*Flash Back*
There once was a time where I never went outside.
I never left home, I never went to school, and I never spoke to anyone.
No one knew about my escapades for no one knew the things that lurked around my nightmarish mind. No one saw the pain and no one was there to ever ask if I was ok.
It was always the normal, typical, average day for any human being, my mom was in the kitchen making dinner like the good little house wife she was while my step father was out at his night job. My brother was in his room, trying his hardest to live up to the family name through school work while I, unlike him, hid.
I didn't like school. I still don't up until now. School, to me, was the least important, least beneficial and most dangerous thing in the world that someone could attend. I can't remember how long ago it was since I last went to school, probably...1? 2 years back then?
No one cared enough, no one was busy enough and everyone was doing their own thing in their own little way while I hid.
I had been asked many times before, why I never left my home and the truth is, I used to do so. But things never went as I had planned, somewhere, someone at my school hated me. They hated me so much that within the first days of grade 11, I was known as the "slut" the "dumb ass" and even the "gold digger".
After that I gave up, I quit school, dropped out without anyone finding out and retired to my bedroom in my "parents" overly priced mansion. There, I hid on the internet, spending hours upon hours drawing and sharing my artworks online.
And for once, I wasn't a "slut" but an "artist". I was "Amazing", "Creative" and "Wondrous". I felt important. I never heard the word "slut" again.
I felt, at peace within myself, for once in a very long time. Years it had been since I felt like I did, and for once, I didn't have to listen to anyone calling me "selfish".
But that only lasted temporarily.
"Selfish", my mother had called me when my biological father had passed and I had wanted to see him.
"Selfish", I was told by my brother when all I wanted was to hang out.
"Selfish" was what I heard from the girls who blamed me for the nothings I committed.
"Selfish", said the one person who was now a stranger towards me, my mother, whom stood beside my step father with a curtain of "spoiled rotten" washed and draped over her body, defending him as I claimed he was cruel.
"Selfish"- that word repeatedly called out as my step father slapped me, every slap stung more than the last. I still remember how he tried to scare me to death when I caught him having an affair, attempting at drowning out my voice with my own pain. Much to my dismay, it worked.
But that was the last time anyone said I was "selfish".
Because after that, I ran away. Away from the mansion that was never a home to me, away from the so called family I had, away from the life on the internet I had grown to love. I ran away. I took a bus, hours out of town.
I slept for so long, people assumed I was some homeless 16 year old who managed a bus fee. No one bothered me, or woke me up, that was until the bus reached its last stop at the bus shelter. The bus driver wasn't fairly happy with me, he kicked me out quite quickly, probably thinking I was some drunk teenager.
"Get lost kid." He had said, "Go home dumb ass." And with his words I realised that the internet was no longer there to comfort me. I was truly alone, homeless even. So I left the bus hastily, running into the middle of the boardwalk in the small town I was in. That was where I stopped and sat on the edge, thinking about the recent events as I stared into the endless sea.
That's when I realised I was truly alone and I had no idea where I was. Did I regret my decisions? Definitely not. I was rather pleased I had gotten away from such horrid parents. I looked around me, "Fun Land" read the sign. That's when I spotted the wooden bench leaning against a wall and lay down, closing my eyes to sleep.
And that's how I arrived at Beach City.
My first morning in Beach City was a rather eventful one. I awoke to the feeling of something poking my face. At first I assumed it was probably my imagination, later I found out it wasn't the case.
I groaned as the thing poking me came into focus, it definitely wasn't my imagination so my mind decided that it was some kid who happened upon me. I rolled over on the uncomfortable bench, pin pointing a sore arm from the awkward position I had slept in.
"What are you doing with that street pole?" A small childish voice called, it sounded male and perky, causing me to rethink what was poking me.
"Poking the human." A very nasally voice replied as if it were obvious, the sarcasm in the word "human" was undetectable, as if she were implying she was no human.
"Um, maybe you should leave that girl alone...how long has she been there?" The voice asked. I sighed, deciding I wasn't going to get anymore rest with these pestering children so I sat up, rubbing my eyes.
"Ok, you kids really need to-"I paused as my eyes gained a clearer vision. My face was mere inches from what looked like a broken stop sign.
"Since last night I assume, I just found her asleep." The nasal voice piped up as the stop sign dropped to the floor, scaring the hell out of me. I squeaked in surprise as my knees were pulled towards my chest. My eyes found their way to a small boy who smiled sheepishly. Then I eyed the other figure.
Green skin. That's what she had. Not the sick, I-am-going-to-puke green but a literal almost florescent green, she had a pair of visors on her face which was tucked neatly behind a massive amount of blondish hair. What intrigued me was how it defied gravity by standing up in the shape of a tetrahedron. Then I saw it, the green triangular gem that stuck out of her forehead like a sore thumb.
My mouth was open as I looked at the boy once more, back curly hair framed his face. He wore a red shirt with a yellow star, some jeans and salmon flip flops. Both of the figures were roughly the same height.
"Sorry we interrupted your sleep Miss...uh...street person." The green girl said. I frowned.
"I'm not a street person I'm just an 18 year old-" I paused. "street person..." I admitted, forgetting the new tittle I had received.
"Are you ok?" The small boy placed a hand on my knee as a sign for comforting me. "Why don't you have a home?" he worried. I opened my mouth to speak but the green girl, or thing- I wasn't entirely sure at this stage she was a girl- spoke up.
"Obviously she wouldn't be sleeping on the bench if she did, or she could be intoxicated...or how you humans call it... "drunk"." It put air quotes around the word as if it were an entirely new concept.
"No I'm not drunk...I'm homeless, I just stated that." I said, rather annoyed. My eyes kept staring at the gem thing on the green thing, causing my to rethink what happened. "Did I hit my head to hard or did I actually get intoxicated because I think I'm seeing a green person with a green rock on their forehead." The boy laughed.
"No, that's Peridot, she's not human, she's a Gem!" The boy explained. I frowned, the term was oddly familiar, "Gems are aliens from space and stuff." The boy said. "Oh! And I'm Steven! I'm half gem and half human!" Peridot nodded.
"We are part of a group of gems that live on earth called the Crystal Gems." She said. I raised my hand.
"Say no more." I commanded, "I've heard a lot about you, you save the world from the bad guys correct?" I asked.
"Yeah! How did you know?!" Steven asked in delight.
"I've had my share of internet addiction... before this." I gestured to the bench I still sat on. The two eyed the bench.
"That's right." Steven said, "We were going to find you a home!" My eyes widened at his words.
"No. we aren't" I argued, "That's really sweet of you but I'm just a street person, like we decided earlier."
"But we never have street people in Beach City, everyone finds a home here." Steven pointed out. I noted the name of the town I was in, Beach City. I quickly learned it was a small town, one of those ones where everyone knew everyone and could easily find a new face in the crowd.
"Well I high recommend finding accommodation soon, Steven has been telling me about the snow here and with winter coming up it doesn't sound like you'd survive very long in your current attire." Peridot eyed my t-shirt and three quarter leggings. I sighed.
"I one hundred percent agree with you Peridot but no body exactly likes to take in a street person."
"Then go to the other Crystal Gems." Peridot stated as if it were obvious.
"Huh? Why?" I asked surprised.
'Well they found a place for me and Lapis... surely they'd find one for you to." She said thoughtfully.
"That was actually my dad who found the barn for you guys... but I'm sure the gems would know what to do." Steven said. I frowned.
"It's fine Steven, I don't want to feel like a burden."
"But you wouldn't be-"
"But I would feel like I am all the same." I cut him off, noting the hurt look he gave me. "I... I didn't mean to make you upset I...I'm sorry, I've made plenty of mistakes recently, I didn't mean to make you upset Steven, you're a kind kid, both of you but I think I'm rushing into things..."
Steven gave me a warm smile. "I understand." He said.
"Yeah, you're still new around here, no friends or anything plus you obviously have never seen a real Gem before, so why would you even trust a different species?" Peridot pointed out, "I doubt that the small internet research on the Crystal Gems you've done has prepared you for our unexpected encounter, you probably didn't believe us beings existed and you thought it was all some made up story!"
"Er, kinda." I agreed. Steven rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Well we will be back real soon, I promised Amethyst we'd bring back some donuts from "The Big Donut" and she might begin to wonder where we are." Peridot nodded.
"I have no idea what..."Donuts" are so I'll stay with (Y/n) while you get the food... which I still don't understand why you need it." She added.
"For energy?" I asked confused.
"Well Gems don't need to eat...of breathe, I do since I'm half human but they don't... Peridot can't eat since she can't shapeshift a digestive system and Pearl finds the actions disgusting... Garnet can eat but doesn't often...no idea about Lapis but Amethyst usually eats whatever she wants... which is why we are getting donuts because Amethyst just ate the tea cups and Pearl is trying to clean the mess she made after spilling the tea." Steven explained.
"Well, I'll wait so hurry up and go so you can hurry p and come back." Peridot said as Steven nodded, hurrying off around the corner.
"So, you can't shapeshift?" I asked the gem. She nodded.
"I'm an era 2 Peridot... homeworld, where we originally came from, is running out of supplies... so we are given technological enhancements...I'm not meant to have powers of the sort that common gems have...and I'm meant to be bigger."
I could tell she was upset. "Hey its ok being small, I sure as heck am small for my age... but why would homeworld run out of resources?" I asked curiously.
"The gem war." She stated. "Years ago there was a rebellion lead by Rose Quartz, Steven's mom who lead a team called the "Crystal Gems" they fought homeworld to save the Earth which was gonna be destroyed... and they were running out of soldiers so there was a big demand on them, so we ran out."
"Dang, do you have any powers?" I asked.
"Thanks to Steven and Amethyst I do... I've always been able to create light from my gem but this is new." She said, flicking her wrist at the stop sign I had forgotten about. It instantly floated up into the air and gracefully landed once more."
"Metal powers huh? Very cool." Peridot beamed proudly as heavy footsteps approached.
"Why yes, thank you-"
"(Y/n)?" a familiar voice called. My eyes widened in fear as I recognised the voice. Peridot and I turned to stare into his eyes, the cold hateful eyes that I'd never forgive.
"What do you want?" I glared.
"Who is that?" Peridot whispered.
"My step father..." I mumbled, regret filling me.
"You horrible little child, running away from us, how dare you!" My step father walked over to us as we backed away.
"Get behind me..." Peridot mumbled, "If he hurts me instead I'll just poof... meaning my gem will take my physical form away, protect the Peridot, don't let it shatter and I'll reform and come back, if it cracks, Steven can heal it." She said quickly as my step father ran at us.
Quickly, Peridot levitated the stop sign and hit the horrid man with it, it did nothing, he only picked it up and threw it at us, pointed side front. It hit me, square in the collar bone where I felt my flesh tear open.
"(Y/n)!!!" Peridot screamed horrified, using her powers she gained control of the blood soaked pole and threw it at him one more, watching as he stared at the damage he had done. Before catching the pole with one hand, throwing it aside and walking off as if I was nothing but rubbish. He was evil.
She ran towards my heap of blood and body on the floor as Steven returned, jumping up in panic and placing a bubble around me. "We need to take her to the others!" He demanded, licking his hand and placing it over my wound. "My magic healing spit can't fix this entirely... we need help." He called as the bubble I was in began to float with the two of them.
I didn't feel the pain as much as when my skin first ripped open but the loss of blood definitely made my head feel dizzy. I turned to Peridot before mouthing a small thanks. She looked determined at me before nodding and sprinting with Steven.
"Peridot." I whispered so she could only hear. "Don't tell anyone about who did this, say an intoxicated person came up and attacked." She looked at me worriedly but nodded nonetheless.
Then, for the first time in my life, I passed out.
*Flash back end*
I couldn't remember what had happened or how, all I knew was that we were arguing, and that had been enough for me to break. I couldn't do it, not tear apart everything I had with that gem, not with Pearl, she may not have been there at the beginning, but she was here now, and still after catching me try to run to find whatever it is I was looking for, for the umpteenth time, never had I anticipated such reactions.
"Why are you so....so..." Pearl struggled to find the words, "So selfish?!" The words toppled out of her mouth as I glared. The anger long forgotten had begun to resurface.
"Selfish." I repeated menacingly, "SELFISH!?" I clenched my fists so tight that the nails on my fingertips had left marks on my palms. "I can show you selfish." I mumbled. Pearl looked at me in surprise.
"(Y/n), I... I didn't mean to offend-"
"Oh but you did." I spat. "And now I can tell you what selfish really is." I glared. "Selfishness-" I began, stepping towards the gem, "Is when a person is misjudged for being greedy BY those who are greedy-" I stopped, my eyes widened at the hatred I had created from my anger. Hell, even as a weak human compared to an all mighty gem, Pearl was scared. Her face was twisted into petrified fear and she hesitantly began to take steps back. I sank to the floor, knees to my chest as Pearl looked at me.
"(Y/n)?" She asked gently.
"I'm sorry." I mumbled.
"I... I'm sorry to, it appears I've... triggered something..." she said guiltily. I looked up at her without saying a word. We were silent for a while. "Who told you that definition?" she asked gently. I looked up at her with tearful eyes.
"Selfishness is when a person is misjudged for being greedy by those who are greedy." I repeated, "That's how it seems most of the time." Pearl frowned.
"People have called you selfish before." It was a statement, not a question at which I finally unbuckled.
"Yeah, selfish for wanting my real father when he was dead, selfish for wanting to spend time with my brother, selfish for not liking my abusive step father- heck! I was called selfish because I wasn't allowed to tell my mother that my step father was cheating on her with a girl he met at the strip club, not that she would have believed me anyways." I looked up at Pearl.
"I had no idea." She finally said. "I'm so sorry that happened." I nodded in appreciation.
"But that was nothing to me, I didn't think of those family issues when you said I was selfish, I was thinking about high school." Pearl gave me a quizzical look.
"Before I dropped out 2 ish years ago, girls would create rumours about me..." I mumbled. "They said I was selfish as well as a bunch of other things that I never did... I guess I just felt alone all the time so when you said I was selfish I felt like I was going to be alone again." Pearl looked at me.
"I'm so terribly sorry." I shook my head in disagreement.
"Don't be... today you were right...I was selfish." I bit my lower lip. "Now I've realised... I AM selfish... those things I've said...they were selfish." I said in my best "matter-of-fact" voice. Pearl looked at me.
"That's not true...In my thousands of years here-" I gave a surprised look, "I know, I don't look a day older than 20." She joked as I laughed, "But out of my experience, I've never met a human who accepted to so many flaws, especially when it wasn't true... Most humans I spoke to or knew were stubborn, not wanting to admit to anything in fear it would make them less stronger and you're the entire opposite... you're not selfish...I was being stupid... and I should have thought more about my words...I'm sorry it's just... you're the first human I've ever openly discussed something with and it's felt...normal."
I took a deep breath.
"It was my step father who attacked me the other day, not some drunk person." I said. Pearl gasped.
"I swear I'll make him regret he ever did that to you!" She sounded so mad, so protective of me, she traced the invisible scars that Steven's healing spit fixed up. "I wish I was there to save you." She said sadly.
"There was nothing you could have done, I hadn't known you till after."
"Still." Pearl insisted.
"Besides, you saved my life afterwards by fixing me up, consider me dead if it weren't for you."
"I'd rather not think that, I couldn't imagine you dying in my arms." She blushed a dark pretty teal colour.
Silence filled the air once more, but this time it wasn't the horrible awkward silence, it was a nice silence, full of understanding.
"18" I finally mumbled more to myself, not expecting her to hear.
"Sorry?" she called, catching me off guard and having to take a double glance. My face blushed when I realised she had indeed heard me. I cleared my throat before I daringly looked into her sky blue eyes.
"You don't look a day older than 18."
Pearl grinned slightly, "Yet you look merely 16..." She replied slowly. "Quite young for a human your age." I blushed even more.
"How old are you exactly?" I asked curiously, "You don't have to answer! Sorry, that sounded rude." I hastily added. Pearl smiled.
"If I knew I'd tell you." She blushed. My eyes widened.
"When did you lose track?" I asked.
"Um...about...5 thousand years ago?" She guessed. I laughed.
"Does that mean that all of you are pretty much ageless?"
"You could put it that way...except Steven and Peridot, Steven being 14-"
"14?!" I repeated shocked.
"Yes, he does look quite young, but he's half gem so it's expected of him to be so... Gems don't age really."
"Define "really"." I said.
"Well, we pop out of the ground kind off, all grown except we are slightly smaller... as time passes we still look the same but our minds mature...if that makes sense, so the next time we reform after "poofing", our appearances change slightly but of course not so much." Pearl shrugged.
"Has Peridot not "poofed" ever then?" I questioned, she looked like a 7 year old!
"Oh she has once... but she still acts childish because she is still very young, 573 I believe." My jaw dropped.
"She's 573 years old?!" I asked.
"Mhmm." Pearl hummed in amusement towards my reaction.
"I must seem like a baby to you guys then." I said as Pearl pulled me into a side hug of comfort. It felt nice, I wasn't so sure why but it did. Other problems could wait – for now, I was content and that's all it really took.