Rock Stars: The Fall of The Crystal Gems is a Steven Universe fanfic written by soundlessAsdots
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Steven discovers that his deceased mother's rock band, The Crystal Gems, were popular in the late 90s.With the help of his best friend Connie, Steven attempts to get them to reunite as he tries to uncover the reason for the band's break-up.
The fanfic can be found on Archive of Our Own here.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- Adaptation Deviation: Whereas the original series is a high-concept Science Fantasy action show, Rock Stars: The Fall of The Crystal Gems is a slice-of-life drama with no fantastical elements.
- Adaptation Species Change: Due to the dramatic shift in genres, the Gems here are portrayed as ordinary human-beings.
- Bad Boss: Pearl has Marty fired as their manager when he tries getting Amethyst hooked on drugs to keep her from crumbling under the stress of their rock star lifestyle. Keep in-mind that Amethyst was still a minor at the time.
- The Diamond Trio has hired Pearl to write songs for their group with the promise that she would be allowed to release her own albums, all of which the Trio shelves.
- Benevolent Boss: It is revealed that Pearl had purchased half of the ownership of Greg's carwash, having saved the profits she received in a trust-fund for Steven.
- Cast Full of Gay: On-top of their skills at playing music, the Crystal Gems are also considered famous for being a band exclusively comprised of LGBT+ individuals, Pearl being a lesbian and Rose and Amethyst being bisexual. It is never stated what sexuality Garnet is, but the image of the band still sticks.
- Lapis and Peridot also start dating.
- Child Prodigy: Implied to be the case with Pearl, having been taught to play classical on the piano as a child, only for her to later become a beloved punk rock guitarist and song-writer.
- Death by Adaptation: Subverted. While the Rose Quartz of the show gave up her physical form to give birth to Steven in the original show, this leaves a more Ambiguous Situation on whether or not Rose can qualify as dead. Here, she is in-fact dead, having died in a botched c-section procedure due to their lack of affordable healthcare.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Downplayed. It is clear that Pearl really does want to reunite the Crystal Gems, she is legally forbidden to drop everything and do so with threats of a fine worth a small fortune for a breach in her contract. Felicia offers to pay for the whole thing to help her girlfriend get out of her contract, but Pearl does not want to use her like that and feels like it would be a waste of money. Because of this, she tries to use every loophole she can find in order to do what she loves.
- Parental Substitute: Having been appointed as Steven's godmother, Pearl acts as the closest thing to a mother Steven has much like in the show.
- Polyamory: Rose and Pearl started dating well-around high-school, Rose eventually begins seeing fellow rock-star Mr. Universe. While Pearl was not happy with the arrangement, they eventually reconcile, with Rose proclaiming that she wants Pearl to be there in her unborn son's life.
- Punk Rock: The genre the Crystal Gems adherred to.
- Second Love: While Pearl genially loves her current girlfriend Felicia, she still holds a torch for Rose, keeping various framed pictures of her in their home. While Felicia loves her back and understands why Pearl still holds out for Rose, she cannot help but feel like she will always be second best. This eventually causes them to break-up, only to eventually get back together months later.
