Steven Universe Story

"Learning to Fly Again"

"They kept you prisoner! This is your chance for revenge!"

Among the fire and wreckage of the crashed Gem warship, the massive orange quartz warrior looked down with a crazed, savage grin at the small, blue Gem.

"Lapis… don't do it!" Across from the pair, a young half-Gem, half-human boy looked on from the protective clutches of his three guardians, who themselves glared at the two Homeworld Gems who wished harm on their home. But the boy himself could only look on in fear - not for himself or his home, but for the safety of his friend. He couldn't claim to be an expert on Fusion, but he knew that what Jasper was trying to convince his friend to do would only get her hurt.

"Come on, just say yes!"

Lapis Lazuli heard Jasper speak with that sneer of hers, but Lapis wasn't focused on the larger Gem. Instead she was looking at the group across from them - the three Gems that were traitors to Homeworld, the Crystal Gems, the ones that held her captive all those centuries. Of course, it wasn't as if the Homeworld she had returned to treated her any better. Jasper was really no different than those three. All any of them wanted to do was keep her prisoner. Whether in a mirror, a cell or a fusion. It seemed like that was what everyone wanted for her.

All except one. The young… boy that those three Gems held in their protective grasp.

Steven was different. He had helped Lapis, asking only for friendship in return. Already he had saved her twice - once from the mirror she was imprisoned in, and when he healed her cracked Gem. When she was imprisoned on the ship, he had tried to save her again, but she rejected him - because she was afraid. And now Lapis could see that he was afraid.

Lapis closed her eyes as she made her decision. Steven was her friend, and it was time she helped him. And maybe get a little payback in the process. For all that the Crystal Gems had done to her, they were still Steven's friends too. But Jasper…

Lapis looked to the larger Gem, and extended a hand to her.

The Quartz wanted a Fusion? She'd give her a Fusion.

Jasper's crazed grin widened as she grabbed Lapis's hand roughly.

Lapis could hear Steven cry out for her to stop. She only focused on Jasper. For this to work, Lapis needed to have absolute focus. Unlike the Quartz, Lapis had never fused before. Of course, Jasper was only experienced with fusing with Gems of her own kind, and while Lapis had been trapped in that mirror, she had observed a bit about cross-Gem fusions. She might not know a lot, but she did know it was nothing like the fusing Jasper was familiar with. She'd have to be careful. Right now Jasper was focused solely on beating the Crystal Gems. She believed that Lapis was weak and subservient. And Lapis would play that role, right up to the point where it would be too late for the Quartz.

Which was why it was quite the shock to both of them when a familiar pink shield smashed into Jasper's face.

Her eyes wide in shock, Lapis turned to see Steven standing in front of his friends, his hand outstretched from the throw he had just made. He was hunched over, obviously exhausted, but the look of fear on his face was replaced with one of determination.

"Lapis! Don't do it! It's not worth it!"

But seeing the boy like this reminded Lapis of what she had felt when she had been in that cell, and even earlier when she had managed to send that warning to him.

"Steven, don't interfere! I can handle this!"

Suddenly, she was afraid. Afraid for him. Afraid that he'd get hurt… or worse.

"Just let me do this for y-GRRHK"

A huge hand suddenly seized Lapis by the neck, yanking her off the ground so that she was now staring into a pair of yellow eyes, burning with anger.

"What was that?" Jasper growled out, "What were you just saying?!"

Lapis could barely hear the Quartz. She was too focused on trying to breath through the hand that was crushing her neck.

"That was just some trick wasn't it?!" Jasper was yelling now, "You're with them aren't you?! You'd rather be a traitor like the rest of these Crystal Gems?!"

Lapis grabbed at Jasper's hand, the larger Gem now seeming to pay her no heed.

"Too bad. I was actually a little curious to see a Fusion. But no matter! I'll just crush all of you traitors myself!"

"So you want to see a Fusion?" a new voice rang out across the beach, soft yet also powerful. Jasper turned to the voice just in time to take a spike of energy straight to the chest. Lapis was able to turn her head just enough to see a tall, long-haired Gem standing next to Steven and the Crystal Gems' fusion, a massive bow held in her four arms. A bow she was drawing back again, and shot another arrow of energy into Jasper's chest.

The Quartz stumbled back as she took the second arrow, then a third. Lapis continued to claw desperately at the hand around her neck. Jasper might be one of Homeworld's elite warriors, but all Gems had their limits, and she was almost past her's.

But even as Jasper was about to keel over, the massive warrior looked Lapis dead in the eye, a look of defiant rage and fury. And with the last of her strength, Jasper squeezed.

Lapis was dimly aware of a final arrow piercing Jasper's chest.

Then everything went dark.

"Lapis!" Steven cried out as the two Gems vanished in two almost simultaneous poofs of smoke. In their places, two small gemstones, one blue, one orange, fell to the sand.

Even as exhausted as he was, Steven still managed a full sprint over the beach. As he reached the spot, he fell to his knees, carefully scooping up the ocean-blue, teardrop-shaped gem in his hands. His hands still shaking, he looked over the small stone.

Steven breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't find any cracks or blemishes. Lapis was okay. She was going to be okay. He repeated that to himself in his head a few times. He was so focused he didn't even notice the flash of light behind him until the purple hand patted him on the shoulder.

"Nice going dude." Steven looked up to see Amethyst smiling down at him, Pearl approaching behind her. Both looked rather haggard, particularly Pearl. After all the fighting they had done, forming Opal, even for only a few moments, must have taken a lot out of the two Gems. Despite that though, both had a look of pride on their faces.

"Yes, that was quick thinking Steven. I can't imagine what kind of menace those two would've made if they'd been able to fuse." Pearl said, giving Steven her own comforting pat on the head.

"Man, did you see their faces when Steven hit Jasper in the face? WHAM!" Amethyst seemed to have regained her exuberance as she punched her palm. "That was Awesome!"

"I'll admit, that was rather… satisfying."

"Oh, 'satisfying' huh? Come on, P', you know you so wanted to see that big jerk get a good smack to the face." Amethyst grinned as she gave Pearl a good-natured nudge.

Steven would've kept listening to two's friendly banter, if he didn't notice Garnet walking to where Jasper had fallen a few feet away. The tall Gem picked up the orange gemstone in her hand, a hand Steven now noticed was still covered in a large, armored gauntlet.

Garnet held the stone between her fingers, and although her eyes were obscured by her visor, Steven could tell she was looking long and hard at the gem. A Gem that had threatened her home, hurt her friends, and quite literally split her apart.

That's right, Steven reminded himself. He had only seen Ruby and Sapphire for a few minutes before they re-fused into Garnet, but seeing how much they cared, how much they loved each other… being forcefully separated like that must have been terrible. And now Garnet was holding the one responsible in her hand…

Steven felt his breath catch as he realized what Garnet might be thinking. He'd seen her gauntleted hands smash massive boulders and crush the armor of gem monsters like it was paper.

As large and powerful as Jasper had been, her gem suddenly looked very fragile between Garnet's fingers.

However, even as Steven was gripped by all of those thoughts, Garnet glanced to him, and though he couldn't see her eyes past her visor, she could certainly see his. She gave him a small smile.

And the orange gemstone was enveloped in a translucent pink sphere, and vanished.

Steven let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and gave a thankful smile and nod to Garnet.

As he thought about it, there was good reason for… disposing of Jasper. She was an enemy. And a powerful, dangerous enemy. Something Steven had experienced first-hand only a few hours before. But even so, it still felt wrong to just… snuff her out.

"Yo, Ste-man. You gonna bubble that already?" Amethyst's voice brought him out of his thoughts. Looking to her, he realized she was pointing to the blue gem he was holding in his own hands.

"What? No!" he closed his hands over the gem defensively, "Lapis doesn't deserve that!"

Amethyst brought her hand back, her tone becoming far less flippant at Steven's sudden defensiveness.

"Uh, dude, I know you care about her but, she was going to fuse with Jasper and take us all out."

"She wasn't. Or, she wasn't going to fight us," Steven's voice lost much of it's defensiveness as he tried to describe what he'd been feeling just before he had thrown his shield at Jasper, "I think… she was going to try and take control of the fusion, somehow turn it against Jasper. But it wasn't going to work, and she was going to get hurt doing it."

"Makes sense," Garnet spoke up as she approached them, "Any fusion formed on deceit and mistrust is not going to be a pretty sight. Plus, I'm pretty sure those two are really bad for each other."

"Okay, but even so," Pearl spoke, carefully, as she knew this was obviously a delicate subject, "We don't exactly have the best history with Lapis Lazuli to begin with. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep her bubbled? Just to be safe?"

"No." Steven's tone had lost it's defensiveness, but not its conviction. He knew Pearl was only looking out for them, trying to be safe. But this was something he also knew he couldn't compromise on.

"Lapis has been in too many cages already. She doesn't need to be in another one."

Pearl and Amethyst looked to each other, then to Garnet, but it seemed like the fusion had already made up her mind.

"Alright. If that's what you think." Her tone belied no uncertainty. If this was Steven's decision, then she would go along with it.

"Yeah, okay. If that's how you want to do, we'll follow your lead." Amethyst gave him a renewed smile.

"Well… if you really believe that… okay." Pearl didn't seem as convinced, but she could tell this was something Steven was not going to budge on.

Steven's pose finally relaxed as he smiled back. "Thanks guys. I kn-"

He was cut off by the familiar jingle coming from his pocket.

Barely registering the Caller-ID image, he hit the 'Answer' button and brought the phone to his ear.

"Steven!"

"Connie?"

"I saw that huge ship come down on the beach! Are you guys okay?!"

"I… We're…"

It was at that moment, as he stood among the burning fragments of a massive space-ship, the remains of an all-out battle fought by him and his family against an alien invasion… Steven finally felt a sense of… perspective.

"Steven?"

Where to even begin?