Author's Note: Hey again! Welcome back to another LATE-NIGHT-CHAPTER tm.
We're here with more Steven, and we're finally getting a look at Lapis Lazuli! Obviously, she's having a bit of a different introduction in this story. What do you think of my take on her? Thanks for tuning in, and enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 8 - Mirror Gem
Steven was sitting on the couch, examining the mirror when Pearl and Connie re-emerged from Pearl's room. By that time, Peridot had retreated into her bathroom, but had left her crayon diagrams on the coffee table, beside the mirror.
"-must say, Connie, your reflexes are exceptional. It was only your first lesson, but I really think you'll make for a talented swordfighter," Pearl finished saying, as they walked out, both carrying duffel bags over their shoulders. Connie drank from a water bottle. She looked flushed, like she had been exercising heavily, but she also looked like she was riding an adrenaline rush.
"Thanks Pearl! I just can't believe you're giving me lessons for free!" She said, turning to her friend on the couch. "Hey, Steven."
At that point, they both took note of the debris on the table, and the open window despite the storm. Pearl looked to the boy quizzically.
"Steven? Um. What are you doing?" She asked. Steven glanced up from the mirror.
"Oh, hey Pearl, hey Connie. I'm just, uh," he fumbled for an explanation as Pearl came over and began to sift through the drawings that Peridot had left.
"What are these…?" She said. Connie came over as well, glancing once to the mirror and then to Steven. She still didn't know what his fascination was with that thing.
"Is this…" Pearl said. "Did Peridot draw these?"
Steven gulped.
"Yes, but let me explain!" He started to say.
At that particular moment, the warp pad chime sounded, and Garnet and Amethyst appeared. Curious about the gathering at the coffee table, the two gems joined in, and Steven gulped harder, a bit of sweat forming on his forehead.
"What is that?" Garnet asked, clearly talking about the mirror.
"Oh, yeah," said Amethyst, realizing it was Garnet's first time seeing the trinket. "That's Steven's styling mirror, right dude?"
Steven gave her an uncomfortable smile as she completely misread the situation, and then instinctively picked up the mirror, clutching it tight in his hand. Something made him want to protect it, even if he had no logical reason to feel that way. Garnet noted this. So did Connie.
Pearl noticed the gemstone.
"Oh-" she said, eye's bugging out and a hand covering her mouth in disgust. "What the- Steven… Hand me the mirror. It's… We have to bubble it!"
Garnet raised an eyebrow, and Steven pulled the mirror closer to himself. An exterior sense of anxiety washed over him as he did so. It wasn't his own.
"Hang on," Steven said.
"Steven?" Garnet prompted.
"It's not what you're thinking!" Steven blurted. "She's OK!"
"She?" Amethyst said, her expression turning sick.
Steven looked desperately down to the mirror, cupping it in both hands and whispering to it frantically.
"Show them," he said, "show them. What you showed me… I want to help. I promise."
There was a moment of bated breath, as the quartet gathered around Steven watched in confused anticipation. For a nerve-wracking moment nothing happened, and a lump began to form in Steven's throat. Then, the surface of the mirror began to ripple and glow.
"Steven…" the mirror uttered. "Help…"
Amethyst took a step back.
"Woah."
Pearl shook her head.
"Steven, hand it over. I'm bubbling i-"
"No!" Steven said, suddenly scrambling up and dashing to the doorway, his back to the exit. "She needs help! We can heal her! Take her back to the spring."
"Steven! Calm down," Garnet said, a bit too aggressively.
"That's so… wrong…" Amethyst said.
"We can heal her!" Steven repeated.
"We've tried!" Pearl said. "We've... tried everything. You don't think that was the first place we went after the blast? They… They don't come back."
Steven blinked, furrowing his brow in confusion. Connie too looked to Pearl for further explanation.
"The… blast? What are you talking about?" He said.
Pearl realized she had said more than she intended, and couldn't bear to look Steven in the eyes, instead looking at her feet as she recalled the traumas of war.
"Why won't you tell me anything?" Steven demanded further, anger slipping into his voice. "You're always hiding something! Where did the centipeedle when I was 12? What's the blast? Why did mom give up her physical form? Why won't Pearl talk to Dad? Why did you go through all the trouble of putting on this big test if it didn't change anything! You still treat me like a little kid!"
With the final word, Steven realized he had squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, and as he opened them he realized that the gems and Connie had taken a couple of steps back, to distance themselves from him. He looked at them, confused, and then he heard the low, crashing, pulsing noise. Glancing down at the mirror, he realized that the door had flung open, and the storm was now crashing down behind him, causing the entire entry to become soaked with water. Water centered, seemingly, on the glowing mirror. Tentatively, Garnet took a step forward.
"Please, Steven," she said, holding out a hand. "Just… give me the-."
"No!" Steven said, taking a step back. Garnet grit her teeth. This time, she walked forward surprisingly quickly, and didn't ask. Instead, she simply reached for the mirror with a large hand. Steven flinched, throwing out a hand to stop her, and to Amethyst and Pearl's shock, actually slapped her across the face. The fusion's reflective shades clattered to the floor, and Steven instantly knew that he had made a mistake.
When Garnet turned back to Steven, all three of her eyes were creased with anger.
"Enough!" She said, lunging forward again.
p-TONG!
She collided with a solid pink barrier. Steven had summoned the bubble.
"Why won't you trust me?!" Steven demanded.
Growling, Garnet reared a fist back to punch through the bubble, but Steven chose that moment to swiftly dismiss the energy, with enough force to actually send Garnet stumbling backwards slightly. This left the other three's mouths agape. Steven's eyes widened, then, and with a panicked noise he went dashing down the stairs, into the rain, and down towards the beach. Pearl looked to Garnet, who snatched up her sunglasses and glared out the door.
"Oh, I am about up to here what that boy," she said.
Outside, Steven glanced down at the mirror as he ran.
"I don't get it! You're not bad. You're not a gem monster! Why do they want to bubble you?" He asked.
"Steven… Steven…" the mirror wailed, in a variety of warbled voices. "Help me- Steven… Help."
"I'm trying! How do I help? What do I do?" Steven cried. He had reached the shoreline, and he realized that the sea had turned dark and tumultuous, crashing wave after towering wave onto the beach. As they retreated towards the heart of the ocean, some of the water lingered, and seemed to snake unnaturally up to meet Steven's toes.
"Free…. Me…. Steven…" the mirror said.
"Free you? How?" Steven said. Then, with a sinking feeling, he remembered the gemstone once more. He turned the mirror over, and felt a shudder of anticipation emit from the magical relic. As the rain poured down on the back of the mirror, Steven gently reached towards the gem inlaid there.
"STEVEN!"
Garnet's voice jostled Steven before his fingers could reach the gem. She was pounding across the sand, hellbent on reaching him. As she approached, a particularly massive wave blew in from the sea, towering easily 12 feet in height. Somehow, it split down the center, completely avoiding Steven, before reforming and pouring tons of gallons of force down on an unsuspecting Garnet. The large gem went down under the pressure, and as the wave receded it revealed her on her back, coughing up sea water.
A pang of guilt ran through Steven, and he quickly went back to the task at hand, apologizing to Garnet in his head as he tried to get a handle on the gem. It was deeply stuck to the mirror, and at first, due to the slickness of the rain and the smoothness of the gemstone, his fingers slipped on the surface. However, after a couple tries he managed to find purchase, and with no time to spare as Garnet was picking herself up off the ground. Moments before she would have come upon him and easily overpowered his grip on the mirror, there was an ever-so-faint click as Steven tucked the gemstone free.
ka-BAAAMFF!
A massive explosion of white smoke shook the beach, launching the encroaching Garnet and even the more distant Amethyst and Pearl to the sand from its sheer force. Then, there was a bolt of lightning and a crack of thunder, and the smoke began to clear under the force of the storm. It was revealed that Steven, too, had been tossed aside by the force of the blast, and lay on the ground nearby. Where the half-gem had been standing now stood another being.
She was a gem, that much was clear by her pastel blue skin, the navy locks that cascaded messily down her forehead, and the shimmering light-quality to the odd, alien sundress she wore. Similarly to Peridot's attire, the neck of the dress formed something akin to a V-shape, ending in a small, blue rhombus. Her feet were bare, but more strangely, her eyes were a dull, shimmering grey. Like mercury. Like the glass of the mirror.
The Crystal Gems, minus Steven, had now recovered, and were taking stock of the strange gem. Connie watched from the balcony. There was a dangerous sounding splash as two long, skeletal wings formed form pure water began stretched out from behind the blue newcomer. She didn't quite look at the gems, despite her stance clearly facing them. Amethyst looked confused.
"OK, hang on." she said, summoning her whip with a flash. "Refresh my memory, P. What kinda gem is this?"
Pearl grimaced, and with a blast of sound, she and Garnet drew their weapons as well.
"A Lapis Lazuli," Pearl said. "Homeworld terraformers."
"Eyes up. That crack in her gem makes her unpredictable. She might do something irrational." Garnet said.
"I told him we needed to bubble her!" Pearl complained, mostly to herself. "Stubborn human boy."
There was a flap, and the Lapis' water wings began to take her into the sky. Not on Amethyst's watch. With a crack of her ever-extending spiked whip, she caught the ankle of the escaping gem and tugged, hard, causing her to drop dramatically. She barely seemed to notice, eyes still focused on the sky as she flapped to no avail. Then, Pearl rushed in with her spear, delivering a battle cry as she aimed directly for the mass of the gem's physical form, aiming to disperse it. A wave came crashing in, diverting the sleek gem and knocking her back. Then, it was Garnet's turn, and as she came in with a wrecking ball punch, it seemed they had finally warranted the strange gem's attention.
She whirled around, suddenly, with enough force to stagger Amethyst, temporarily allowing the Lapis free flight. Then, as Garnet leapt forward to deliver her strike, the blue gem stared directly at her behind glassy eyes and gave an anguished screech, before clapping her hands together. As she did this, a massive pair of arms were suddenly formed form the ocean, and mirror her movements, trapping Garnet in a watery prison. This had diverted the Lapis' attention however, allowing for Pearl to launch her spear like a javelin at her.
Caught by surprise, the water arms suddenly released their hold on the struggling Garnet, and instead whirled in to become a wall of water, protecting Lapis easily from the incoming projectile, which sank into the water harmlessly. There was a flash of white-purple light, and then a screeching noise as a terrifying lavender griffon, half lion and half giant bird, tore through the air, flying towards the Lapis. She got close, but again that impenetrable barrier appeared, and Amethyst's battle cry quickly became surprised gargling as she was tossed aside in a wall of water. With that taken care of, Lapis turned back to deal with the next threat that was-
TH-wam!
The blue gem was caught completely blindside by a solid, direct punch from Garnet, swelling her cheek and sending her flying away back, the ocean blasting aside in a path as she launched back. For a moment the Lapis simply flew, stunned, staring up at the cloudy sky, before she seemed to regain control. With a mighty flap of her water wings, she suddenly righted herself, hovering where was was, several dozen meters out onto the open sea. There was brief stalemate, then, as none of the gems dared approach the thunderous rampart that was the very ocean itself.
The Lapis seemed to acknowledge this, and, with only a moment of hesitation, was gone, soaring away into open grey sky, leaving the defeated gems on the beach below.
As soon as she was gone, Connie came flying down the steps, running over to the dazed Steven, who slowly was puling himself to a sitting position. He rubbed his head, and squinted as he watched the blue shape of the gem grow smaller and smaller. He rose to wobbly knees, and, supported by Connie, walked over to the gems.
"We have to go after her!" He said.
"I've had enough of thi-" Garnet started to say.
"Well, just- Damn, like, wait a second, G!" Amethyst finally cut in. "We're all processing here! None of us know what's going on, least of all Steven and I… I'm starting to get what he means about not knowing anything. If I were in that position, and I have been, I would feel like crap too! Clearly he had a point about this thing- it's not like the other gem monsters we've fought. It thinks, and it talks… kind of. And, frankly, it looks like a real gem. Maybe there's a real chance we could heal her. If we don't try… What are we even doing?"
She went and stood beside Connie and Steven, and the latter's eyes were filled with pride and appreciation as he looked upon Amethyst standing up for him. He gave her a grateful smile, and she shrugged like it was nothing, before crossing her arms and facing the other two gems, waiting for them to spill the beans. Pearl sighed, and Garnet simmered a moment longer, before letting her gauntlet's disappear.
"Perhaps you're right, Amethyst," Pearl said. "Perhaps this gem is able to be saved… and perhaps we have been a bit tight lipped. Steven… deserves to know where he comes from, at the very least."
Steven's heart soared, and then all eyes were on Garnet, who was clearly conflicted. Pearl came over to her cautiously, placing a hand on her arm. Garnet didn't resist, but remained unmoved, and spoke to her in a quiet tone.
"There was a time where a gem like her wouldn't have hesitated to shatter us under the pressure of planet's sea," she said. "Just for being fused. Even if we can heal her… We're supposed to believe she's is capable of being saved?"
Pearl pursed her lips.
"I think… I think we have to. Rose-"
"Would say of course she can. She was all about this sort of thing. She'd say "anybody who learns the truth will turn to the right side. Its only a matter of time.", and then go convert an entire crew of Citrines… Or a Bismuth," Garnet said ruefully. She and Pearl shared a quiet moment. "Rose wouldn't have hesitated… Yet, i am."
Pearl didn't say anything, but gave Garnet a reassuring squeeze on the arm. After an age of silence, Garnet composed herself, and turned to address the others, who were waiting for a response.
"You're right, Steven. We've kept far too much from you. I promise, we will tell you everything: about Homeworld, about Rose. All of it." she said. Watching Steven's expectant expression, she continued. "However, for now… We're going after the Lapis. If there's a chance we can help her, we have to try."
Steven and Amethyst grinned, and Connie did too, though her attention was quickly seized by a buzzing from her duffel bag. With a groan, she reached into it and produced her phone, answering with a curt "yes mother?" followed by several further "yes mothers" and then a final "no mother" before she bit her lip and winced. Muffling the phone with her hand, she turned to the group.
"Um… I need somebody to pretend to be my kendo instructor," she said.
Then, the roar of a car engine caught all of their attention, and soon a pair of headlights blinding all of them as the rolled across the beach. Steven threw an arm up to shield his eyes, and even after the bright lights had been turned off, he was seeing spots. It was only when the man grew closer and spoke above the fading storm that he could make out his identity.
"Hey, is everybody OK? I came as soon as I heard that crazy explosion! What's going on?" Greg asked. Steven quickly ran forward and gave him a hug, which he reciprocated, glancing nervously to the other gems for an explanation. Instead, he received a flip phone.
"You're my kendo instructor and everything is fine, we're just running late." Connie said.
"Wha-? Wait a minute, what is kendo? Is that like yoga?"
"Just go with it!"
Bewildered, Greg brought the phone slowly up to his ear. Egged on by the silent pleading of Connie, he made an uncomfortable face, and began to speak.
"Uh… Hello? This is… Sensei Greg?"