19. Drinking and digging your own grave?
Lapis hadn't meant anything by it when she asked where the bubbled gems normally went. She was mostly interested in getting the one in the barn out. But after Steven has explained that they all ended up in the temple, she couldn't stop thinking about the irony of that. Jasper was floating amongst a number of Crystal Gems in their base, and she couldn't do anything. It gave Lapis a moment of satisfaction at the thought.
Peridot had been practicing her bubbling powers, calling Steven on the computer as he waited in the bubble room while she practiced sending them there rather than to the barn. Sometimes they wouldn't appear, and they'd end up in some unknown. They were all only grateful they they were practicing on stones, not actual gems.
"Lazuli, check this out!" Peridot called as she began playing with her other powers. Lapis was in the truck, watching the tv screen, Peridot having introduced her to Camp Pining Hearts, Lapis flew out of it, knowing it to be easier to appease Peridot rather than ignore her.
Peridot was slowly putting a metal piece of one of her meep morps. Lapis stood with her arms crossed, watching with an interested look, though it was a bit fake, but she wouldn't admit that to Peridot.
"Impressive." Lapis said, but was suddenly interrupted by a loud siren.
"What's that?" Peridot yelled as the siren echoed around. Neither of them could recognize the noise as a tornado warning.
" I don't know." Lapis admitted, walking towards the front of the ban, followed closely by Peridot. The two stood outside of the large door and looked up at the yellow sky. No birds could be seen in the sky, and other than for the siren, everything seemed eerily calm.
"It may be some sort of warning…" Peridot said, looking around, but there didn't seem to be any any potential dangers.
Lapis shrugged it off. "Let's just call Steven." She suggested. Peridot smiled and nodded.
"Okay! Dibs on saying hi first!" She said, running back inside to retrieve the tablet. Lapis rolled her eyes slightly, before looking back into the sky. She hadn't really paid much attention to Earth clouds, but these ones seemed quite strange, but she merely walked back inside, not wanting to think much about it.
When Peridot got the tablet, she noticed she already had some messages from Steven.
"Get inside and shut the doors?" Peridot questioned as she read the messages out loud. "Why? I like the doors open." She said, looking back at Lapis as she walked in.
"I don't know, but it seems serious."
"What makes you say that?"
"He used 3 line and a dots." Lapis said, pointing out the exclamation points. Peridot nodded in recognition, before looking back towards the door.
"Oh my stars, what's that?" Peridot questioned. Lapis turned around and was shocked by the scene. The yellow sky had turned a dark grey, and in the distance could be a spiral of wind and debri. Both Lapis and Peridot looked at each other back and forth, a sense of fear running in them, before they ran to the barn doors.
They tried to poull them shut, but they wouldn't budge.
"It's getting closer!" Peridot yelled, fear in her eyes. Lapis pulled as hard as she could, but couldn't get the door to budge.
"What do we do?" She yelled. Peridot looked back outside, and saw that the spiral was getting closer at a high speed.
"I could fly us out-" Lapis yelled, her voice needing to be louder to be heard, but Peridot shook her head frantically.
"The wind is too strong!" She yelled. The green gem looked around for something, for any idea, when she noticed the green bubble that still floated on the ceiling. She looked at Lapis a moment, then back out at the tornado.
"Lapis!" She yelled, running towards her, hugging her tightly.
"What-" Lapis questioned, before she was surrounded by a green wall. Peridot stood on the outside, her eyes wet.
"I can send you to Steven's temple. You'll be safe." She said. Lapis realized what Peridot was doing, and quickly disagreed.
"Wait, not, Peridot-" But before she could finish the sentence, Peridot tapped the bubble, hoping it would be enough to send her away. The last thing Lapis saw was the tornado right in front of the barn, before she was suddenly whisked away, screaming as she was saved.
When she realized she had stopped moving, she began looking around frantically. "I need to get out!" She yelled, before pounding on the bubble. The green fell and disappear, and Lapis crashed on the floor.
"I have to get to Peri.." But Lapis trailed off when she realized where she was. She was in the temple, where all the other bubbled gems got sent. Peridot had managed to send her to safety.
Lapis shook her head a moment, needing to find a way out. She stood up and scanned for a door.
"Steven?! Can you hear me!?" She called out. She knew she was in the temple, but she had no idea where. She walked around a moment, before her eyes fell on a purple bubble, that wasn't too far from where she had landed.
The blue gem took a step towards it when she thought she recognized the shape.
"Jasper." Lapis gasped when she saw the triangular shaped gem, the color distorted by the bubbles hue, but it was undeniable who it was. Lapis summoned her wings suddenly to fly up towards it, being careful not to hit any of the other bubbles around.
"JHasper…" She whispered quietly, observing her new state. She had known that Jasper had become corrupted because of her will to fuse. Of course, Lapis hadn't stopped thinking of Malachite. How she felt, how nicely they complimented each other power wise…
Lapis reached towards the bubble, her fingertips gently caressing it. Lost in her own thoughts, she didn't hear a door open behind her.
"Lapis!" Came a sharp voice. The blue gem whipped around to find Garnet standing in the doorway, looking displeased.
"W-wait, I wasn't going to-"
Garnet walked further in. "I know you were. You would have let her out if I hadn't have stopped you." Garnet said. She stood beneath Lapis, who gently floated down, shame and hurt creeping all over her body.
"I just...You don't understand...I-I miss…"
"Jasper isn't there anymore." Garnet said sternly. Lapis could see her reflection within Garnet's visors, and she noticed how desperate her eyes had been. She had been staring longingly at Jasper, she had almost forgotten why she was here.
"Jasper is gone. Malachite is gone. But you have a friend who just saved you life." Garnet said, her voice having grown soft again, knowing how she had gotten here.
"Oh my god, Peridot, she's at the barn!" Lapis yelled, suddenly remembering how she had saved her. Lapis looked up at Garnet.
"We need to save her!" Lapis insisted. Garnet thought a moment.
"She most likely ended up hiding in the tool shed in the barn. She should be safe. The tornado is gone." Garnet assured her. Lapis could feel her eyes wetting when she heard that Peridot was safe.
"Thank you Garnet." She said, hurrying towards the door, but stopped before she was out. On the door she noticed a stone sitting amongst the other Crystal Gem's ones. Her own.
"So long as the Crystal Gem exist in the temple, she will have her own place." Garnet explained, smiling slightly.
Lapis smiled at it a moment, before hurrying out, going straight towards the warp pad.
She warped back to the barn, and gasped when she saw the scene. The barn was still standing, but many of their decorations had been tossed around, but Lapis didn't care about that at the moment.
"Peridot!" Lapis yelled, summoning her wings and flying towards the barn, landing on her feet in the door.
"Peridot?" SHe called out again, before rushing over to the tool shed. She quickly opened the door, to find Peridot sitting in the corner, having surrounded herself with flying tools with her metal powers.
The green gem looked up when she saw Lapis standing in the door, looking scared and relieved.
"Lapis!" She yelled, the tools all falling to the ground as Peridot jumped up and ran towards the other gem, hugging her tightly by the waist.
"You did it, you sent me to the temple!" Lapis cheered, lifting the smaller one into the air and spinning them around. Peridot laughed happily as tears pricked her eyes.
"I'm so glad you're safe." Peridot cried. Lapis began crying too.
"Me? You saved me! I'm so glad you are okay!" She said, before falling on the ground with the other, both of them laughing and crying as they held each other tightly.