"Good morning, Steven!" Lapis exclaimed onto Steven's ear.
Steven woke with a start. Lapis had yelled into his ear while he was still deep in sleep. He jumped uo with surprise and clinged onto Peridot.
"Lapis!" Peridot yelled.
"What?" Lapis responded.
"What did I tell you about waking Steven up like that?" Peridot said. "You could make him go deaf. Or you could scare him to death."
"Okay. Okay. Gees," Lapis said hovering in the air above Peridot and Steven.
"So," Steven paused. "What do we do now?"
"I have no idea," Lapis said. "Peridot, what do you think we should do?"
"I think I have an idea on what can help," Peridot said putting Steven down. "Follow me."
Peridot turned and started to walk through a field of corn. Steven and Lapis followed close behind her.
"I landed in my escape pod not to far from here," Peridot said. "It was a little damaged from the landing, but I might be able to fix it up."
A few minutes went by and Steven, Peridot, and Lapis were still wandering through the tall stalks of corn.
"Are you sure you know where we're going? It feels like we've been wandering in these fields forever," Lapis said.
"Yes, I know where we're going," Peridot said annoyed.
"Then how much longer 'till we get there?" Lapis whined.
"It should be just about..." Peridot paused. they walked out of the stalks of corn and into a clearing. "...now," Peridot finished.
"What happened here?" Lapis asked.
Peridot's escape pod was in pieces and scattered around the ground. There were big holes all over the place. And rocks were scattered everywhere.
"Oh my stars," Peridot said. "I don't understand. It wasn't this bad when I was here yesterday."
"The Crystal Gems," Steven softly said picking up a piece of debris from the escape pod.
"Oh, they'll stoop to anything!" Lapis said picking up some debris too.
"But you can still fix it, right?" Steven asked looking at Peridot. Lapis looked at the green gem too.
"Well, I... I don't know, Steven," Peridot said. " This pod is basically destroyed. I'm not sure if there's any way to fix this thing."
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Steven asked.
"Don't worry, Steven," Lapis said landing next to him. "Peridot will think of something."
"What?" Peridot asked. "Why do I have to be the one to think of something?"
"Uh, because your way smarter than us," Lapis said. "I mean, Steven and I are practically total dum-dums compared to you."
"Hey," Steven started to say but was cut off when Lapis jabbed him in the ribs.
"Right, Steven?" Lapis said with a wink.
"Oh, yeah," Steven said winking back. "We barely know anything compared to you, Peridot. I mean any plan we could think of wouldn't even be able to compare with what you could think of."
"I guess you have a point," Peridot said.
"Of coarse we do," Lapis said. "Now why don't think of a plan, while Steven and I go hang out?"
"Alright. Alright," Peridot said. "You've twisted arm."
"We'll catch up with you in a few then," Lapis said walking off. Steven followed close behind Lapis as they left the clearing.
"See?" Lapis asked. "All you gotta do is make Peridot think she's better than you, so she'll do it herself."
"Pretty sneaky, Lapis," Steven giggled. "So where are we going?"
"I don't know," Lapis said. "But I think I saw a warp nearby. Why don't we just let the warp take us where it will?"
"Are you sure that's safe?" Steven asked. "What if we run into the rebels?"
"Don't worry, Steven," Lapis said laughing. "I've got ice powers. I don't think we'll run into anything I can't handle."
"Yeah, I guess so," Steven said with a smile. "Nothing can happen when it's you and me, right?"
"Right," Lapis said.
"There's the pad," Lapis said pointing at a warp pad only a few feet away.
"Alright! Let's go!" Steven exclaimed hopping onto the warp pad.
"Here we go!" Lapis said hopping onto the pad and activating it.
In a matter of seconds, Steven and Lapis ended up in a strange-looking desert.
"Where are we?" Steven asked.
"I guess we're in some sort of desert region," Lapis said wiping her brow.
"Lapis, are you okay?" Steven asked.
"What? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Lapis said. "Come on. Let's...let's check this place out."
Steven and Lapis bearly walked a few feet when suddenly, a large column made completely out of sand shot up from the ground.
"Woah!" Steven and Lapis both excalimed stumbling backwards.
Then suddenly, just as quickly as the column appeared, it crumbled back to the sand.
"What was that?" Steven asked.
"I'm not sure," Lapis said. "But maybe..."
"Maybe what?" Steven asked.
"Maybe there's a desert glass here," Lapis said. "Those gems are really rare."
"Should we be here if a desert glas is on the loose?" Steven asked getting a little nervous.
"Don't worry, Steven," Lapis said. "I've heard that desert glasses are actually real softies. Tell ya what. How about you wait right here at the warp pad, and I'll go check it out?"
"Okay," Steven said. "Just be careful."
"Don't worry about me," Lapis said flying off.
A few minutes went by, and Lapis still hadn't come back. Steven was about to go look for her when he saw something. Not too far away from him, Steven saw a large creature staring at him with pink glowing eyes.
"Ahh!" Steven exclaimed and hid behind a colomn made of sand.
"Maybe he won't find me here," Steven said to himself.
Then the column crumbled back to the ground, revealing the same creature was standing right behind it. Steven quickly tried to back up, but he ran into a wall that had just formed from the sand. Feeling like it was the end of the line, Steven closed his eys and prepared for the worst. Nothing happened.
Steven opened his eyes to see that the creature was a pink lion, and it was just laying there like a cat.
Steven slowly approached the lion. Closing his eyes, Steven put his hand on the lion's nose. The lion didn't move. It just simply let Steven pet it.
"Well, are you a sweetie?" Steven said. "I feel like I know what you are. But what were they called?"
Steven paused for a moment and pondered about what creature this thing was.
"Oh, I know!" Steven suddenly exclaimed. "You're a lion. My dad used to tell me about you guys all the time. But I didn't know you guys were pink. I thought you were some kind of tan color. Oh well, I guess you can't always trust the books."
Steven looked at the lion's mane. It looked so soft and fluffy.
"May I?" Steven asked pointing at the lion's mane. The lion simply lowered its head to where Steven could feel his mane.
"Oh, it's so soft," Steven said. "You know your mane isn't that different from Jas..." Steven suddenly paused. He felt the lion's mane again. A few tears started to form in his eyes.
Steven closed his eyes and leaned onto the lion's mane.
"...just like Jasper's hair," Steven quietly said as more tears streamed down his face.
Suddenly, a huge boom was heard in the distance.
"Hey Steven!" Lapis called.
Steven looked up from the lion's mane to see Lapis flying towards him.
"I was right!" Lapis yelled. "It was a desert glass! But it's in a pillow for some reason! We should ask Peri about that!"
Lapis landed next to Steven and the lion.
"Pretty cool, right?" Lapis asked showing Steven the pillow without opening her eyes.
"Yeah, sure," Steven said and buried his face back into the lion's mane.
Lapis heard the sadness in Steven's voice.
"Are you okay, buddy?" Lapis asked opening her eyes. "Woah! Who's your friend?"
"He's a lion," Steven mummbled from the lion's mane.
"Why are you cuddling with it's mane?" Lapis asked.
"Touch it, and you'll understand," Steven mummbled.
Lapis knelt down and was sure to keep the sand glass away from the ground. She slowly placed her hand on the lion's mane.
"Oh," Lapis said. "You were thinking about her again."
"How could I not?" Steven asked lifting his head up. "She's somewhere out there suffering. She doesn't deserve that. It's not fair!"
"Steven, calm down," Lapis said placing her hand on top of Steven's hand. "Jasper's tough. She'll be okay."
"How do you know?" Steven asked. "How do you know nothing bad will happen to her? How do you know she'll come back? How do you know if I'll ever see her again?"
Lapis looked at Steven for second. She sighed. "I don't know all that," Lapis said. "But I do know Jasper."
"I know her, too," Steven said.
"I know," Lapis said. "But I've known her a litgle longer. And I gotta tell you, she's been in worse situations than this, and she's been fine."
"Really?" Steven asked wiping a tear from his eye.
"Yep. She's been able to sufice with way worse than this. She'll be fine," Lapis said. "But hey, I know something that will cheer you up."
"What?" Steven asked.
"Let's take this lion back to the field and scare Peridot," Lapis said. "She'll be all like 'Oh my stars! A monster! Ahh!'"
"I don't know Lapis," Steven said.
"Oh come on," Lapis said putting her hand on Steven's shoulder. "It's just a harmless prank."
"But what if Peridot tries to blast Lion?" Steven asked.
"Lion? Is that what you're calling him?" Lapis asked.
"Eh, it seems to fit," Steven said.
"Well, if Peridot tries to blast Lion, I'll make an ice sheild," Lapis said.
"Well...alright," Steven said. "I guess it is just a harmless prank."
"Okay, let's go," Lapis said hopping onto the warp pad.
"Uh, Lapis?" Steven asked.
"Yes, Steven?" Lapis replied.
"How do we get lion on the warp pad?" Steven asked.
"Oh," Lapis said. "We may be here a while."
Hey guys!
Sorry that it's been so long since I've updated this story. I've been facing terrible writers block nearly all summer. I'm finally starting to figure this story out though, so I might update a little more often.
I'm not positively sure though if I should continue with this story. I've put up a poll on my profile page if you want to vote for me to continue or stop writing this fic.
Catch you guys later!
~Stevidot4ever
