Deliberate Creation

A Story by Pearlapis-for-the-Ages

Chapter 2:

Skin Deep Snowfall

The trek to the entrance of the prison wasn't too long or winding, but it was terribly tedious for Lapis all the same. Pearl didn't have any decent conversation to offer, and they still hadn't encountered any water, otherwise Lapis would have just flown out of there. The fact that Pearl insisted on checking every single cell for a gem added to the ridiculously long amount of time Lapis had spent here, and was a collectively futile effort, as all the rest of the gems that were housed here had no doubt fled long ago. Lapis was about to share her acute displeasure with Pearl when the other gem final said something that interested Lapis.

"So, what did you do to get trapped here in the first place?" Pearl asked as she opened and looked through yet another empty room. She sighed and shook her head, muttering something along the lines of 'useless effort'.

"I failed to do my job," Lapis answered, purposefully being vague. She wasn't exactly sure if she even needed to be, as her mission was probably taken up by another in the court and completed, but it never hurt to be careful. "Where are we anyway?"

"A long abandoned prison," Pearl replied, looking distracted by her own frustration. Lapis rolled her eyes.

"I know that, I meant where are we in the scale of the universe. Galaxy, coordinates, how close we are to homeworld; stuff like that," Lapis made sure to add a bit of emphasis to the word homeworld. She hoped to be able get there and contact the court. Then, if everything went well, she would be reinstated as harbinger and life would continue on in at least a facsimile of normality.

"Well I don't know exact coordinates, but we are currently somewhere in the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster. As for homeworld, it's pretty much all the way across the universe and we don't have any working warp pads that go there at the moment. Not sure why you would want to go there, Blue court gems aren't exactly accepted on homeworld," Pearl responded, mumbling the last part quietly to herself. Not quietly enough, however, to hide it from Lapis.

"Not accepted? What happened since I was gone?" Lapis asked herself, immersing herself in her thoughts. She was thoroughly confused. The Blue Diamond had always been the dominant gem court in homeworld politics. That dominance brought with it not only an extreme amount of power, but also respect that was upheld by virtually every other gem on homeworld. To force a court out of power was to fight an uphill battle that usually had more negative consequences than positive ones. Reality rushed back to Lapis as Pearl shut the final door in the hallway they were standing in.

Pearl was glad not only that the job was finally done, but also that she could go home to Earth. It had been quite a long time since she had been there, and the prospect of seeing Rose, Garnet, and the others excited her. She turned to face Lapis and nodded to the gem. Lapis returned the nod after a slight pause, and Pearl noticed that the gem looked lost. Interesting, since she seemed like a very independent gem.

"Are you ok?" Pearl asked as she slowly walked towards Lapis. She was almost directly in front of Lapis when the gem shook her head and started walking.

"Let's just get out of this place. Let's just be somewhere else," Lapis said, her voice sounding almost scared to Pearl. Certainly an interesting change, whether for the better or worse, she really didn't care at this point. Pearl decided to just follow the other gem to the exit, as the structure was actually decently linear, maybe it used to be something else. Either way, it wasn't long before the two found themselves at the warp pad, Lapis turning to look at Pearl, her face again a stoic mask of indecisiveness and weariness .

Warping without a set destination was always a bit tricky, and Pearl knew that was the most likely only real reason that Lapis hadn't immediately warped the nearest location. That's not to say that warping like that wasn't possible, it just wasn't healthy. Pearl smirked and stepped onto the warp pad, taking her time, and received nothing but a bored look from Lapis in return. She really didn't seem very fun. Pearl was glad the warp was short, but was surprised upon arriving. When they materialized, Lapis immediately sprinted directly towards the ocean and jumped in.

"A bit excited there?" Pearl shouted as she ran towards the water. Lapis surfaced a second later, her face scrunched as if it took effort to separate even a bit of herself from the waves.

"Excited!? Water is part of what I am. Heck, my title is 'Ocean Gem', and I haven't so much as felt water since I was imprisoned," Lapis responded, again diving and settling into the massive body of water.

Pearl rolled her eyes, Lapis certainly deserved a bit of time to relax; being trapped for that long wasn't something Pearl would even want to imagine. Right now, however, she had a message to report. As Pearl walked towards the temple she sighed, the feeling of sand between her toes was one of her favorite things, not that she would tell anyone. The way that she sunk ever so slightly into the sand was relaxing for a reason that she couldn't quite pinpoint, but it was great.

As Pearl entered the outpost she noticed that someone had started carving a door into the far wall. Maybe Ruby and Sapphire were finally making that temple they were always talking about. Pearl found the idea of the two small gems building a temple humorous, but she also knew that when fused they were a power to be reckoned with.

"They should fuse more." Pearl muttered absentmindedly as she continued towards the right wall of the cave. When she reached it she glanced behind her, checking to see if anyone was watching, then pressed her hand against an hidden alcove in the wall. The wall parted just enough for Pearl to slip in, and when she got through she was greeted by a bustling room full of gems. She glanced left, then right, trying to find Rose Quartz, the leader of their rebellion, and her commander. She spotted the graceful gem standing at the head of a table, a large map sprawled across it.

"In conclusion, Variscite will lead the Feldspar legion against the main homeworld force here." Rose explained, pointing to a large island west of where they were now. Variscite nodded in response and Rose continued. "In the mean time, Celestine's task force will attempt to infiltrate the enemy camps on the island. Hopefully the Feldspars will have drawn the gems away from their camp by then, giving you the perfect opening."

When Pearl reached Rose she smiled and bowed, not because she had to, but rather that she wanted to. If any gem in existence deserved to be bowed to it was Rose Quartz. Not only did she exude beauty and grace, but was also a mother to even those who didn't want it. That combination never failed to make Pearl a bit flustered.

"Pearl, you're back," Rose said in a tone lush with camaraderie. She set a hand on Pearl's shoulder and gently pulled her into a standing position. "How did the mission go? Where there any gems left in that prison?"

"It went rather well," Pearl said, feeling a bit out of breath. "There was only one gem, and when I got there she was just standing dejectedly in the middle of her cell. It was actually quite sad." At the mention of another gem Rose perked up.

"Where is she now?" Rose asked, seeming a bit surprised.

"She jumped into the ocean," Pearl swiftly responded. "She literally just came out of warp and sprinted right across the beach into it. When I asked her about it she said something about Ocean Gem and then went back underwater." Rose nodded slowly the turned to address the whole room. As soon as she started talking every gem in the room was instantly silent.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be at the beach."