Steven marveled at her for a moment, he'd never met a new gem before. He had seen the corrupted monsters that he now knew had once been Gems but none of them could talk or reason.

"I can't believe you let me out." Lapis said staring down at her own hands. "Thank you so much." She repeated and turned to face him fully. "Are you really a crystal gem?" Steven nodded almost absentmindedly. Seeing himself reflected in those mirror like eyes seemed to bring him back to his senses though.

"You're hurt." Craning his neck trying to look at her gem once again. "Amethyst's gem cracked like that one time, Rose was able to heal it though maybe. . ." Before he could finish the thought lapis cut him off.

"No!" She exclaimed, recoiling as if she'd been burned. "No, I don't want her knowing I'm out. She's the leader of the crystal gems, I heard what she did during the war." Lapis shuddered and Steven thought about asking her to elaborate but she continued on. "Besides she's had thousands of years to try and fix me but instead she left me in that mirror for her pearl to play with." Steven understood she was angry, bitter,so Steven ignored the venom in her words about his mother and Rose.

"She never even tried to heal you?" When he first saw the crack in her gem he had assumed rose had tried to heal her but the damage had been too extreme as the holo-pearl had explained some gems during the war had been. Lapis looked up towards the temple and shook her head.

"We can't stay out here, I don't want them seeing me." She started towards the water and motioned for him to follow. "I can feel a cave not far from here, we'll be able to talk there." She strode effortlessly into the water, submerging herself. Just before she was under completely however Steven called after her.

"Hey wait, I can't just walk underwater, I'm part human, I need to breath." Lapis turned back, raising one eyebrow, then nodded. She raised a hand and to Steven's astonishment the water parted in front of him to allow him to follow after her. "That is soo cool!" Steven yelled as he rushed out onto the soft sand where the water had just been. Lapis' face colored ever so slightly and a small smile crept onto her face.

"This is nothing, I could move the whole ocean if I wanted to." Stars formed in Steven's eyes and Lapis' grin grew a little more. The water continued to part as they walked along, and when they got deep enough Lapis closed the opening above their heads. Steven's eyes darted in every direction looking at the sea life they were passing and watching his step, not trusting his sandals to stop an anemone's spines. Lapis watched him mostly, still smiling faintly until they arrived. "We're here" She announced and Steven looked up.

In front of them, just as Lapis had thought there was indeed an underwater cave. She beckoned him to follow again and he did so, hoping up onto the raised cave opening. The slick stone under their feet inclined upward, and it took all of the sure footedness and balance acquired in his long weeks of training to keep from slipping. Lapis of course had no such trouble and continued along at base. Eventually she no longer had to keep them dry as it seemed part of the cave remained above water without her interference. It was a small space, but not what one would describe as cramped. Garnet would have been able to stand comfortably and a beam of light from the gem in his forehead showed that it extended several yards back. "This'll do." Lapis said looking around and moved to lean herself against a cave wall, then slid down until her head nearly touched her knees. "So are you really a crystal gem?" Lapis asked again, not looking up and hugging her legs a little closer. Before Steven could respond she continued. "Because none of the crystal gems have ever even tried to let me out." Her voice undisguisedly bitter. "I was in there fore 5,000 years and not once did they think maybe freeing one of their own kind was worth the risk!" She shouted and the water through which they'd just walked roiled in response.

Steven, who had been approaching her slowed momentarily, but at the sight of the tears in her eyes he drew closer and moved to sit beside her. "The risk?" Steven asked, and Lapis turned those shining empty eyes on him. Maybe his time with the Holo Pearl had influenced him because he thought he could see warmth in those seemingly unseeing orbs.

"The Risk." Lapis nodded. "The risk that I would be corrupted, or worse loyal to homeworld." Neither of those things had occurred to him, but thinking on it a moment Steven decided even if they had he still would have attempted to free her, the being in that mirror was intelligent and it wanted to be set free.

"Well I'm glad I did." One of Steven's long fingered hands moved to take hold of Lapis' forearm as his head tucked against her shoulder. "I'm sorry, that no one tried to help you. I kinda understand why they didn't, but it wasn't right." Lapis was still as he spoke, looking for a moment like she would admonish him for trying to see it from the Crystal Gems' side, then sighed and laid her head on his.

"Yeah, I guess I can see why they didn't. I am really powerful." Just the slightest hint of a snicker in her voice as a huge hand of water rose from the pool not far from where they sat before falling back to inanimate liquid again. "I could probably take them all one handed." Steven gave a little laugh and she returned it with a snorting one of her own. "That and. . .well I still want to go home, and that's a big risk for them." Lapis' voice grew softer, more somber and moved a slender arm around Steven to draw him closer.

"Well, if that's what you really want. . ." Steven said slowly. "Then we have to help you." Those empty eyes went wide in surprise and she looked down to find Steven looking back at her, resolute and determined. "We kept you in that mirror for thousands of years, making you stay on earth when you want to go isn't any better." Fresh tears welled up in Lapis' eyes and she hugged him all the tighter. "Let me talk to the Gems." Lapis looked like she would protest but he pushed on. "Trust me, because I trust them, they may have made a mistake keeping you but I'm sure they'll help make it right." Lapis looked doubtful but nodded.

"I trust you Steven." He beamed back at her and her cheeks deepened to a dark navy blue. "I wish my Gem wasn't damaged, then I could just make the trip myself." With that she turned and lifted her hair out of the way of the cracked gem in her back. Steven stared at it as Lapis recalled the events of how she had come to earth, how she'd been caught in a battle then jammed into that mirror and eventually cracked. ". . .Are you okay, you haven't said anything in. . ." She trailed off as she turned to find Steven as glassy eyed as herself beam of light emanating from his gem and bathing her own. Her instinct was to recoil but she said she trusted him and she'd meant it. A minute later his eyes cleared and Steven shook his head.

"Woah I've never done that before. It was like I was looking into your gem, figuring out what's wrong with it." Lapis waited for him to go on, and with another slow shake of the head and deep intake of breath he continued. "It. . .It looks worse than it is, I think the crack amethyst made in her gem a few months back falling off that cliff was worse, it doesn't seem like yours is gonna get worse on it's own." He didn't know how he knew all that exactly but was fairly confident of it. "I'm sure Rose can fix it up, she took care of amethyst's like it was nothing." Apprehension was clear on the blue gem's face but she nodded.

"If you think you can convince her." There was a fierce eagerness in Steven's eyes now.

"She has to, she knew you were stuck in there. . .so did my mom and as scarey as homeworld sounds that wasn't fair to you." Lapis gave her snort of a laugh again, though a bit more derisively than before.

"Most things aren't." Steven laughed back, rather than his usual light giggle however it came from what little belly he had and sounded to his ears much like his father's.

"Yeah, I know. That's what makes it so good when something is though. So let's go make things right for you." He said standing, taking Lapis by the hand and walking with her to the water, where still laughing a little separated the water for them to make the return trip. When they returned to the beach, they found Garnet waiting arms crossed and at her ease seeming, -like she sometimes did- to be expecting something she had no way of knowing was coming.

"Rose and Amethyst are waiting for you up in the house." She turned to Lapis who eyed her warily, and looked to Steven for reassurance. "I know it's a bit overdo but, welcome to earth Lapis Lazuli. Let's go." With that Garnet turned, leading them up the beach as the sun set over the ocean. Steven held her hand tightly, and Lapis found the tension going out of her as they walked, hope springing up insider her for the first time in millenia.