"You should really bubble it." Pearl murmurs one last time, slipping past the smallest gem towards the temple.

"You should really bubble it." The purple gem mocks as Pearl's door closes behind her, the pillow hoisted high above her head like a trophy. Garnet doesn't stick around long, waiting for Steven and Amethyst to get off the warp pad before she vanishes in a beam of light, taking the mission orb they'd brought along with her.

Steven follows the purple gem towards the exit, looking over his shoulder towards where the tallest gem stood. "Do you ever wonder where she goes?"

Amethyst continues for the door, holding the desert glass pillow under her arm as she opens it. "Nope. Garnet always does her own thing. Probably going on some boring solo mission." Steven frowns a little, but nods and breaks off, turning to head up to his loft instead of following the gem outside.

Amethyst makes her way down to the shack sitting just a stone's throw away from the porch, not even bothering to knock. Instead, she kicks the door open, the wood creaking under the force. "HEY DAN!" She shouts, scanning the room.

Dan is indeed inside, and although he appears asleep face down on the couch, a moment later an arm raises in a lazy wave.

"Yo! Guess what I got!" She says, closing the door with her foot as she enters, holding out the pillow. Dan turns his head to face the gem with a frown, although it disappears as he looks at the object.

"Oh, thanks." He murmurs, snatching the pillow to pull it under his head.

Amethyst stands there with her arms out for a second, before snatching it back. "No you idiot, it's a gem!" She says, pointing to the green stone attached to the fabric.

The frown that was on his face earlier returns as she takes the pillow out from under his head. "And?" He says, before he buries his face back into his arm. "Unless it magically grants eight hours of sleep, I'm not interested."

Amethyst grinds her teeth for a moment, nearly throwing the pillow down. "Aren't you curious how I got it?" She says, almost yelling at the sleepy man.

Dan picks up on her tone, turning to face her with a blank look on his face. "First of all, you woke me up in the middle of a really nice nap. Secondly, I don't enjoy hearing about how you get to do cool stuff and I can't because I'm old and I'd die because I'm human. So no. I'll pass."

His words are brutally honest. It's one of the things she likes most about him, even if it meant he could get a bit harsh. That being said, she does noticeably flinch at the tone he used.

Something in Dan's eyes seem to soften as he watches her reaction, the man pulling himself up to sit. "But I guess if you're already here, I might as well hear it."

Amethyst visibly relaxes, tossing the pillow in the air a few times. "Well,"

"And Garnet and Pearl couldn't do anything about it, but I snatched it right off the pillar with my whip, and all the sand buildings turned back to sand! I totally beat this stupid gem that none of the other Crystal Gems could!" Amethyst swings her fist, punching the soft side of the pillow with a wide grin.

Dan nods and throws his legs up onto the couch. "I wish I coulda seen the looks on their faces. Especially Pearl. I bet she was so embarrassed."

Amethyst nods her head a few times, laughing at the memory. "Yeah, she looked totally dumb! It was the best-"

"LION!"

Dan sits up, and Amethyst turns towards the door. "Lion, I knew you'd come back!" It was Steven's voice from outside, and it sounded… excited? "What are you doing in front of Dan's house? Oh, I bet you just wanted to meet him!"

A moment later, the door swings open. "It's Dan, he's-"

"Steven." Dan says, cutting him off. "Why is there a lion at my front door?"

Steven has a wide grin on his face, with excitement and joy clear in his eyes. If the boy wasn't almost constantly sporting the look, Dan might actually be moved by it. "He's Lion, and he's my bestest friend in the whole world! We met on the mission we just went on!" Steven wraps his arms around the beast's mane

"Oh yeah, I do remember that." Amethyst nods, stuffing the pillow under her arm as she walks over. "But what is it doing here? Didn't it live in the desert or something?"

Dan shuffles towards the group, stretching his arms above his head. He remains silent, but his eyes are locked on the creature.

"It came to see me! We're best pals." Steven hefts himself up onto the lion's back, giving the creature a pat. "See? He's the best!" The pink lion doesn't respond, still just standing there, but it's impassive gaze is glued to Amethyst.

"Uh, it's staring at me." She says, pointing at its face. "It's kinda creepy."

Dan strokes his chin, looking between the two of them. "Amy, bubble the gem." He says after a moment.

Amethyst gives him a weird look, her mouth opening to respond, but it closes after only a second and she pulls the pillow out from under her arm, quickly enveloping it in a purple sphere. A tap later, and it zooms off to the temple. Like that, the lion's attention drifts away, and he lets out a wide yawn, falling to his belly to nap. Steven lets out a little yelp as they fall, that turns into a giggle as he's cushioned by the soft mane.

Amethyst gives Dan another funny look, her left eyebrow arched as high as it will go without shapeshifting. Dan, on the other hand, seems to relax a bit, burying his hands in his pockets. "Well, he seems tame enough. Can you get him off my doorstep?"

Steven nods, giving the creature a pat on the head. "C'mon Lion, let's move!"

Lion doesn't, remaining on his belly with his eyes closed.

"Lion! Lion, come on!" The boy repeats, climbing off the beast and pulling on it. Still, it doesn't move.

Dan sighs and slides past, Amethyst following behind. "Just make sure you have that thing under control before Pearl sees it, or she's gonna freak." He murmurs, running a hand over his head.

"It's a LION, Steven!"

Dan lets out a small sigh, finishing the mouthful of chaaaaps he was munching on. Amethyst shoots him a sideways glance, a frown forming on her face. Pearl sounded angry, and not the annoyed or even agitated kind, but the full blown yelling kind of angry. Something must have happened on her mission. Dan returns the look with what Amethyst assumes is his best attempt to comfort.

"But he loves me!" A second voice, Steven, yells back.

Soon they approach the house, and the sound of shouting inside. Inside, Pearl and Steven are standing opposite each other. Steven has his arms out at his sides in front of the lion, and Pearl has her spear out. The lion seemed ambivalent to the situation, his large head resting on his front paws. His eyes weren't even open.

"He followed me home! He just wants to be friends!" Steven looks between Pearl and Garnet, the latter of which took a neutral stance near the warp pad, her arms crossed.

Pearl tightens her grip on her spear, still pointing it past the boy. "That's exactly we shouldn't trust it! It came all the way here fr-"

"Hey Pearl." Dan says, entering as he hands the bag of chaaaaps to Amethyst. Without another thought, the purple girl shoves the whole thing, plastic and all, into her mouth, swallowing it without a bite.

Pearl only barely glances over at Dan before her eyes snap back to the pink beast. However, a smile does appear on her face. "Dan, good, you're here. Tell Steven that he can't keep that dangerous creature around!"

Dan raises an eyebrow, moving to form a semicircle between the two. Amethyst walks past them to the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the stools. She pretends to occupy herself with someone's half finished sandwich, but her slow pace and frequent glances towards the light blue gem tell Dan what she's really focused on.

"Get Garnet to do it." He says, folding his arms.

Pearl tenses, her small smile disappearing. "She won't."

That makes Dan smile, his arms unfolding to come together behind his head. "I wonder why that is?" He asks rhetorically, secretly reveling the twitch that forms on her brow.

"Be serious! It's a wild animal!" She snaps, making the man huff.

"Fine," He says, turning to the lion. "Lion, do you promise not to hurt Steven, or anyone else?" He asks, a grin still on his face. The beast obviously doesn't respond, but one eye does open for a second to gaze at him, before it closes again. "Well, there we go. We have to take him at his word."

Despite how serious Pearl was, Amethyst couldn't help but chuckle. That being said, Pearl looks livid, and even she wouldn't push her too hard when she got like this. Just the glare the uptight gem shoots her for her laugh makes her flinch, before Pearl's head whips back around to face the laid back inventor.

"How can you joke at a time like this! Steven, and maybe you too, are in danger right no-"

"Pearl."

Gone is his jovial tone, replaced with a more neutral, almost serious tone. His arms are at his sides now, and his mocking grin is gone. Pearl is almost taken aback at his change of demeanor, but she remains steadfast with a frown.

"There is no such thing as a pink lion."

That, however, does make the gem stop. Her spear lowers a bit and she looks between the man and the lion, a confused look on her face. "What are you talking about? There's one right there."

Dan runs his hand through his hair. "Yeah, there's one, but lions don't come in pink normally. They come in a yellowy blonde color, with bits of black in their mane sometimes. But not pink." He motions to the lion sitting behind Steven. "You're pretty smart, Pearl. Put the pieces together."

The room is silent for a while. Pearl still looks confused, and she's distracted enough with her internal musings that her spear dissipates. After about twenty seconds Dan sighs, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Think, Pearl. You knew someone who lived the color pink. Everything she had or made was pink."

Pearl's eyes open wide, before she turns to him with a glare. "What are you saying?"

Dan doesn't even really feel like raising an eyebrow at this point. "It's Rose's lion." He says, after a moment's pause.

Pearl shakes her head. "No, it's not. Rose didn't have a lion."

"She could have. How else do you explain the pink lion. Hair dye?" Dan meanders over to the seats near the window. Pearl's stance follows him as he moves, her posture stiff and tense.

"Rose didn't have a lion, because if she had a lion she would have told me about it!" She hisses, her eyes narrowed in a harsh glare.

The look doesn't seem to affect Dan. He looks ready to respond, but the next words come from Garnet. "It does make sense." She says, shrugging a little bit. "Rose did keep secrets from all of us."

"But not from me! I was the one she told everything!" Pearl was beyond livid at this point. She was shaking at this point, and when she wasn't shouting, her mouth was open to show her teeth clenched tight inside.

"Rose wasn't perfect, Pearl."

The words cut through the room like a knife. Dan relaxes his neck, the top of his head tapping on the window pane. "She was just as capable as anyone else to omit details, leave out facts, and lie." Even with seemingly relaxed posture, his shoulders were stiff and his hands were curled tightly, very aware of the heavy tension in the room.

Amethyst gulps, no longer pretending to care about the remains of a sandwich on her plate. "Dan." She softly warns, shooting a nervous look towards Pearl.

If it were possible, she looked even madder. "Rose would never lie!" She says, her voice almost a whisper.

"She can and she did. I'll admit that she was almost always truthful, she did lie to me… to Amethyst… Garnet… she probably even lied to you."

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ROSE!"

For once, Dan seems to flinch, his head snapping up, but he maintains his general composure with a straight, blank face. "Sometimes, I think I know her better than you. Your vision of her is warped by-"

"Shut up! You stupid, ignorant human! I can't believe your gall!" Pearl stomps her foot, the house shaking a little bit.

"Pearl…" Garnet says, taking a step forward.

"No!" She shouts, spinning on her heel. "No, I won't let this slide! Not this time! Not about this!"

Garnet is visibly taken aback by the ferocity of her tone, especially directed at her. Dan, however, doesn't relent under the seething rage. "About what, your false image of Rose? You can't pretend she didn't do bad things. You can't pretend-"

Pearl spins back to face the human, taking a step forward. "Shut up! I will not allow you and your shortsightedness to tarnish her name!"

Any semblance of 'relaxed' was completely gone from Dan's composure. He sat up straight, with his hands gripping his knees, with a cold glare directed right back at Pearl. "How ironic." He murmurs, exhaling through his nose. "I'm the shortsighted one now, yet you're the one who can't let go."

For a moment, Pearl seems to consider his words, and for that moment the other occupants have a bit of hope that the situation, if not diffused, was at least simmering down. Then, Pearl slams her fist into the nearby counter, cracks splintering out from the point of impact.

"You know nothing." She hisses, her voice low. "You're a short lived fool. You think you knew her? You couldn't possibly!" As she speaks, the tone of voice begins to raise, until she's once again shouting at the man. "You're temporary! A momentary distraction! I hope you hurry up and die already so I can forget about you!"

Dan doesn't have an immediate response. Nobody does. There is a heavy silence that covers the room for a minute. Pearl can't help the small smirk pulling at her lips. For once, she actually won an argument against Dan! Not so smug now, was he?

"You…" He murmurs, malice evident in his voice. There's another short pause, before he stands. "You should really think about what you say before you let it out of your mouth."

Without another word, he turns on a heel and exits the house, slamming the door behind him. A short moment later, Amethyst follows after, but not before shooting a glare towards Pearl.

Pearl is completely lost. Of all the things she expected Dan to do, walk away was the last thing on her mind. Shoot back an insult, divert the argument… she was even ready for him to attack her, but walk away? Especially after what she said… did she lose again?

She spins, brushing past Garnet to enter the temple. Garnet's head dips a little bit, her eyes locked on the wooden panels where the two of them were. She lets out a small sigh, before she turns around to head into the temple as well.

"I'm sorry…"

Garnet spins, looking towards the forgotten occupant of the room. Steven was standing there, tears streaming down his eyes, with his gaze glued to the floor. Her heart breaks a little for the boy. "Steven," she begins, before Steven's head snaps back up to lock eyes with Garnet, at least the best he can with her visor in place.

"I-I didn't want them to fight! I just wanted lion to stay!"

Garnet walks over and takes a knee, placing a hand on his shoulder. With her other hand, she slowly removes her visor, revealing all three of her eyes. Steven's own eyes widen, but he doesn't say anything.

"Don't blame yourself for this. This had nothing to do with you." Before he can respond, she places a finger over his lips. "Pearl and Dan have never seen eye to eye. This was… inevitable."

Steven wipes one of his eyes, confusion evident on his features. "B-But-"

Garnet shushes the boy, shaking her head. "But nothing, Steven. It happened to be about the lion, but it could have been about a mission, it could have happened when you transformed… it could have happened before you were even born. Don't ever blame yourself for this. This is between them."

Steven's eyes drift back towards the ground, but he nods. Garnet stands again, bringing the visor back into existence. She turns and walks towards the temple door.

"You never told me you have three eyes." Steven says, just as the door begins to open.

Garnet looks over her shoulder, a small smile on her lips. "You never asked."

With that, she leaves Steven alone to his thoughts and his lion.

Well this seems familiar.

I swear I don't hate Pearl, but she can be a bit… salty? And the way she views Rose, well… but this fic isn't a Pearl bashing fic, I promise. Dan and Pearl just don't see eye to eye is all. Dan wasn't without blame either, he was the one to push her beyond her breaking point.

I'm super nervous about this chapter, though. Unlike the last chapter, this one was really hard to write. I had to keep a bunch of characters in character in a situation that we haven't really seen them in in the show before. Well, kind of, but not really. Point is, I really have no idea how I did, and it's rather important for the story moving forward. I hope I didn't mess it all up.

It might seem somewhat out of character for Pearl to explode like that, but I think it's reasonable. Pearl is rather fond of Rose, and I think she might have seen Dan's assertion as an attack on her. After all, she did kinda blow up at Steven in the episode Rose's Scabbard, and she actually likes Steven. My favorite episode from the first season probably would have to be that one, and Pearl isn't even my favorite character from the series.

By the way, rewatching that episode, I realize that Steven might have actually used his floating powers when trying to get to Pearl on that floating island, but her glare bummed him out enough that it stopped working.

Anyway, after this mini-arc, expect… actually, that's it for the plans really. My next major plan where I have a really solid idea of what is gonna happen is around Return and Jailbreak. That just leaves the majority of the first season in between me and it. Oh boy.

Well, I'm sure I'll think of something. I always seem to.

Oh, and I got 3 reviews on the last chapter! Thanks for the feedback.

yutch mathes: Peridot and Jasper are a ways off, but I do have plans for them.

SirAuruda1st: I plan to!

craftyminer188: You're welcome! I hope I didn't disappoint with this chapter.

Please, tell me how I did! Did I go too far? Not far enough? Am I focusing too much on the team dynamic and not enough on events? I appreciate every review that comes in, and I'll try to respond to them in future.

A small note, the first semester of college is coming to a close, so I might upload less as finals roll around.