Tag

It was a nice evening on the farm, Peridot had thought as she finished up season six of Camp Pining Hearts. Lapis was in her miniature lake playing fetch with Veggiehead, there were at least 1,579 stars in the sky (this was one Peridot's new favorite activities, however she lost count quite often), and their meep morps were all in their proper rows with just the right amount of soil on them.

As Peridot was thinking about how she and Lapis were to spend their evening she had remembered a game that Steven had told her: "Tag". Essentially it was just slapping one another to have the slapped person be "it". When she asked what "it" was Steven had told her she was it, before slapping her rather weakly on the shoulder and running away. That had confused her very much.

She was ready to no longer be "it", as she had been "it" for several weeks now and the joy she got of being something that set her apart from others was no longer as thrilling.

As she sat she thought to herself "If Steven had shown me this game, then he must have shown Lapis!" So she fell down from their couch, face first of course as she prefered to not hurt her limbs, and began to walk towards the miniature lake.

"Nyeh heh heh" Peridot thought as she smiled, walking towards Lapis. "I hope she likes being "it" as much as I do!"

When she finally got to the side of the lake she was grinning ear to ear, and she swung down and SLAPPED Lapis' shoulder.

"YOU'RE IT!" Peridot yelled as she ran away to hide behind the large pile of corn they had behind the lake.

After reaching the back, she looked back towards the miniature lake and saw that Lapis was gone. Had she upset her? Did Lapis think she was supposed to run away too?

"Perhaps she doesn't know how to play," Peridot thought aloud.

"Peridot?" Lapis said landing behind her.

"AH!"

"Don't hit me."

"No no. It's a game. You're it!" Peridot replied

"It?" Lapis asked confused

"It!"

"I don't get it" Lapis said

"ME NEITHER!" Peridot spoke with a smile before bursting out laughing.

Lapis just stood there a moment with a small smile on her face as she enjoyed seeing Peridot laugh before she joined in herself. Soon the two of them were both standing there laughing their gems off with Veggiehead running circles around them. Veggiehead never was the careful type and he showed this as he accidentally bumped into one of the many meep morps. This one was what used to be a rake and shovel but instead now had four pumpkins on the ends. It reminded Peridot of the time everyone got married. Now normally this would not had been a problem had it not been one of the few things keeping the water silo up. But it was, so it was a problem.

Lapis was too busy laughing to notice it falling towards her, and as Peridot took a moment to breathe she noticed her friend was in danger. She made a split second decision to shove Lapis out of the way through the large bale of corn right into their mini lake! Then…

This was new. I'm here in the lake.

"Lapis!? Peridot?!"

Where were Lapis and myself?

Or… Peridot and myself?!

I need to get out of the water. As I began climbing out I noticed I had not two but forearms. No wait, those are parts of the arm, we mean four arms. Wait, why do I have FOUR ARMS?! This was odd as because before I had… no arms... what? Veggiehead! He'd know out of anyone where they went.

"Veggiehead!? Where are Lapis and Peridot?" I ask and an awestruck pumpkin. "Come on Veggie I need to find them! I need to make sure Lapis and Peridot are ok. Why are you just sitting there?"

Then I heard something coming. It was… STEVEN'S DAD'S "VAN"! Thank goodness, out of anyone Steven would know what to do! He helped me learn tag!

As I ran towards the driveway I began to notice that Steven was much smaller than I remembered. Why is Steven so small? I was as tall as him before… or was I? I also remember being a little taller than Steven. When I took him… flying over Beach City…

I reached Steven in about the same time I realized where Lapis and Peridot were. They were here. Or was it… we were here? I stood there a moment coming to the strong realization that I needed to get out.

Out of where?

OUT!

"Hey" Steven said, looking up at me. "I haven't met you before. But considering you know me and you're not trying to kill me, I guess you're a friend of Lapis and Peridot"

And with a pop Lapis and Peridot unfused. Peridot seemed a little shaken up as she stood there, lost in thought. Lapis stood there kneeling, crying and holding onto Peridots shoulders crying and saying over and over again,

"I'm so sorry Peridot! Did i hurt you? You know that I wouldn't want to hurt you like i did Jasper. You're my barn mate and I really like living here with you and having our own little home away from homeworld, and I'd never want you to feel like I trapped you here with me. I like playing with Veggiehead with you and watching Camp Pining Hearts with you making meep morps with you and counting stars with you, but I want you to do those things willingly! I'm so sorry Peridot. I-I-" Lapis couldn't finish that thought as she buried her face into Peridots shoulder crying.

Peridot hugged Lapis and pet her hair. She didn't know why, but she felt it was the right thing to do. She had seen Steven do this when his friend "Conn-eee" was upset. The tactic seemed to be successful as Lapis sat up and wiped her eyes.

Peridot smiled and said "Lapis it's ok, I wasn't hurt, although that tumble through the corn was a little uncomfortable. It was neither of our faults that we fused. I'm not sure how I feel about it but you don't have to apologize. If anything I should thank you. I now know what fusion is like, at least fusion with you anyway"

Peridot wiped the last tear out of Lapis' eyes and smiled before Lapis let out a faint "thank you" just before pulling Peridot into another into a hug and-

I sat in front of Steven, one set of arms wrapped around myself, the other wiping my eyes dry. I got on my knees and looked down at Steven, who seemed like he was just giving me room to talk.

"Hello Steven, my name is Chrysocolla."

"N-Nice to meet you, I'm- well, you already know I guess."

I laughed, "Yes I suppose I do!"

"I guess this means you might need only one sleeping bag instead of two" Steven said with a laugh. And I laughed along with him. Steven and I spent the evening roasting marshmallows, playing "tag", and at the end of the night after Steven had brushed his teeth and I polished my gems, we laid back and began to count the stars.

"2,476" I spoke softly after double checking. Steven had already gone to sleep well over an hour ago but I needed to see how it felt, to be fused and count stars. I began to realize that perhaps I did not double count to be sure but to just have the excuse to stay here longer. I realized that it wasn't the counting that I enjoyed, it was the being.

I was right, it was a nice evening on the farm.

FIN