl figured now was as good a time as any to pass the torch–or rather, the scabbard.
"Hey, Steven," she said as she held it out to him. "Maybe you should hold onto this…"
"Whoa…" Steven carefully took the scabbard, running a hand over the emblem on its surface. "Thanks, Pearl!"
Pearl's already soft smile turned a touch sweeter as her gaze slowly drifted back to Rose's portrait. She could scarcely begin to count all of the emotions stirring inside of her as she softly, longingly adoringly whispered to it instead of Steven, "You're welcome…"
After plenty of failed plans and false starts, Mabel, Dipper, and Steven somehow managed to get the saber all the way down to the Mystery Shack. Stan saw them coming with it, and he sternly turned down all of Mabel's begging and pleading to take it inside. Still, he did agree to shove it into the ground right outside of the shack as a way to draw in tourists. A job that was much easier said than done.
"Ok, keep pushing!" Mabel called down from her spot on top of the sword's hilt. Below her, Stan and Dipper were still trying to dig the tip of the blade deep enough into the ground to keep it standing upright. "I said keep pushing ! It's barely moved an inch!"
"Well, you know, it might be a little easier if you actually came down here and helped us, Mabel!" Dipper countered, exhausted and annoyed.
"I am helping!" Mabel protested. "I'm sitting up here so I can weigh it down for you guys! Nothing's more helpful than that."
"Geez, could you have picked a bigger sword to drag home with you?" Stan scowled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "My back's not cut out for this. Why don't you get over here and do this instead, kid?" He looked over at Steven, who had busied himself with swinging Rose's scabbard around as if it were an actual sword. "I bet it'd be way more, uh, 'fun' than playing around with that girly blunt object you got there is."
"This isn't a blunt object, Mr. Pines," Steven chuckled. "It's a scabbard that used to belong to my mom! Isn't it neat?"
Stan only briefly looked at the scabbard, clearly unimpressed as he let out a sneer. "Sure, whatever you say, kid."
Steven's smile slowly faded as he looked down at the scabbard again. A memory of a memory stirred, one that he'd seen during their excursion inside Stan's mind a few weeks ago. He hadn't gotten to see much of it, thanks to Bill, but what he had seen still left him more than a little curious enough to ask," Hey, Mr. Pines?"
"Ugh!" Stan grunted as he finally managed to secure the saber into the ground. The sudden movement sent Dipper stumbling back as Mabel fell off the hilt, ultimately landing on top of her brother in a messy heap. Still, Stan didn't bother checking on either of them as he glared over at Steven. "Yeah, what do you want?"
"You knew my mom when she was still around, right?"
"Tch, yeah, as much as I wished I didn't," Stan huffed, indignant.
Steven hardly paid that remark any mind as he perked up and headed over to Stan with the scabbard still in hand. "Then maybe you could tell me more about her! I mean, the Gems are always talking about her, but it'd be nice to get an outside perspective, you know?"
Stan let out an aggravated groan as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kid, I'm in no mood to open that can of worms right now."
"What do you mean?" Steven asked, confused. "Did you guys just not get along or…" He hesitated, unsure of how to mention the memory he'd seen without actually mentioning it. "Or did something happen a long time ago that-"
"I'll tell ya what happened," Stan hotly cut him off. "Your mom was an annoying busybody who just couldn't keep her nose out of my business! She's pretty much the whole reason why it took me so long to get the-" He stopped suddenly, his eyes widening when he realized the twins were listening to him just as intently as Steven was. "Uh… Y-you know what? Never mind. Doesn't matter anymore anyway now that she's, uh… out of the picture."
"Aw, what?" Mabel asked, disappointed. "You can't just leave it at that!"
"Yeah, seriously, Grunkle Stan," Dipper agreed. "What happened between you and Rose that made you hate her so much?"
"Like I said, it doesn't matter," Stan crossed his arms as he turned away from the kids. "Besides, she still rubbed me the wrong way from the second I met her. She always acted like she was sooo much better than everyone else, like she could do no wrong, like she was perfect-"
"You mean she wasn't?" Steven questioned.
"Of course not!" Stan exclaimed. "I don't know what fluffy lies the Gems have been feeding you, kid, but your mom was far from the flawless goddess those three thought she was."
"And you could tell that much just as soon as you met her?" Dipper asked, doubtful.
"Sure could," Stan nodded. "When you've been in the con game for as long as I have, you learn how to tell when folks are hiding things. And even if I never found out exactly what Rose was hiding, I always had a gut feeling that she wasn't all she was cracked up to be."
"That's quite enough, Stan!"
Out of nowhere, Pearl descended into the shack's lawn from above, almost as if the mere mention of Rose's name alone had summoned her. Even more so since that mention had been so blatantly negative.
"Oh, great, the 'Rose Protection Squad' is here," Stan rolled his eyes. "What, did you come down here to worship the ground she used to walk on again?"
"How dare you!" Pearl snapped, furious. "You have no right to talk about Rose like that! You barely even knew her!"
"I knew her enough to figure out that she was a pompous, self-righteous snob," Stan sullenly sneered. "Just like you, Pearl. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"You don't know what you're talking about," Pearl argued. "Rose was kind, and selfless, and honorable, and-"
"And nosy, and stubborn, and a liar ," Stan coldly finished. "With the time you spent with her, it's crazy that you never saw her for what she really was."
"More like she saw you for who you really are!" Pearl fiercely countered. "She knew from the very start that you were nothing more than a cheating, scandalous charlatan !"
"Hey! I don't know what half of what you called me meant, but I take offense to that!"
"Good! You were supposed to!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I-"
"Stop it!" Steven suddenly cut in. He rushed to stand between them, hoping to simmer things down before they could get any worse than they already were. "Look, I get that you both have really different opinions on Mom, but… if she were here, I think she'd hate to see you guys fighting about her, just like I do!"
Pearl's fury slowly started to melt away when she heard this. "You're right…" she admitted, sighing. "She would…"
"And I may not be an expert about what Mom would have done," Steven continued with a small, pleading smile. "I'm sure she would have wanted to see you make and get along. Please?"
Stan and Pearl both bristled, neither of them keen on being the first to cave. In the end though, Stan ultimately shrugged, still scowling as he turned to head back inside. "Whatever," he dismissively waved his hand. "I've had enough drama for one day. I'm gonna go, uh, take a nap or something."
Still, Stan stopped short just shy of the shack's door, sparing one last glare over his shoulder back at Pearl. "But you know, one of these days, you're gonna wake up and realize that Rose wasn't as wonderful as you think she was. And when you do, I'll be right there to give you the biggest 'I told you so' you've ever heard!"
Pearl simply scoffed as Stan slammed the door shut behind him. As much as she didn't want him to get the last word, she decided to let it go for now when she noticed the set of worried stares she was getting. "Oh, kids…" she rubbed her arm, glancing away. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that. But I just couldn't stand Stan trying to besmirch Rose's good name like that! Especially when not a single thing he said about her was anything close to true."
"It sounds like things between Rose and Grunkle Stan weren't just bad," Mabel noted, frowning. "They were really, really bad."
"Yeah, but I still don't get why ," Dipper said. "What happened that could've made them have such a problem with each other?"
"I might know…" Steven muttered, only to himself. Because that memory, one from seemingly so long ago, could have very well been the source of all of the bitterness between Stan and Rose. A memory he had no context for, no beginning, and no ending. A memory that even Pearl didn't seem to know about as she offered up a completely different explanation instead.
"It's quite simple really," she began with a haughty grin. "Rose was always as honest as she could possibly be, while someone like Stan doesn't know the meaning of the word honesty. So it only makes sense that there'd be tension between someone as morally upright as her and someone as shady and unscrupulous as… him ."
Pearl shot a sharp look back over at the shack before she quickly brightened up and changed the subject. " Anyway , all that nonsense aside, Steven, how are you liking that scabbard?"
"Liking it? I'm loving it!" Steven happily held it high over his head. "I've been practicing with it ever since we left the temple. If anything comes out of the woods to attack us, I'll bop 'em with this!"
"That's just the scabbard, Steven," Pearl couldn't help but laugh. "It held your mother's sword. Nothing else could fit so perfectly inside. For all this time, it's been… incomplete."
"Well, let's complete it then!" Steven boldly exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Mabel agreed. "Let's find that sword and shove it in there! Where is it anyway?"
Pearl hesitated, even as all three of the kids curiously looked to her for answers only she could give. "I-it's been missing for years now…" she admitted. "I know where it might be, but… it's a secret."
"A secret?!" Steven loudly, excitedly gasped.
"Shh!" Pearl swiftly silenced him as she knelt down to his level. "Keep your voice down, Steven. It's a secret, even to Garnet and Amethyst."
"Really?" Dipper pressed, immensely intrigued. "What kind of secret?"
"A very special one," Pearl kept her voice low as she stood. "Rose had a special place she kept hidden from all but me. But Steven, you have her gem. That place is yours now! And I can show it to you! If Rose's sword is anywhere, it would be there."
"Wow…" Steven muttered, stars in his eyes.
Mabel was every bit as impressed as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. "This place sounds so cool and mysterious! Can we go see it right now, Pearl? Can we? Can we?"
"Um… well…" Pearl winced as she looked away. She didn't want to say it aloud and she certainly didn't want to upset either of the twins. But this was one secret she intended to only share with Steven and Steven alone. But instead of letting either of them know that, she opted to let them down much more gently.
"This place, it's… not exactly the easiest to access," she began on something of a lie. "True, it is right here in Gravity Falls, but it's buried deep underground. And besides, its entrance is rather… taboo to most humans. Rose hoped to ward off intruders by hiding it away within the town cemetery and-"
"Wait, a magic Gem place hidden in the cemetery?" Steven piped up. "Why does that sound so familiar…?"
"Because it is familiar!" Dipper exclaimed in realization. "Pearl, this place you're talking about… I think we've been there before!"
"W-what?" Pearl froze, surprised.
"Oh, yeah!" Mabel said, grinning. "That super sparkly cave filled with all those weird weapons! We found it on Pioneer Day while we were being chased by the cops. Good times, good times."
"S-sparkly cave… filled with weapons?!" Pearl exclaimed, aghast. "But how did you–no," she sternly shook her head. "There's no way you kids could have been there before. You three must be thinking of some other place, certainly!"
"Well, why don't we just take you there ourselves?" Dipper suggested. "That way, you can tell us whether or not it's the same place."
"Hm… Very well," Pearl reluctantly agreed. She did her best to ignore her slowly-growing dread as she followed the kids along on the path heading into town. As she desperately hoped that one of the final few precious secrets she and Rose had shared hadn't been defiled after all. "I suppose it's worth a look…"
Pearl kept quiet for most of the trip to the cemetery, but she was only barely able to hold back her alarm when the kids led her to an all-too-familiar statue once they were there. She watched with wide eyes as the kids easily activated the hidden switch on its finger, revealing the underground entryway just beneath it. Still, she kept as much of a straight face as she could as she followed the kids into the dark tunnel, hoping against hope that they'd veer off course and wind up somewhere else.
Even if she knew this path only led to one place.
"So, is this looking familiar yet, Pearl?" Steven asked, smiling as he walked alongside her.
"Oh, well, uh…" Pearl glanced around at the tunnel she'd been in plenty of times before. Not that she'd ever admit that so openly to the kids. "It might look… a little familiar. But I've seen plenty of dark, winding corridors in my day, so it's really too soon to say for certain if this is the one that leads to Rose's private sanctum."
"Why's this place such a big secret anyway?" Mabel wondered. "Is it because of all the awesome Gem weapons stashed there?"
"Er–perhaps," Pearl apprehensively answered. "But there are plenty of other places all over the Earth where Gem weapons have been left behind, like that battlefield we went to earlier. The weapons that Rose held onto were far more powerful and far more unique than any of those, which is why she decided to hide them away somewhere they'd be safe and secure until she ever needed them."
"So, if the only thing that's really 'secret' about this place are those weapons, then why didn't Rose tell anyone but you about it, Pearl?" Dipper asked.
"Well, that's because I was Rose's sole confidant," Pearl proudly explained. "For the words and secrets she could share with no one else, I was there to listen!"
"Why'd she keep so many secrets?" Steven asked, frowning.
"She had to, Steven!" Pearl insisted. "It's the mark of a great leader. Knowing just what to keep hidden from everyone you're trying to protect. Everyone except me !"
Dipper was the first to find the flaws in that logic, if only because he'd heard that excuse plenty of times before. "But how is hiding things from people supposed to protect them?"
"Yeah, wouldn't it have been easier for Rose to just tell everyone everything?" Mabel added. "Then everyone could have been in on those secrets and-"
"And then they wouldn't have been secrets anymore," Pearl finished, shaking her head. "I don't think you kids really understand. Then again, how could you? None of you have ever had to face any of the life-or-death dilemmas of a planet-wide war before, not like Rose did. Believe me when I say that everything she did–and all of the secrets she kept from others–it was all for the greater good."
The kids exchanged a glance at this. For as much as Pearl's argument may have made sense, in many other ways, it didn't. If anything, it all simply sounded like Pearl was defending Rose, but against what, they had no idea. With that in mind, what Stan had told them earlier might've actually rung true. Rose could do no wrong in Pearl's eyes. Even if, to everyone else, the decisions she'd made didn't always make much sense. Even if the secrets she kept seemed too plentiful, too great.
Even if Pearl still harbored some of Rose's secrets that even she couldn't share.
By the time they reached the end of the tunnel, Pearl couldn't deny it any longer. The second they stepped into the shimmering shallows flooding the cavern, she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, exactly where they were. All she could do was stand by and watch as the kids splashed into the cavern undaunted, as if they'd been there before, which they apparently had .
"Here we are!" Steven hopped up onto the central platform.
"Ah, this place hasn't changed a bit!" Mabel grinned as she glanced around. "It's just like how I remember it looking when we found ol' President Trembly in here a few weeks ago!"
"President Trem–You found him here ?! In Rose's secret armory?" Pearl exclaimed, shocked. "But I thought… Oh, I don't know, he just broke out of that peanut brittle and wandered his way back up to the surface somehow!"
"No, this is definitely where we found him," Dipper countered. "Connie was with us, and uh, so was Pacifica Northwest. Also, we… might've accidentally led the cops here. Apparently, it was a matter of 'national security', so I wouldn't be surprised if the entire U.S. government knew about this place by now." He paused, quickly backpedaling when he noticed the distraught look on Pearl's face. "B-but hey! Maybe they don't!" he tried to reassure before muttering, "Though that's a pretty big 'maybe'..."
"That's… n-no," Pearl sharply shut her rising fears down. "That's not possible. Rose and I are the only ones who have witnessed the armory's magnificence before now!"
"Except for us!" Steven insisted. "But when we first found it, we didn't really know what it was, if that helps any…"
"It doesn't ," Pearl took to pacing as a way to try in vain to ease her stress. "How did you kids even find out about the armory in the first place?! Don't tell me there's somehow an entry on it in that… that journal , of all things, is there?"
"Hm… well, there's no entries on it," Dipper pulled the book out, flipping through it.
"Well, that's a relief," Pearl sighed. But that relief didn't last long when Dipper continued.
"But it was what led us here…"
" What ?!"
"Yeah, it led us to a bunch of really fun clues about how to get here," Mabel explained. "Me and Steven figured them out like the total mystery-solving pros we are."
"Clues?" Pearl asked, incredulous. "But… Rose would have never left any clues behind about how to find this place. Much less with some… random stranger for him to share with the world in his silly little book!"
"Hey! It's not silly!" Dipper protested, frustrated. "It's-"
"And besides," Pearl made a point of cutting him off. "Whatever so-called 'clues' you found certainly couldn't have been enough to lead you here alone."
"Oh, they weren't," Steven corrected. "Lion brought us here."
"The lion?!" Pearl questioned, baffled.
"Yeah," Mabel nodded. "He roared super loud and it crashed through the wall and then we were here, in this super-pretty, super-sparkly, super-secret cave!"
"And there's all sorts of great stuff hidden here too," Steven added as he approached the pedestal.
"I know!" Pearl huffed. "That's why I wanted to bring you here! Now, let me show you how you can access the artillery."
"That's ok!" Steven brightly reassured. "I can do it without you."
"W-what?" Pearl could only stand by and watch as Steven slapped his hand onto the pedestal. Nothing happened at first–not a single weapon emerged from the massive collection–and he soon realized why.
"Oh, that's right!" he glanced over at the twins. "You guys mind lending a hand again?"
"You bet!" Mabel enthusiastically ran over to him. Dipper joined her on Steven's other side as they worked together to bring the armory out into the open.
"Ok… go!" Steven exclaimed. Mabel started by poking him on the cheek, summoning the first collection of weapons up on the platform's far side. "We got some axes!"
"The Axes of Ages…?" Pearl muttered, eyes wide.
The axes were switched out for an array of flails as Dipper pushed Steven's shoulder. "We got spikey chain lady and her metal dealies!" Mabel listed, grinning.
"The Heretic's Anguish?!"
"And a three-pack of Light Cannons," Dipper added after Mabel tapped Steven's nose.
"The Quartizine Trio!"
"Oh, and a whole lot of armor guys," Steven reported when the twins poked both of his sides.
"The Armor of the Fallen!"
By now, all three of the kids could tell just how upset and unnerved Pearl was getting with each new weapon that emerged. Realizing they ought to wrap it up, Steven looked over at her and asked, "Um, what were we looking for again?"
"Her sword! Your mother's sword!" Pearl projected a holographic image of the blade in question from her gemstone. "It's a straight-edged saber that's pink with a red handle. There are vines etched in the guard that connect to a rose-shaped pommel. And it-"
"Oh! We've seen that before too!" Mabel suddenly exclaimed.
Pearl froze, alarmed, as her projection swiftly disappeared. "Huh?"
"Yeah, actually, we found it right after we found this place," Dipper added as he exchanged a knowing glance with Steven.
"And I know where it is now!" he eagerly exclaimed. "Come on, I can show you!"
Once again, Pearl found she could do nothing but follow the kids as they led the way out of the armory. As they led her straight to everything she thought she'd guarded so well, everything they somehow all already knew .
To all of the secrets that suddenly, somehow weren't so secret anymore.
"Dadadadadadada… here it is!" Steven sang as he pulled the pink blade out of Lion's mane. He and the twins had gathered all three of the Gems back at the temple so they could watch as they finally reunited Rose's sword with its scabbard. Needless to say, no one was more shocked than Pearl when she found out exactly where it had been hidden all these years.
"R-Rose's sword…" she faltered when Steven handed the weapon over to her. "But… how did it get in there?"
Steven shrugged. "There's tons of stuff in there. I keep stuff in him too!" To prove his point, Steven leapt straight into Lion's mane. He emerged a moment later, riding on the bicycle he'd stashed away in there some time ago. "Ta da!" he rang its bell as he rode it around the den. "By the way, Mabel, here's that ice cream cone you asked me to store in there last week."
"Thanks, Steven!" Mabel readily grabbed it and took a lick. "No way! It's still cold and everything! Just like I knew it would be!"
"It has grass on the other side of it," Dipper dryly pointed out.
"Well, since this grass came out of a magical lion's mane, I'm sure it'll taste just as magical." Mabel put this theory to the test, only to end up choking on that grass. "Ugh! I was wrong! I was so wrong!"
"So, how'd you figure out that sword was in there anyway?" Amethyst asked Steven. "What, did that ol' journal tell you about it?"
"No, but it's in here," Dipper held the journal up along with his blacklight. Under its glow, Rose's sword shined through in its scabbard, hidden before, but now clear to see. "It was pretty cool on the author's part to draw it using invisible ink."
"Yeah, it was," Steven enthusiastically agreed. "It's like some sort of blacklight bonus!"
"It's not 'cool' in the slightest," Pearl harshly cut in. "None of this is!"
"Is… something wrong, Pearl?" Mabel asked, confused and concerned.
"What's wrong is that book!" she snapped, glaring down at the journal in Dipper's arms. "Spying on us from afar and jotting down a few notes is one thing, but to know about Rose's sanctum, her sword, about her so intimately and accurately… How did this 'author' person even get any of that information!?"
"Maybe he really was someone you guys used to know back when Mom was still around," Steven suggested. "And he just… I don't know, wrote the journal without telling you?"
"I don't know…" Dipper countered as he leafed through the book. "There isn't really anything in here that makes it sound like the author was trying to keep the fact that he was writing about you three a secret. In fact, there's actually a bunch of places where he makes it sound like you helped him with his research on Gravity Falls."
"Oh yeah?" Amethyst asked, doubtful. "Like what?"
"Like this," Garnet took the journal when Dipper handed it over to her. She honed in on the entry he pointed out to her, reading it aloud for the others. "Today the Gems presented me with another odd magical item they found in their travels: the Cloak of Occasional Visibility. This mysterious article makes its wearer completely invisible—half of the time. The other half of the time, it flickers on and off again, usually at the worst possible moment, while you wander around trying to find a good invisibility 'signal'. Very frustrating. In fact, it's so frustrating that the Gems professed that it never works for them, so they found it best to give it to me. Not that I'll ever have much use for such a thing, but all the same, I appreciate the thought."
"T-the Cloak of Occasional Visibility?" Pearl balked, bewildered. "But we didn't give that thing away to anyone! We just lost it! D-didn't we?"
Garnet simply shrugged, not having much of an answer. Amethyst took the journal next, flipping through a few more pages before she landed on another interesting entry. "Oh! This one's about that creepy bunker we went to the other day. Listen up: We found a location for our hidden storage bunker! Rose had originally suggested that we could keep our supplies within the temple, or more specifically, in Amethyst's room, but seeing as how I've actually been inside of that disastrous mess before, I don't think storing our extremely dangerous equipment in there would have been a very wise idea. Hey!" Amethyst protested, offended. "My room is not a mess. I have a system , Mr. Author-Guy."
"H-he's been inside the temple too?!" Pearl frantically glanced back at the gate. "Who would have ever opened the gate for him? I know I never let some strange, unknown wander into the temple."
"Neither did I," Garnet said, crossing her arms.
"Don't look at me," Amethyst shook her head.
"Maybe it was Mom?" Steven innocently suggested.
"But that's… that's just preposterous!" Pearl bitterly exclaimed. "There's never been a human Rose trusted enough to take into the temple before. And even if there had been, we would have known him too!"
"But we didn't know him," Garnet calmly countered. "And I think it might be time we finally come to terms with that, Pearl."
"But it doesn't make any sense! Give me that thing!" Pearl suddenly swiped the journal out of Amethyst's hands. She furiously flipped through its pages, hoping to find any evidence to prove her right. Only to find the exact opposite instead.
"It 's clear to me now that in these uncertain times, the only one I can still turn to is my original research partner, the Gem I would trust my life with, Rose Quartz," Pearl read. It wasn't lost on any of the others, how she only grew more unsteady and distraught with each passing word. "In light of everything that's happened, I feel as though Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl would shun me, but Rose has never been so quick to judge. Even if the bond between us has been tested, it still stands all the same. I was always able to bear my secrets to her, just as she often entrusted her own secrets to me. I can only hope that she'll understand. She has to understand. She's the only one I…" Pearl trailed off, her voice breaking as she softly finished the solemn entry, " T-the only one he only I still completely trust…"
The journal snapped shut as Pearl turned away from the others, holding the book tight against her chest. A beat of awkward silence passed between the others, and no one knew quite what to say until Amethyst casually piped up first. "So, uh… I guess that sorta proves that author guy really did know Rose, even if we didn't. I mean, it is sorta weird that she never introduced us to him or anything, but it's not like it's the end of the world or anything."
Pearl spun back around when she heard this, making no effort to hide just how livid she truly was. "No!" she shouted fiercely. "There's no possible way Rose could have known the author, because if she had, then I would have known him too! And even if I had, Rose wouldn't have imparted her most precious secrets to some… some nobody !"
Some nobody, who somehow knew so much even when they knew so little about him. And if he knew that much, if he had found his way into so many of Rose's best kept-secrets…
Pearl shuddered to think of what else he might have known. To imagine someone, anyone stumbling upon the biggest secret of them all.
"W-well," Steven cut through her racing thoughts when he spoke up. "What about Mom's, uh… super secret place?" he asked, dropping his voice down to a whisper. "You knew about that."
"The author sorta knew about that too though, didn't he?" Mabel asked, aside.
"Shh!" Dipper quickly quitted her. After all, the last thing he or Steven wanted was to set Pearl off even more than she already was.
"And… Oh! The sword!" Steven added. "You knew about the sword!"
"Yeah, and I don't think the author even knew where it was hidden," Dipper pointed out. "The journal never mentions Lion at all."
"I didn't know anything about him either!" Pearl glared at the pink cat. She approached him and his magical mane, determined to learn more, until Lion gave her a stern, warning growl. "Did… did Lion have something to do with Rose too?"
"Oooh, of course!" Amethyst exclaimed. " That's why he's pink!"
"It was a little obvious," Garnet flatly agreed.
"But… Rose didn't have a lion," Pearl shook her head.
"Well, it sure seems like it's her stuff in there," Steven said as he pushed his bike back into Lion's mane.
"No!" Pearl harshly protested. "Rose didn't have a lion, because if Rose had a lion, I would have known about it! And the same goes for that author person, whoever he was!"
"Rose kept many things secret," Garnet rationalized, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Even from us. If she didn't see fit to tell us about Lion or the author, then she must have had a good reason for it."
"But she never kept secrets from me !" Pearl stressed as she pulled away. "I was the one she told everything to!"
"Yo, you're not the only one who misses her!" Amethyst argued, scowling.
"You can't understand how I feel!" Pearl practically shouted. In one arm, she clung onto the journal, and in the other was Rose's sheathed sword. Both the sources of all of her pain, both things she refused to let go of, even now, especially now. "None of you had what we had!"
"S-she probably just wanted to protect you," Steven offered. "Like everyone else."
"Yeah, I mean, you did say so yourself," Dipper carefully reminded. "She kept secrets from everyone for, uh, the 'greater good', or something like that."
"And that it was the mark of a great leader!" Mabel added much more enthusiastically.
"That's right," Steven nodded with an earnest, anxious smile. "It's probably just like Garnet said. Mom must have had a good reason for not telling you-"
"How would you know?! You never even met her!"
Pearl's furious voice wasn't all that rang through the temple when she said this. She slammed her fist hard into the wall behind her, only a few feet below where Rose's portrait hung. The sudden jolt knocked it loose, sending it tumbling down, straight toward Pearl, who could only gasp up at it, at Rose as the image of her fell.
And as everything she ever thought she knew about her fell along with it.
Fortunately, Garnet stepped in to stop the portrait just in time. She held it steady, even as Pearl stood, trembling silently just behind her. She didn't say a word, didn't even bother looking over at Steven, or at anyone else for that matter.
Instead, she simply took the sword and the journal alike… and she ran .
"Fine, go!" Amethyst angrily yelled after her as she warped away. "Go cry about it, just like you always do!"
"Aw, poor Pearl!" Mabel exclaimed, genuinely worried. "We've gotta go after her and make sure she's ok!"
"Not to mention, she still has the journal! We have to get it back!" Dipper added, alarmed. He caught himself, however, when he caught the critical looks Steven and Mabel were both sending his way. "And, uh, also go check on Pearl, just like you said."
"Where did she go?" Steven turned to the other two Gems for answers.
"Who cares?" Amethyst sullenly crossed her arms. "I hate it when she gets like this."
"Garnet?" Steven pressed, but she offered no reply. Instead, she stayed where she was, still holding Rose's portrait up, unable to speak to any of her own warring emotions. When she didn't even glance over at Steven, he decided he might as well take the initiative in her and Amethyst's stead.
He might as well be the one to bring their team back together again, just like his mother must have done before him.
"We're going to find her," he turned to the twins, resolved. "Lion, do you know where she went?" For his part, Lion simply let out a sleepy roar. Still, it was more than enough for Steven. "I'm going to assume that means you do."
"Let's go!" Mabel proclaimed as Steven pulled her and Dipper onto Lion's back behind him. With a single, mighty roar, Lion opened up a portal all his own, one that would hopefully take them right to Pearl before she could slip too far away from them.
It was only as the kids rode through that portal that Garnet finally looked up to offer them a soft and uncertain, "Good luck."
As it turned out, Pearl returned to the very same place the day had begun: the strawberry battlefield. Night had fallen over the oversized fruits, leaving the entire landscape bathed in silver moonlight. Under that light, the kids easily spotted who they were looking for almost as soon as Lion's portal landed them there.
"Pearl!" Steven called when he saw her. She glared back at them, still clinging onto the journal and the sword, with no signs of letting either of them go.
"Leave me alone!" she yelled back just shy of sprinting away. The kids exchanged a glance, unsure of what she was really running from: them, or something else altogether. Still, they hadn't come all this way to simply leave without her.
Lion summoned another portal to help them catch up to her. Pearl gasped, alarmed, when they emerged alongside her, prompting her to run even faster to get away. "Wait for us!" Steven shouted, pushing Lion as fast as he could go. "We just wanna help you!"
"Yeah!" Mabel added just as fervently. "If you slow down a bit, then I'm sure we can all just sit down and talk all of this really heavy stuff out and-"
"No, we can't !" Pearl sharply shut such an idea down. "Now, get that thing away from me," she hatefully glared at Lion. "And all of you, go home!"
She briefly stopped at the edge of a cliff, though there was still a path for her to take upward, across several floating patches of earth. She didn't hesitate to follow it, to escape from everything that stood to remind her of everything she'd lost. Of everything she might have never even had in the first place.
Without another word, Pearl took a high leap, jumping along the broken path without any signs of slowing down. Lion stopped just shy of the cliff's edge as the kids watched Pearl continue to flee. At this point, none of them had much of an idea of what to do or say to stop her–
But Steven still had to try all the same.
"You better sit this one out, Lion," he hopped down, patting the pink cat's side. He hesitated, rubbing his neck as he looked away from the twins before saying, "Uh… actually, maybe you guys should too?"
"Aw, what?" Mabel frowned, disappointed. "But we wanna help you help Pearl!"
"I know, but…" Steven took a glance up to the highest cliff, to where Pearl had already disappeared out of sight. "I think this is something I need to do on my own."
Before Mabel could protest again, Dipper cut her off. "We understand," he said, offering Steven a small, hopeful smile. "We'll be waiting right here for you. Good luck, Steven."
"Thanks," Steven turned back to the daunting path–and the daunting task–ahead of him. "Pearl!" he called as he took his first leap. He clumsily landed on the first floating patch, struggling to stay steady on top of it. "I-it's ok! I had a talk with Lion and he's gonna, uh, chill out here! It'll be just the two of us, nice and private!"
"Do you think he can actually make it all the way up there on his own?" Dipper wondered with a worried frown.
The twins paused to watch Steven nearly fall into the endless chasm below as he jumped to the next platform. "Eh, I'm sure he'll be fine," Mabel said, shrugging.
Despite the danger, Steven kept going. By the time he reached the platform closest to the cliff, he was breathless and exhausted, but he still forced a smile as he shouted up to Pearl again. "T-this is really hard to do in sandals!" he joked with a feeble laugh.
"Go away!" Pearl yelled over the edge of the cliff at him.
"Pearl!" Steven called back, much more seriously this time. "Did I… Did I do something wrong? You gotta tell me!"
Pearl didn't answer, not that Steven was really expecting her to. From his spot on the last floating patch, he backed up before giving himself a running start. And then, with all of the hope he had to spare, he jumped as high and as far as he could possibly go.
For a moment, for just a moment, he glided through the open night air. Far below, Lion and the twins watched, eyes wide, as Steven sailed straight for the final cliff. It almost seemed like he'd actually make it too, until–
Until he caught sight of Pearl. Until he saw Rose's sword in her hands, hovering high over the journal as it lay on the grassy ground at her feet. Until he realized exactly what she planned on doing, the connection she was so desperate to sever in any way she could, until-
"Pearl!" Steven called for her once more, just before she could bring the sword down.
Pearl's head snapped up. And when he saw her face, so filled with grief, with anger, with betrayal -
He fell .
"Steven!" Pearl dropped the sword the second she saw him miss the edge of the cliff. The twins echoed her cry from the ground below, fearfully watching as Steven plummeted through the air. He only barely managed to catch himself by grabbing hold of the vines dangling from the side of the cliff. As he clung on for dear life, he looked back up, only to find Pearl peering down at him from high above. Still, she didn't move to help him, didn't even say a word, before she disappeared from sight all over again.
"Steven!" Dipper shouted up to him. "Are you ok?"
"Uh… yeah!" Steven glanced back. By now, his knuckles were white from hanging onto the vines so tightly, but he didn't plan on letting go anytime soon.
"You want us to come up there and help you out?" Mabel offered.
"N-no!" Steven called as he steeled himself for the climb ahead of him. "I got this!" He heaved a sigh as he started scaling the vines. Somehow, he had a feeling whatever awaited at the top would be far more of a challenge than even this. Even so, he whispered to himself, forcing himself to find a way to believe it: "I got this…"
After what felt like an eternity, Steven finally reached the top of the cliff. He heaved himself up onto solid ground, lying there for a moment or two to catch his breath. Still, he looked over and found Pearl, sitting a distance away, her knees pulled to her chest as her shoulders shook with silent sobs. She hadn't ended up stabbing the journal after all; instead, it sat alongside Rose's sword on the ground right beside her. Slowly, Steven got to his feet and took a small step toward her. But he stopped in his tracks when he heard her finally speak.
"To think that she would entrust her secrets, secrets that she only ever shared with me and me alone… to a complete and utter stranger… " she muttered, keeping her sights set on the journal. "Who was he? Why didn't I know him? Why did he matter so much to her that she would trust him… over me? Did… did she tell him? About everything? About who she really-"
She suddenly cut herself off, tightly pressing both hands against her mouth. Steven frowned as he watched her shudder; even if he didn't truly understand what she was going through, there was no doubt it was painful. And right now, the only thing Steven truly wanted… was to help make that pain go away.
"P-Pearl," he began, taking another step closer. "Pearl, you have to tell me what's wrong."
A small, bitter laugh slipped out when Pearl heard this. "Sometimes… you even sound like her…" Her hand dug into the grass beside her. "Do you remember this place? Do you have any of her memories? We were right here." She finally stood as Steven stopped just behind her. "It was over 5,000 years ago, on a night just like this one…"
Steven watched, eyes wide, as another projection flushed out of Pearl's gemstone. Even from behind, and even though he'd never seen her in person, Steven instantly knew who she was. Pearl bowed low to one knee behind her, and when "Rose" finally turned to face her, she spoke for both of them.
And she shared a story she'd never, ever forget.
"Pearl…" Rose began. Pearl made her voice sound both soft and grave before she switched back to her own as she looked up at her intently.
"Yes?"
A look of deep remorse washed over Rose's face as she forced herself to look away from Pearl. "I'm going to stay and fight for this planet. The things that live here… they're all so precious and special… They deserve to live and thrive and be free . And so… I'm going to do all I can to give them that freedom. This war… it won't be easy, and it won't be short. You don't have to do this with me."
"B-but I want to!" Pearl protested without a moment's doubt or hesitation. "I want to stand by your side! To be there for you, every step of the way!"
"I know you do," Rose sighed sadly. "But this isn't as simple as you think it is. It's not just about fighting and battles and the other Gems… It's about what comes after all this is over. Please, please understand: if we lose, we'll be killed. And if we win… then we can never go home."
Pearl could only smile, shaking her head as she warmly, lovingly said, "Why would I ever want to go home, if you're here?"
Rose started, surprised for a beat. And then, she let out a gentle, adoring laugh. Her smile remained as she extended a hand down to Pearl and sweetly said, "My Pearl…"
"You're wonderful…" Pearl blissfully returned. But the moment she took Rose's hand, the hologram burst into bits of light as the memory came to an end. Pearl's hand fell back into her lap, tears still hanging heavy in her eyes as silence filled into the space between her and Steven. When she finally broke it, her voice was quiet and filled with yearning for all that had been lost a long time ago. For all she was slowly starting to realize she'd never get back.
"Everything I ever did, I did for her…" she said, turning her tearful gaze toward the stars. "I followed her to the ends of the Earth and trusted every last word she said. And she trusted me too… or at least, that's what I thought…" She only spared a brief glance at the journal. She couldn't bear to look at it, to think about everything it represented, everything that it might've meant. It carried so many questions, too many questions only Rose held the answers to.
Rose, or the unknown author, who seemed to be every bit as much of a fading memory as she was.
"Now she's gone…" Pearl struggled to admit it out loud, but she did nonetheless. There was no denying it now, no matter how much it hurt. "But I'm still here. Sometimes I wonder if she can see me through your eyes." She sighed, shame slipping into her voice as she shook her head. "What would she think of me now…?"
Pearl gasped, startled, when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind. Steven rested his head on her shoulder, filling the gaps his mother left behind in the only way he could when he said, "Well, I think you're pretty great."
If Pearl was already on the verge of breaking down, that was what pushed her over the edge entirely. She choked on a sob, with plenty more following as Steven continued to hold onto her. They stayed like that for a while, with no words proving enough to say what either of them were truly feeling. Even when they eventually broke apart, the most Pearl had to offer Steven was a small, soft apology. He warmly accepted it before he took her hand and began to lead her back down to earth–
Just like his mother always used to do whenever she drifted too far.
Dipper and Mabel were relieved to see them both return. Pearl offered the twins a frail smile as she ultimately handed the journal back to Dipper. Likewise, she turned Rose's sword over to Steven, entrusting it into his care. Still, she was surprised when he placed her hand back onto the blade. When he silently reminded her that she wasn't wrong for remembering Rose, for loving her, even still.
And for the first time in a long time, Pearl decided to let herself believe that.
Lion's eyes glowed as he bowed low, allowing Steven and Pearl to return the sword and scabbard alike to the safety of his mane. And yet, Steven didn't stop there. He reached further into the mane, pulling out a string of hankies as a playful "magic" trick in the hopes of cheering Pearl up. The twins joined his efforts, helping him pull even more out of Lion's mane as they all cracked jokes and jabs along the way. Pearl slowly found herself smiling, even laughing a little. But her interest only truly peaked when Dipper passed the journal back to her, pointing out a passage she'd never seen before. One that shifted everything Pearl thought she knew about this book and its mysterious author altogether:
"If there's one thing about the Crystal Gems that can't be denied, the breadth and depth of Pearl's devotion to Rose. Her every word, thought, and action all show her undying loyalty to her leader and her cause. While some might call this kind of behavior obsessive or even manic, I find her dedication to be admirable, and Rose agrees.
She once confided in me that Pearl's resolve serves as a constant source of inspiration to her–it has from the second they arrived on this planet together centuries ago. To pledge oneself to another, not out of fear or obligation, but out of the deepest kind of love and respect… It's no wonder that kind of loyalty would inspire someone as inspirational as even Rose Quartz herself."
Teardrops fell onto the page far before Pearl finished reading it. Even if she didn't know the author, the author knew of her, of the way she felt towards Rose and of the way Rose felt about her. She might've once thought the author mattered more to Rose than she ever had. But now, reading this, learning just how easily he had seen that someone as spectacular as Rose had truly, wholeheartedly admired her after all?
Maybe, just maybe, the author, whoever he'd been, might not have been so bad after all.
She thanked Dipper for showing her that as she returned the journal to him. At the same time, Steven called for her attention to show her the latest find he was pulling out of Lion's mane: a pink battle flag, tattered, but still in-tact. A flag that Pearl knew well, one that represented the stand she had Rose had made here, in this very battlefield, eons ago.
She decided to tell the kids the story of that battle, of all of the bravery and boldness they'd shown in it. They took a seat against Lion, captivated as Pearl dramatically recounted her tale. She reenacted it, how she had stood alongside Rose and the other Crystal Gems as they fought back against their former Homeworld for the sake of the Earth and everything living thing upon it. Just one of the many battles they'd waged for the planet they'd all come to care so much about, the planet they gave up everything to save.
By the time Pearl's story came to an end, everyone decided it was finally time to leave the battlefield for the night. Pearl sat atop Lion with the flag slung over her shoulders; behind her, the twins were both half asleep and in front of her, Steven smiled as he led Lion back to the warp pad. She stared down at him, unsure of what to say, unsure of what to even think, really.
Steven was so much like his mother, so much that sometimes it practically hurt Pearl to look at him. And yet… for all the ways he was just like Rose, in so many other ways he wasn't . She wondered what Rose would think of her son, so filled with quiet compassion, with earnest patience, with the kind of kindness that was so rare among the rest of Gemkind?
What would she think of her son, who could somehow see straight through to the heart in ways even she never could?
As Lion slowly padded his way through the battlefield, Pearl couldn't help but continue to ponder it all. For all of the years she'd spent at Rose's side, she knew so many of her secrets. One in particular still weighed heavy on her heart, one that they had never spoken of from the second it was made. Rose couldn't have shared that secret with the author–she wouldn't have shared it with anyone other than Pearl.
And perhaps, for the first time ever, she felt no pride in being the only left to know it.
Because she longed to tell Steven, to tell everyone, but she couldn't , no matter how hard she tried. Sure enough, Rose had kept plenty of secrets to protect her friends, and even some secrets to protect her too, just as Pearl had always strived to protect her–
But after thousands of years of bearing the weight of the most massive secret there'd ever been, Pearl knew–it was only a matter of time before it came crashing down upon them all.