The Unthinkable
It was the middle of the summer, the Cluster had been bubbled, the world was safe, and the Crystal Gems were now three members stronger with Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper having joined their crew.
But now, with things settled down for once, Pearl was worrying about something else entirely. For the past month since the cluster had been bubbled, Pearl had been feeling extremely ill, though she had managed so far to keep it from the others.
But today was not her lucky day, and, while Steven was in the same room as her, she threw up into the sink, the gem’s body spasming a bit as she tried to contain her disgust.
“Pearl?” said Steven, walking over to her as she threw up again, the boy becoming concerned when he saw that what she was throwing up was some sort of black goo. “Pearl what's wrong, are you sick.”
“I’m fine Steven,” said Pearl slowly, the gem trying to control her shaking as she turned on the sink to wash away the vile stuff, “I just….I haven't felt that well lately.”
“Pearl, you just threw up a bunch of black stuff, I think you should head to the hospital.”
“Steven while I appreciate the concern that won't work,” said Pearl, “your human doctors won't know what to do.”
“Well there has to be someone who can….” started Steven, only for his eyes to widen as he was suddenly struck with an idea. “Wait, I got an idea, let's go see Peridot.”
“Wha….” started Pearl, finding herself being pushed onto the warp pad, Pearl feeling more nauseous as the pad activated and transported them outside the barn, Steven dragging her toward the barn before she had to stop as another wave of nausea struck her.
As she threw up more black stuff, Steven ran inside the barn, bringing out Peridot moments later who had a look of concern, the gem waving up at Lapis who immediately landed beside Pearl and led her inside.
When they got inside, Peridot ran over to her bed and pulled out her limb enhancers, putting them on and activating them before running back over to Pearl and beginning to run a scan. “Steven, do you know how long she has been expelling the substance we just saw.”
“I don’t know,” said Steven, “Pearl…”
“I’ve been….sick for the past month, but the….the throwing up only started about a week ago.”
“I see, and have you consumed anything which might not agree with you?”
“No….I don’t eat that often.”
“Ok, and have….” started Peridot, only to stop when her scanner picked up something when it passed over her abdomen, Peridot running it over there again and holding it till the scanner made a chiming noise, and a whole flood of data filled the screen. “Um….that’s something.”
“What is it,” said Pearl, looking concerned.
“Well, according to my scanner, you are currently carrying geodes, seven of them.”
She looked up at Pearl, and saw that she was looking at her in confusion. “Um...I’m what?”
“...Carrying Geodes,” said Peridot, “you know, gemling eggs, baby gems?”
“WHAT!!!” cried Pearl, here eyes expanding as she leaped to her feet. “What do you mean baby gems, there are no such thing?”
“Um, yeah there are,” said Lapis, “It’s how gems used to make more gems...well before gem harvesting was invented.
Pearl looked even more confused by this, so Peridot growled, “Give me a second, let me check something.”
She ran the scanner over Pearl again, looking over the data before nodding her head and speaking. “That makes sense, you came out of the ground after the practice had stopped.”
“The...the practice?”
Peridot sighed, but before she could speak she spotted Steven, who was staring in shocked wonder as the gems spoke, promoting Peridot to sigh before looking up toward the upper area of the barn. “Jasper, could you come down here please?”
Jasper poked her head out from hiding, the large gem leaping down before walking over and speaking. “What is it Peri…” she started, only to pause as she took a sniff of the air, before pointing to Pearl and speaking. “Is she pregnant?”
“Yes,” said Peridot simply as Pearl fumed, before pointing to Steven and speaking. “I need you to take Steven for a walk for a moment, for from the research I have done about humans, he is currently not old enough to...well to hear the particular conversation I am about to have with Pearl.”
“Ah what,” said Steven, “come on guys, I want to….”
“None of that Steven,” said Jasper as she shook her head and picked him up, “If Peridot says you're not ready, you're not ready, so let's go find something to do, ok?”
“Alright,” said Steven with a sad face, a face he kept directed at Peridot till he and Jasper were out of sight, then Peridot sighed before turning back to Pearl and speaking.
“Ok, I am going to be very brief with this explanation, so bear with me ok. Thousands of years ago, we gems used to engage in the act of mating to make gems, much like other life forms mate with each other to produce offspring. However, when gem harvesting was invented, mating fell out of practice, till finally by the time you were made it wasn't even mentioned anymore amongst the upper echelons of gem society. However, since our resource shortage, the practice has come back full swing, which has allowed us to keep out numbers stable.”
“And um….how does one um…..mate so to speak?”
“You know how humans mate correct?”
Pearl blanched at that.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Peridot with a smirk. “Anyways, there are in fact two ways to mate and produce offspring. One is much like the way humans reproduce, however because we're gems there are of course differences. One gem takes on the role of the male in the equation, growing the necessary organs in order to properly impregnate their partner, and then engage in acts of coitus till such time as Geodes are detected. This method is time consuming, and can be hit or miss depending on the emotions of the two gems mating.”
“Well I definitely haven't mated that way,” said Pearl, looking disgusted, “So what is the other way?”
“Well, the easier method is for two gems to wait till one or the other is in heat, and then to form a fusion which, once they defuse, leaves the other pregnant with their partners geodes, and that method is guaranteed to get one pregnant. Now,” said Peridot, looking at the data again as she spoke. “According to my data you have been pregnant for two months, so the question is who did you fuse with two months ago?”
“I don't know, I mean I didn't do that much fusing during that time, the only gem I fused with during that time was….”
She fell silent as it suddenly dawned on her, the gem looking horrified as she realized who she had fused with during that time.
“Well, who was it?”
“......Garnet…..”
Both Lapis and Peridot’s eyes widened at that, Lapis because her and Pearl often talked together nowadays, but Peridot’s eyes had widened for a whole nother reason as she grinned. “Oh my stars, this is AMAZING!!!”
“What, why is this amazing?”
“Don’t you get it!” cried Peridot excitedly, “Your geodes are the result of a fusion fusing with you, that is unheard of, hell if I hadn't read the data just now I would have said it was most likely impossible! This….this needs to be documented!”
She to her spot in the barn, leaving Lapis and Pearl along as Pearl began to slowly panic, till Lapis placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke. “Pearl, I know you probably don't want to, but we need to tell Garnet about this.”
“What!” said Pearl, looking even more panicked. “I can’t do that, she...she will…”
“You don't know how she’ll react Pearl,” said Lapis, “and you won't be alone when you tell her, I will be there, and so will Steven and Jasper.”
“Oh yes, because Jasper just screams moral support.”
Lapis gave her a look as they headed for the warp pad, Jasper and Steven meeting up with them and hopping on as the warp pad activated.
“So,” said Jasper as they traveled, “Peridot got done with her explanation?”
“Yes,” said Lapis, “and we found out who sired Pearl’s Geodes”
“So it’s true,” said Steven, “Pearl is pregnant, is she going to disappear!?”
“Steven,” started Jasper, only to stop when they appeared in the temple, and saw that Garnet and Amethyst were both in the kitchen.
“Oh….Garnet,” said Pearl worriedly, “I….it’s good that you're here, I….I have some news to share with you.”
“It better be good news,” said Amethyst, “We had a bad run in with a few gem mutants and it didn't exactly go well.”
“Well…” said Pearl hesitantly, “it is good news….of a sort.”
They all sat down, Pearl hesitating for a moment before finally she spoke up. “Garnet, I’m carrying geodes.”
There was silence for a long moment, then Amethyst spoke, “Um, what now?”
Pearl made to explain, only to yelp as Garnet picked her up in a hug, spinning her around before setting her back down and speaking. “Pearl, I’m so happy for you, you must be excited. Now tell me, who is the sire, is it Peridot, Lapis, Jasper?”
“What….no!” cried Pearl.
“Oh,” said Garnet, before donning a grin as she looked back at Amethyst and speaking, “Amethyst you sly dog, you didn't tell me you and Pearl had grown so close.”
“Hey I don't like what you're implying, and how am I supposed to sire anything when I don't know….”
“GARNET THEY'RE YOURS!!!”
The room became deathly silent, Garnet slowly turning to Pearl and looking at her with dread as she spoke, “Wha….”
“I….I was in heat, the….the time we fused. I...I didn't think anything of it at the time, because I...I didn't know about this, I’m….”
“You should have told me,” said Garnet, backing away as she clutched her head in her hands, “You...you should have….I would have I…”
“Garnet?”
“I….I……..I CAN’T ACCEPT THIS!!!” yelled Garnet, before, to the shock of everyone, she defused, causing Ruby and Sapphire to fall to the ground.
“Sapphire, Ruby,” cried Steven, watching as the two looked to each other in concern, before they moved forward and tried to refuse. However, just as the form began to stabilize, it fell apart, Ruby and Sapphire looking even more panicked.
“Wh….why can't we fuse?”
“I don't know,” said Ruby, beginning to shake till she felt a hand placed on her shoulder, both her and Sapphire looking up to see Jasper giving them a reassuring look as she spoke.
“Don’t worry you two, we’ll figure this out.”
She then stood up, looking to Steven and gesturing to the two gems before speaking. “Steven, you keep these two calm for me ok, I’ll go get Peridot, she might be able to figure out what’s going on.”
She then left via the warp pad, leaving everyone alone as Pearl slowly sat down on the couch, the gem clutching herself tightly as she closed her eyes and whispered to herself.
“....this is all my fault.”