Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of its characters. Knowing me, it'd be even angstier if I did.

Poof

Lapis hated this.

The entire situation was too much like the last war for Lapis's tastes, but she continued to fight. She tried to comfort herself that at least time she chose to get involved in this battle, but really, what other choice did she have? Fight or be shattered?

So she ignored the way her chest seized up and the way her throat tightened and fought on.

After all, she had people relying on her.

Homeworld had returned to Earth. The cat had been let out of the bag about the Crystal Gems, Steven, and the Cluster, so, of course, Yellow Diamond was not about to stand by and let the Earth continue to peacefully exist.

She'd sent more than just Rubies this time. It wasn't as large a force as it would have been in the past, but the gems were effective enough at their job.

Lapis's water whipped through the air. She effortlessly manipulated it, going on the attack then switching to defense and back once more as easily as twitching a finger. As Garnet had reminded her, while they waited for the ships to approach and tried to take out as many as possible with the light cannons, she had once easily handled all the Crystal Gems with a cracked gem. She could more than hold her own on the battlefield as long as she focused.

From the corner of her eye, Lapis could tell the other fights were going as well as hers. Pearl and Amethyst had fused to let Opal join the team; she picked off several of the still floating ships with her arrows and provided cover fire to give everyone some breathing room. Garnet was busting her way through the ranks left and right, clearly showing why she had once been called the Crystal Gems' Power Couple. Steven and Connie's double team was flawless as they fused and unfused to take on their enemies with their combined strength and skills. Peridot was also holding off gems in her reconstructed robot, occasionally using her metal powers to break off panels and wrap up her enemies.

They were all doing perfectly fine. Frankly, this battle was in their favor despite all of Homeworld's power. Lapis was sure that they'd come out on top like usual.

So why was there a lump of dread settling at the bottom of her stomach?

When it finally happened, all it took was a few crucial seconds.

A Jasper managed to slip past her guard. She barreled towards her, fists raised, and Lapis readied herself to snap the water like a whip and take her out, but just then the light hit the Jasper at such an angle –

Suddenly it wasn't a Jasper coming at her, but a Bismuth. It was going to poof her and everything was going to happen all over again. She would be captured and trapped, unable to reform, and they'd interrogate her even though she wasn't one of them, even though she knew nothing. No. No, wait, that wasn't right – she was one of them now – but she couldn't talk, couldn't reveal what she knew. She had to protect Steven – Steven, who freed her from the reflective prison. Steven her friend, Steven who fixed her and let her go home – but it wasn't home anymore. It was just the same treatment as 5000 years ago, but she – she – and Jasper –

Without meaning to, Lapis had frozen in place, caught in her ever-spiraling thoughts. She could no longer see the approaching Jasper, who was smaller but just as powerful as the one in her memories, whose descending fist was aimed straight at her.

"-apis."

She didn't know of the incoming danger due to the danger of the past.

"Lapis!"

It was the shove that snapped her out of it.

One moment, she was bracing herself for a blow 5000 years past while also trying to fly away from Jasper's outstretched hand. The next, Lapis found herself blinking down at Peridot. In less than a second, Lapis registered the reality before her eyes.

Peridot, arms outstretched towards her and clearly the source of the shove, looked up at her in relief. Distantly, Lapis noticed her robot sparking and overturned, broken beyond use. But more importantly, she saw the moment that the Jasper's fist smashed down on Peridot, who was stumbling where Lapis had been only seconds before.

Pop!

Tink! Tink! Tink!

Lapis stared with wide eyes as a familiar poof of smoke appeared where Peridot had been. She couldn't tear her eyes away as the green gem floated in the air for the span of a breath before clattering to the ground.

Peridot had been poofed.

It took a moment for Lapis to fully comprehend that.

Steven and the other gems had shared a good laugh with her over the story of Peridot versus the Corrupted Gem. She had been smashed by boulders, injectors, the wall, but hadn't come close to poofing. She had bragged that Peridots were tougher than they looked, that there was no way she'd ever be so easily poofed.

But now she…

Then Lapis realized why Peridot had been poofed.

She'd been trying to protect her.

Her!

"Oops." The Jasper said, sounding almost bored as she lifted her fist up. She seemed to take after the Jasper from Lapis's nightmares more than the Jaspers Amethyst had met at the Zoo. "Missed."

Lapis only barely registered the other gem as she stared at the gleaming green gem on the ground. Her mind was whirling once more, but in an entirely different direction.

Lapis had to admit that she hadn't really cared for Peridot at first. Orders or not, the gem had held her captive and was one of the people who had forced her to return to Earth. After everything with Jasper, Lapis didn't want to think that Peridot had changed. Sure, she seemed to be trying to make amends, at Steven's urging, but Peridot had just been… really bad at it.

It wasn't until Peridot agreed to leave that Lapis realized that she really was being sincere in her apology. So Lapis had decided to give her a chance and flicked the Ruby ship out of the sky.

She hadn't regretted it.

Peridot was enthusiastic and intense when it came to things she liked or was interested in. When she was investigating something new or trying to figure things out, she went about it with a single-minded determination that Peridots were known for. And if there was one thing that Peridot had wanted, she had wanted Lapis to see that the Earth wasn't all bad, just like she had come to learn.

Their relationship had had its bumps. Lapis knew that after everything she couldn't be the easiest person to live with. And Peridot's obsessive nature and tendency to go overboard could be trying at times.

But they'd gotten used to each other. Peridot learned when not to push and had never made Lapis feel bad when she had to deal with things. Lapis learned when to just roll her eyes and go along with what Peridot wanted.

It was because of Peridot that Lapis now considered this world home.

And she…

"Was this the Peridot that betrayed our Diamond?" The Jasper sneered, looking down at Peridot's gem. "Well then, this is highly deserved." The Jasper lifted a foot, clearly ready to shatter the gem.

Lapis wasn't about to allow her issues blind her to the situation at hand again. "No!" She yelled, and with a wave of her hand, the water that had puddled on the ground in the absence of her control sprang back up and pushed back the Jasper.

The Jasper grunted, and Lapis noticed that some reinforcements were beginning to close in. Some of them were even gems that Peridot had managed to subdue but had broken out of their bonds. Lapis set that to the side though as she stepped up to the spot Peridot had been.

With trembling fingers, Lapis bent down and picked up Peridot. It was fairly smooth and so… small. Somehow it was a lot smaller than Lapis normally thought it was. Peridot wasn't really the biggest of gems in the first place, but somehow her large personality filled up the entire room with her presence. To see her like this… was weird to say the least.

"Ahhh. Were you attached?" Some gem snickered as they closed in.

Lapis ignored them, closing her eyes and slowly standing. How dare they.

"These Crystal Gems are so pathetic, clinging to each other like the weaklings they are." Another gem said, but there was a murmur of agreement among her enemies.

How dare they do this.

Lapis had felt rage before. When she had first been released, she had been so angry at the Crystal Gems for never thinking about setting her free and keeping her contained like the Diamonds' forces had. She had been furious at Jasper, for hurting her, for hurting Steven, and she had taken a dark pleasure in finally being the one to imprison someone and have them know her pain.

Neither of those sensations could compare to the feeling bubbling up inside her now.

Her hand curled around Peridot protectively.

The gems drew closer. Despite their advantage, they seemed to be taking caution.

She could feel it underneath the surface. Lapis Lazuli gems were used to terraform planets to prepare them for colonization. They had power over water to achieve this purpose. And she could sense it down below, seething and surging just like the rage inside her.

"How dare you." Lapis growled out loud, opening her eyes and glaring at her opponents. "You think you can come here and destroy our home."

Several gems actually seemed to jerk back at the ferocity of her gaze, but they pressed on regardless.

"This is the home that Peridot and I worked to build together!" Lapis raised her hand that wasn't clutching Peridot. "And you aren't taking my home from me again!"

Water burst from the ground. At Lapis's bidding, it pummeled the Homeworld gems. She didn't really think anymore, just using the barest of twitches to adjust as needed.

Her only real thought was that she couldn't lose everything again.

So she ignored the yells and screams.

She didn't know how long the rest of the battle lasted. It seemed to take forever but at the same time it seemed to take no time at all. Before she knew it, all the enemy gems were poofed. As her breathing righted itself, she noticed Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst going around and bubbling them, their own fights finished.

Lapis jumped at the soft touch at her elbow, still in battle mode. She whirled just to see Steven and Connie's worried eyes looking up at her.

"Lapis?" Steven's voice trembled slightly. "Where's Peridot?"

She blinked down at him. With a jolt, she realized that Steven probably thought Peridot had been shattered.

It wasn't that bad, but she didn't know how to tell him what happened. She looked over at her hand and slowly opened it, revealing Peridot's gem.

"She got poofed?" Connie asked as she and Steven followed her gaze. She tilted her head to get a better look at the gem.

"Y-yes." Lapis confirmed, hoping that she didn't sound as worried as she felt. After all, Peridot would be fine; they had all been poofed at one point or another. And Lapis had made sure to protect her gem from being shattered.

That didn't stop Lapis from jerking her hand away slightly upon seeing Steven reaching out to touch the gem.

He paused, his hand raised in mid-air. Steven peeked up at Lapis's face, but didn't move another inch. "I just want to check and make sure there aren't any cracks." He said softly.

With only another moment of hesitation, Lapis nodded and allowed Steven to take Peridot from her. If there is anything wrong, Steven can fix it. She told herself as he inspected the gem.

"Looks okay!" Steven grinned up at her as he completed his examination. He handed the gem back to Lapis, and without even registering it, her hand curled protectively around it once more.

By now, the other gems had finished clearing the field of the bubbled gems. They came over to join them and quickly figured out what happened.

"Don't worry!" Amethyst reassured her. "I'm sure she'll pop back out at any time!"

"Yes, she certainly reformed rather quickly after Steven let her out of her bubble." Pearl said, with a nostalgic smile.

"Yeah! She didn't even miss a beat and just kept talking!" Steven chimed in.

"In any case, I'm sure she'll be back soon, and then she'll be telling us her brilliant plan to stop Homeworld next time." Connie smiled, too, and Lapis couldn't help but return it slightly because her words were certainly true.

However, Lapis noticed that Garnet hadn't said a word.

It had been a week since Peridot had been poofed.

Lapis was wondering at what point was she allowed to start all out panicking.

She was pacing back and forth in the barn again, glancing over at Peridot on Steven's "Poof Pillow" every few seconds. There was still no telltale glow to indicate the reforming of a gem.

She hated this waiting. It certainly wasn't helping her mentally. She'd had to coach herself through several "bad episodes" that normally Peridot would help her with. Lapis was just glad that she hadn't had a full-blown bad day since Peridot wasn't currently available.

She had never noticed before how much she relied on the other gem.

Lapis wanted her back already.

And the ever-present threat of Homeworld's return certainly wasn't helping her either.

Lapis stopped and took a deep breath. She was spiraling again. Peridot would never fault her for it, she'd never made a big deal about it, but this was the very thing that had led to this predicament.

No matter what Steven said, Lapis knew this was her fault.

She didn't get why Peridot would've been so willing to throw herself in harm's way to protect her. Peridot had always had a healthy sense of preservation; she knew how to protect herself.

However, it was Lapis who had frozen, and that's why she blamed herself.

"Knock knock." The soft words were accompanied by a tap on the door. Lapis turned to see Garnet standing at the barn's entrance.

So far, all of the other members of their little band had visited, but this was Garnet's first visit since Peridot had been poofed.

A jagged slice of fear ripped through Lapis, because if Garnet, the only one of them who could get a glimpse of the future was here, then surely it had to be bad.

Right?

"It's alright, Lapis." Garnet's words snapped her out of it. She turned to see the fusion examining Peridot's gem.

"Is it really?" Lapis tried not to sound too sarcastic, but she really couldn't help it.

"Peridot is fine." Garnet said, and something immediately relaxed inside Lapis. After all, Garnet usually had a pretty good grasp of things. "Although," Lapis tensed, but she just chuckled, "try not to be too annoyed at her."

"Annoyed at what?" Lapis asked. Because, while Peridot certainly could be annoying at times, but it's not like she was going to be annoyed over Peridot preventing her from poofing.

"Oh, you'll see." Garnet was still chuckling. "She'll be coming out soon. And she does care about your opinion, so please be gentle."

Lapis had no clue what she meant. Garnet hung out with her a little while longer, though still evading giving any answers, until the sun started to set.

Lapis couldn't help but sigh as she left. As much as she enjoyed the visits from the other Crystal Gems, she didn't really feel comfortable with them there unless Peridot, Connie, or Steven was also there.

Of course, that meant that she was alone again with just Peridot's silent gem. She glanced up at the slowly appearing stars, but they were just as quiet.

She hated the silence like this, especially as Peridot usually helped fill it in with her background chatter or even her comforting presence.

After a moment, Lapis came to a decision and, gently picking up the Poof Pillow with Peridot on it, she went outside. She settled on the tractor and put Peridot next to her. With that done, she settled to watch the sunset.

There had been nights where she and Peridot would stay up all night watching the stars. Peridot would talk about all that humans had learned about the stars as well as point out all the places where Homeworld held control. Though she had avoided the second topic after the first time she had brought it up and saw Lapis's reaction.

There was also that one night when they stayed up to try to catch sight of falling stars. They hadn't actually seen any, but Peridot had tried to lighten the mood as the sun rose by claiming that was a shooting star.

She missed those nights.

Lapis's sigh was heavier than the last as she looked from the darkening sky to Peridot's gem. "Jeez, would you come back already?" She grumbled.

Just as she looked back up, she noticed a streak of light crossing the sky. A small gasp escaped her lips before she squeezed her eyes shut. Please let this work. She knew exactly what to wish for.

She opened her eyes and glanced at Peridot's gem.

Still no telltale glow.

"Stupid." Lapis muttered to herself as she turned away. As if simply wishing on a star would help…

She closed her eyes for a moment, berating herself for daring to hope, but she immediately opened them as a light began to grow on the other side of her eyelids. Glancing towards the source, she gave a small gasp of delight, "Wha…"

Peridot's gem had lifted into the air, glowing. A humanoid shape began to form around it, and Lapis couldn't stop the grin on her face. "Peridot!" She cried out as the glow abated, revealing her friend.

Peridot beamed up at her. "Lapis, you're okay!"

Lapis didn't even wait for her to finish before she had scooped her into a hug. "I – you – " I'm sorry. I was so worried. What took you so long? Are you alright? The words were on the tip of her tongue, yet none of them seemed to want to come out.

Peridot hugged her back just as fiercely. "I figured someone else would be able to help you as long as I intervened with the incoming blow; I'm glad my calculations were correct."

Lapis abruptly pulled back. "You – you – " Upon looking over Peridot, Lapis was suddenly sidetracked. "What are you wearing?"

For the most part, Peridot looked the same. She had the same goggles slipped over her eyes and gem. She was as short as ever and her hair was exactly the same. Her clothes, however, had undergone a change with her reformation.

Peridot now wore what looked like a black leotard, with green sleeves that fell on her shoulders similar to her old outfit. The same dark green covered her thighs while her shins were covered in black as well. The biggest change however, was in the center of her chest and on her knees.

In the place of where yellow diamonds had once proudly sat, there were now pale green stars, a similar shade to her hair.

"Ah, yes." Peridot brightened a bit at her notice. "Well, since the day I told Yellow Diamond, she was… well…" She glanced away slightly embarrassed. "I knew I could be considered a Crystal Gem." She frowned. "I just had a hard time figuring out where to put the star. Plus, it took a while for me to figure out how everything else should be…"

"Wait a minute." Lapis put the pieces together. "Are you telling me it took you so long to reform because you couldn't figure out you outfit?"

Peridot blinked up at her. "Yes?" Her frown deepened at Lapis's reaction.

Lapis sat back on her heels. She couldn't believe that she'd been so worried when Peridot had just been –

Try not to be too annoyed with her. Garnet's voice chimed in her head. She does care about your opinion.

She couldn't help her next reaction.

Lapis laughed.

She threw her head back and laughed, because really, what else could she do? It wasn't necessarily a happy laugh, filled with the anxiety of the past week, her guilt from the battle, her relief at Peridot being okay, and the sheer ridiculousness that it had taken Peridot so long to reform because she couldn't figure out where she wanted the star symbol of the Crystal Gems.

If she didn't laugh now, she would cry.

"Lapis?" Peridot's touch was tentative as she looked up at her with worried eyes. "Are you really okay?" Lapis could tell that the question was meant for more than just the way she was currently acting.

Lapis calmed down slightly and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, as best as I can be right now."

Peridot didn't look pleased with the answer, but she still didn't protest as Lapis drew her in for another hug.

"You look great." Lapis added, and her smile widened slightly as she practically felt the pride blooming inside Peridot. If only she could leave it at that. "But Peridot, if we're ever in a situation like that again," her hold on her tightened as she remembered those moments as the fist came down and Peridot disappeared in a poof of smoke, "please don't."

She could feel Peridot stiffen. "But – "

"Please." Lapis begged.

Peridot didn't say anything, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. This wasn't the end of the conversation, Lapis knew that. And she knew she had slipped a bit too much that Peridot would surely try to figure out the root of the problem. She just didn't know how she felt with the jumble of emotions she had tried figure out in the past week.

She knew that she didn't want to go through what she had before, 5000 years ago, but at the same time, she never wanted to see one of her friends, especially Peridot, get hurt because of her again.

Luckily, the two of them had gotten to know each other, and Peridot knew when to drop something for another time. She relaxed in Lapis's hold and squeezed her tighter.

"I'm glad you're okay." Peridot muttered, soft enough that only Lapis would be able to hear her even though they were alone for the moment.

Lapis squeezed right back. "I'm glad you're okay too."

For now, this was enough. Peridot was fine, Homeworld had been beaten back again, and Lapis had her friend back. None of them knew who would come through all of this in the end, or what the consequences would be, but for now, this was enough for Lapis.

And next time, she'd make sure that no one would get poofed for her sake.

Omake

"By the way, where's Pumpkin?" Peridot asked as they made their way back to barn. They had spent the night under the stars just relaxing in each other's presence, and for the first time, it occurred to her that their vegetable dog was surprisingly absent.

"Oh. When I first brought your gem home, she tried to eat it. She's staying with Connie for now."

Peridot was very glad that Lapis had decided to look after her.

AN: So I had the idea a while ago of Peridot getting poofed during a battle and Lapis then protecting her gem. Admittedly, this turned out... a lot longer than I expected. I think it turned out well though. Plus, I like the idea of Peridot taking so long because she's secretly agonizing over how to change her outfit. It's very much a Peridot thing to do.

I don't really count this as Lapidot (maybe pre-Lapidot if anything), but if you want to view it like that go ahead.

Also, yeah, I forgot about Pumpkin in the second half, but I think I gave a logical explanation for that as dogs tend to try to eat anything that can fit in their mouths (plus I didn't feel like going back and trying to incorporate Pumpkin).