-Pearl's POV-

<dream>

"You didn't do your job, White Pearl." says the glowing gem before me. "Therefore, you and Pink Pearl will trade. Pink Diamond has... Lower standards that you might be able to fulfill. I don't want you anymore."

<time skip>

"Pearl, I'm having a baby!" Rose Quartz says. No... I can't lose her too... Please...
"Rose-!" she shushes me and says, "It doesn't matter what you say. I will never be back. Goodbye."

"No!"

<end of dream>

I woke up sweating with Amethyst looking at me in a worried manner. "Pearl... I heard you talking, so I came in to check on you..." she says.
"A-amethyst? I..." I start saying, but then remember the dream I had.

While it was all over the place, it still reminded me that I'm a defective gem who can't do what she's supposed to do. I feel tears prick my eyes, and Amethyst says, "Pearl! What's wrong?!" as she grabs my shoulders lightly.

"You... You just wouldn't understand, Amethyst..." I tell her. "Then help me to..." she says quietly. "...I... I had a dream about... Who I used to be... And how I failed..." I try explaining.
"You mean about you being a servant of the Diamonds?" she asks for clarification. I nod and she sighs.

"Tell me about your dream." she tells me.

-Amethyst's POV-

Considering how often we fight, no one would just know that I actually really like Pearl; I have ever since I became a Crystal Gem, and here she was, crying helplessly in front of me.
"Tell me about your dream." I say, hoping to make her feel better by letting her vent.

"There's... Something you don't know about me..." she says, sounding overwhelmingly distraught. "What's that?" I ask. "I wasn't always Pink Diamond's pearl... I... I used to belong to White Diamond..."
After she says that, I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping. I had always just assumed... But, I guess it makes sense; her gem is on her forehead just like White Diamond's, while the pearl White Diamond was controlling had a gem on her stomach, just like Rose...

"Pearl..." I say, but she continued talking.
"And the other pearls know! They just... Aren't allowed to say anything... But they know the reason we switched; I messed up as White Diamond's pearl, and I couldn't even stop Pink Diamond from becoming half of Steven! I'm a useless, defective, good-for-nothing pearl..." she rambles on.

I don't want to hear Pearl talk about herself like this. If I'd have known how much she was suffering...
"Pearl, who cares about what your job was supposed to be? What matters is what you are now, and what you are is a beautiful, graceful, sophisticated gem that none of us could function without." I tell her.

-Pearl's POV-

I really do appreciate Amethyst trying to cheer me up like this, but I just... Can't get over this dream... That's actually part of the reason I don't like sleeping; I almost never have a pleasant one.
Amethyst is really trying to cheer me up, though... And I... Feel a weird sense of happiness when she's around me.

"Do you mean that...?" I ask her, drying my tears. She nods and hugs me. Hesitantly, I put my arms around her as well.

"Also, in case you forgot, I'm defective too. I'm much smaller than any other quartz, and I'm nowhere near as strong unless I fuse with someone. So yeah, I understand the feeling of being an outcast or a mistake. That much, I do understand." she continues.

I hug her tighter as tears prick my eyes again. "Thank you, Amethyst..." I say quietly. We stay like that for a moment before she says, "Hey, Pearl?"
"Yes?" I ask, waiting for her to continue. "Well... The thing is... I like you, and I was wondering..."

"Amethyst, don't you like all of us?" I ask, not understanding at first. She stifles a laugh and says, "No, as in, I have a major crush on you, Pearl... And I was wondering if you would be the Sapphire to my Ruby?"

It took me a moment to understand that. Ruby is tempermental at times, but loves Sapphire. Sapphire is usually calm and collected, and loves Ruby the same.
Is... Is this Amethyst's way of telling me she wants to be together like that?

"Amethyst, I... Y-yes, I will." I finally manage to say. She smiles at me and says, "Can I kiss you?"

-Amethyst's POV-

"What is a... Kiss?" she asks me. She's so... Lacking of knowledge in the love department. "Well, I could show you... If you let me..." I tell her hesitantly. "Okay, sure." she says.
I grab her chin with my right hand and pull her towards me slowly. When we're only a few inches apart, I can see her blushing a little. "This is what a kiss is." I say just before connecting our lips.

At first, she was stunned, but tried to retaliate the action. She didn't do half bad, either. When we pull away, she says, "What a strange action to engage in... I... I think I like it..." she rambles while gently holding her left cheek.

"Hey, Pearl? Don't think about how 'you failed and you're defective', because so am I. We can be wrong... Together, okay? I love you." I say. Pearl smiles sadly and says, "I love you too, Amethyst."

It became easier to form Opal after that day.