"And that's where Pearl nearly killed me with a spaceship, and over there is where a group of Rubies came to kill us, and that part is-"
"Are you going to start every place saying how you nearly died?"
"Umm, yeah, pretty much."
A couple stood in the middle of an empty field. Green as vast as the eye could see with just a few bushes and trees to break the monotony. Steven chose as the first stop the second place where he spent more time and better memories he had. The barn, or what is left of it.
"This place is...rustic? " Lapis grabbed an old plank of wood from the floor, it crumbled just from her touch." But I don't see more than a big hole in the ground and some ruins." She looked back at Steven, he had a sad smile on his face, looking at the place like there was something she couldn't see. Nostalgia is a bitch.
"...Eh? You said something?" He snapped back to reality.
"Nothing." She began pacing around. Old fields without plants, creped fences… there wasn't anything worthwhile here. " I won the first round, Steven."
"What do you mean?" He got closer. Seeing a blue figure in these parts made his heart tremble. He should have spent more time with Lapis and Peridot when he had the chance.
"I had an idea." Steven didn't like the sound of that. "To make this tour more interesting, let's make a game out of it. Let's see if you can sell me on Earth before this day ends."
"Okay, what's the catch. " He didn't believe it for a second. "That's too wholesome for you, there's something else. And if you are the judge, you can cheat at any moment." Under Steven's doubtful glance Lapis just smiled and shrugged.
"It's just a fun little thing Steven, have I ever cheated in one of our games?" He was going to name quite a few times, but she continued. "Also… this game is important for our future, so I will be impartial." To his surprise, Lapis looked embarrassed.
Now Steven was truly at a loss, but he decided to comply. Whatever she had planned wouldn't be too bad. Or at least he hoped.
He looked at the empty space where a big barn should have been. Now only a hole with parts of the wooden structure left behind.
"It was truly great Lapis." He wasn't talking only about the barn. " Peridot coming around, everyone working together… wish that you could have seen it."
She wasn't impressed with this location. But seeing Steven talking with a smile of something he liked made it worth it. "Yeah, I'm sure it was great. Wish that I could have been there too Steven, I don't really have any happy memories of the places I have been." She also began recalling her old life as a terraformer. Ignoring everything, just doing what she has been told, break a planet apart, and then waiting for the next assignment. Rinse and repeat. For hundreds of years….Lapis wondered how much she truly changed.
She felt a light punch in her shoulder, Steven's hand brushing gently her gem sending weird sparks through her body.
"Don't say that." He saw her solemn expression a few moments ago and decided to do something. "You already have a planet to call home, and we are creating moments there little by little aren't we?" She sighed, it was difficult to be sad for long with Steven around. "Though I still keep what I said, it would have been fun to have you around since the start."
He felt something cold on his shoulder. Lapis' head, she was taking advantage of the size difference to use him as a pillow for a second time today, her hair stroking Steven's cheeks with his every breath. "Don't know about that Steven, my old self was a little complicated to deal with."
" Was ?"
"Shut up." She couldn't see his face right now but Lapis could sense the shit-eating smile." Aside from that, fighting the diamonds… that was a very weird concept before you and Rose Quartz came along. For a gem a diamond is like… don't know, a mother in human terms? Can you imagine fighting your own mother?" ' Oh wait.' She regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth.
"Yes! I do it a lot."
"I know Steven but-"
"I would start soft and then start ramping up, I have rerun the scenario so many times in my head."
"Anyway, as I was say-"
"You know, sometimes I been tented of going to my mom's room in the temple and - glub glob glub!"
"That's better. Back on track, from the moment we are born, we know our task and that we should never disrespect our Diamond, it's not just conditioning, it's inside us, deep in our gem, for you to actually be able to not only fight the Diamonds, but to convince others as well… it says a lot about you and your mom."
She looked back at Steven, which gave her a very particular hateful look, Lapis imagined that it was because of the ball of water covering his head.
" Glub glub!" Lapis made a single hand gesture, the water in Steven's head fell onto the ground. He gave a deep breath. "You could have killed me!"
"Puff, drama queen. "
"Grow up."
"I can't. You grow up you human teen." She began looking around, there wasn't any more to do here. "This time you are the guide, is there anything else important here?."
Steven began to think. "Important?" Um..…Oh! There are thousands of gem fragments buried beneath this place which are forced to fuse together creating a monster capable of destroying planets."
"..." Lapis blinked, then blinked again. "...that sounds extremely disturbing and an offense to life and fusion in every conceivable way. Show me!"
":...This is very underwhelming." Lapis stared at a deep hole, she tried to throw a rock inside but no sound could be heard, it was going deep. "Is it safe to have it open?"
Steven squatting at her side was at a loss too. "Weird, could have sworn that this was sealed. Anyway, we can't see it" 'Or it was her? Or they? Maybe them? I still don't understand the pronouns thing.' "But the Cluster is close from here, if you concentrate you can hear the voices."
"The voices?"
"Yes! Sometimes I hear the cluster when I'm sleeping." His eyes lost focus and stared at nothing. " Thousands and thousands of voices calling me, compelling me to come, to be one of them, to join-" Lapis gave him a hard slap on the face. His eyes went back to normal "Eh? What I was- No matter, what I'm saying is that first, I'm not crazy, and two, just concentrate so you can hear them too."
She had her doubts….but the idea of connecting with an Eldritch abomination made by her own people was tempting. Maybe they'll show her things beyond her imagination, or maybe they will give her some dating advice. Who knows, and she could use both.
Lapis decided to close her eyes. Yes. She could feel something, deep down, under the Earth there was a presence. She felt a chill in her already cold body. This was it...
" Lapis…." Like a quiet voice whispering in her ear. " Lapissss…." It was like someone was trying to imitate a spooky voice. " Steven ate the last muffin yesterday, not that plant, but you should totally forgive himmmm." Wait what? " You need to stop being shy about taking a picture with Stevennnnn. I like your dressss. I know that your snarky attitude is just a way to deflect your real feelingssss"
" Steven." She didn't open her eyes.
The ' cluster' froze. "Y-Yes Lapis?"
"You have five seconds." She was smiling, her types of smiles she had before dropping a few tons of water on his head.
"F-five seconds for what?"
" Five"
"Hahaha, cmon Lapis, that was a joke."
"Four"
"You wouldn't do anything bad, right? Right?!"
" Threeee" The ground trembled as Steven took off. Small cracks left behind as he started flying. "EeeeTwoOne!" She followed before he could take more distance advantage, he was fast.
"That was not five seconds!" Steven looked behind, her deep blue opposing the clear one from the sky, the waters wings shining with the rays of the Sun. Steven could have taken more distance between them but he slowed a little down. This was the fun part.
"Cmon Steven! I only want to hug you!" The sound was muffled by the air passing at a great velocity in front of them, but he didn't like the tone at all. And he had serious doubts that someone cracked their knuckles for giving hugs.
The chase continued in the sky, neither bird nor plane could match the speed of the two, people below seeing a flash of pink and blue accompanied by the soft sound of laughter.
In the barn left behind, a small piece machine that no one of them noticed transmitted a signal to a particular gem tablet in Homeworld…
' Stupid thing! Why do you always stop working at the most crucial moments?! Watching an ad? Full speed. Analyzing the gems who infiltrated the Cluster Zone without permission? It crashed two times!'
" Peridot."
' Why do I buy this thing from a human?! I could make one better with a piece of string, a squirrel, and a better tablet!'
"Peridot!"
' Are you kidding me?! Another crash?! You stupid PIECE OF CLO-'
A cup of water hit her face. She looked back at the culprit "What are you doing Lazu- Oh, no, not again! , you soaked my streaming device!" A green gem looked angrily at a blue one.
"You have like, forty of those things, what's the big deal?" And the blue one didn't really care.
In Little Homeworld, sitting on a tablet in the middle of the town were two of the Crystal Gems. Citizens of all cuts and colors could be seen gently strolling around going for work, classes, or simply relaxing. The two gems right now were trying to do the third option.
"But in this one I had the entire season of- No! That's not important now, someone has been spying in our old house!" That got Lapis's attention, even though she kinda used the barn as a weapon and she kinda fleed with it to space she had a special link to that place. "Yellow Diamond told me about her plan to fix the cluster and I have been clearing the zone. Yeah, I know, the Diamond I used to serve now is asking for my help, no big deal, I'm just that important now." Lapis could read ' Praise me! ' all over her face.
Her blue companion was everything but impressed. And for everything I mean mostly annoyed and bored, playing with the rest of the drink she didn't throw at Peridot. Lapis was not going to drink it, but Peridot bought it saying that it gave ' atmosphere'.
"Yeah yeah Peridot, you rule." No matter how plain was Lapis's tone, Peridot didn't catch the sarcasm and got an even bigger smile. "Now can we go back to talk about my problem?"
Peridot fixated her posture. She complained time and time again but they didn't buy bigger chairs, she tried to appear taller but only her head got above the table. It looked like a very tired adult was talking with a child.
"Is this again about your new apprentice? I told you that Pearl was in charge of that department. If you want to file a complaint you need to talk with her." Lapis's mood got worse after hearing that name. "And I still don't understand how you can complain about Nice Lapis! In class, she is always happy, full of energy, ready to help...basically everything you are not." Lapis gave her an ugly look, or maybe that was just her normal annoyed face, she couldn't tell. "I mean, she is not as funny and lovely as me, but she isn't half bad."
"It's not Nice Lapis, I'm nice too."
"Oh yeah?" From somewhere Peridot retrieved another tablet. "You destroyed the local water tank three days ago." And she began reading from it. "Bismuth is still repairing the pipe system afte-"
"Okay okay stop." She couldn't listen to this. Again. "All of them have a logical explanation." That explanation being her short temper, but Lapis decided to omit that part. "I'm talking about that."
She pointed to the other customers in the open cafe. Or she would if they weren't cowering in fear beneath their tables, even the cashier had fled the moment she handed them their drinks. All morning since she left her study people have treated her like a ticking time bomb. Honestly, Lapis didn't care that much, she was even glad that her social interaction had decreased even further, less talk means less chance of anyone saying something stupid. But it would still be nice to know what she had done to deserve this fear. ' So I can do it again when I don't want to be bothered…'
"Oh that." Peridot just spared them a side glance, tinkering with her tablet being more important right now. Lapis got a light smile on her face, she didn't care about how other people saw her. But the opinion of her very few friends...well that was a different matter, and seeing Peridot unaffected means that it couldn't be too bad. ' If only Steven were here too…' The smile on her face was touched by a bit of melancholy.
"Yeah, that's probably because of your morning outburst."
"My what?" She couldn't remember anything out of the ordinary, she spent all day painting, tried to kill Nice Lapis, and then drew some more. Basically her daily routine.
Peridot gave a few clicks and passed the tablet to Lapis. "I know it wasn't you, and I tried to explain it, but your 'fame' didn't help much." A video began playing.
A calm sea...until a massive pillar of water raised from the weaves. "There's no other Lapis in town strong enough to do that."
Lapis couldn't believe it, old memories coming back, one of the best days of her old miserable life, the end of the eternal torture that was her mirror, being healed, meeting him…
There was something more in the water, ascending the tower a glowing pink could be seen, and after a while, on the top, a giant version of Lapis appeared. "And that's the technique that you copied from that popular show we watched."
"No, wait, this can't be-" She noticed something amiss on that water Lapis. The hair, that was not her hairstyle, no, those were…' Curls.' She got a bad feeling, a sixth sense she didn't even know she had begun ringing on her head. "Wait, what about Steven, he is okay?!" She got up from the chair, water wings ready to emerge to fly to the temple.
Peridot dismissed it with a wave ."Don't worry, Garnet said that he was fine." Lapis calmed a little, from that trio the fusion was the only one she could more or less thrust. " And she came back a while ago to talk with Pearl. I wonder what they could be talking abo-"
"HE DID WHAT?! WITH WHO?!WHAT ABOUT CONNIE?!" The shouting voice of an angry Pearl came like thunder from above.
"...I don't think that I want to know anymore." The sounds of screams continued for a little while. " Anyway, basically people think that you got mad with the temple gems because they didn't let you see Steven, so you tried to kidnap him."
Lapis eyed the other customers with hatred, the very few remaining ones that's it. "Okay, first of all, is not that they don't 'let me' see Steven." Peridot rolled her eyes, again with this song and dance. "I'm only leaving him alone because his father-thing said that it's the best thing for human teenagers . And second, it's not like I'm that obsessed with Steven that I would attempt to destroy the town just to meet him." She snorted. Her being impulsive and putting the lives of others at risk just to get her way? Nope, not her. Never happen.
Peridot for once said nothing, with a few clicks on her tablet another image was displayed. It looked like a human calendar, but there were numbers at the bottom. "Those are times you say Steven's name each day." The rare serious expression on her face told Lapis that she wasn't making a joke.
"What?!" It can't be, no one would spend time counting every single time she said-' Oh wait, it's Peridot.' She began reading it with a newfound interest. "Forty-six, twenty n- Hey wait a minute! This is from today, and we have just met."
"I have Nice Lapis keeping track. " Lapis gritted her teeth. ' That cheap piece of jewelry.'
Lapis kept scrolling through the days, if it wasn't almost creepy she would congratulate Peridot for her efforts. "Seventy...thirty six…two hundred and nine?!"
"Oh, that was when we watched that episode where the protagonist chose the childhood friend instead of the older girl next door...you were projecting a little." If her memory didn't fail, and it never did, it wasn't a little. She smiled recalling those times in the barn.
A crack sound made Peridot stop her trip down memory lane. "What are you doing Lazuli!?" And she wished she had stayed there. Peridot was not savviest with Earth's primitive technology, but she knew for a fact that tablets didn't bend very far. And Lapis was folding it like it was paper.
"Done." She threw aside the remains of the annoying piece of tech who totally didn't prove any feeling that she didn't want to admit. "And that's for keeping track of my nonexistent obsession."
"You old Era One relic, that's not how modern technology works!" She picked the folded ' paper' " Everything is on the Cloud you clod! You just ruined Saturday's movie night". Now she had to illegal- I mean, redownload it again from sources .
Peridot saw a glint on Lapis's eyes and got a bad feeling.
"The clouds?" With a hand pointed to the sky, the blue gem drew some power from the anger dwelling inside her, luckily, right now she had plenty to spare. The atmosphere changed. Peridot looked at the sky, one by one, every cloud decorating the blue sky was banishing, Lapis using her power to expand the water inside until it couldn't hold its form anymore, but from Peridot's viewpoint it looked like they were being obliterated by a higher power. "Now, nothing can prove about me loving Steven, okay?" Peridot didn't mention that at no point did anyone say anything about love.
The short gem was stunned, she knew that Lapis was strong, but this…whatever few customers or gems strolling were in the vicinity were quick to run away.
Lapis sat again, she was a little exhausted, but now there was nothing that could make her question her friendship with the human she lov- appreciated, the most.
"Umm, Lapis?" She was quick to face Peridot, the blue gem felt a little ashamed, she had just broken another one of her things and threw a tantrum, she promised to not break anything more today." Look at your spilled drink."
The drink was floating and moving on his own, becoming two small forms she could recognize, herself being one of them, embracing and kissing St
*Smash*
Cracks appeared on the table surface where Lapis had stamped her fist. This was not her powers forming her deepest desires, no, impossible, Earth was weird, there had to be a logical explanation that wouldn't make her take a step forward on her inner feelings, she was sure Peridot could provide her with it.
"You like him."
*Smash*
...more cracks appeared where Lapis's head collided with the table.
She tried to cover her face. Maybe to hide the faint blush now coloring her cheeks, maybe to try to hide away from the fact that her secret feelings weren't so secret after all. She didn't know.
"I just...I...I miss him Peridot." Her voice broke a little. "I miss Steven." Sometimes that name got stuck in her throat, she had said the same thing in her head more times than she could count, but saying it out loud was still a challenge. " He went for me, you know? I betrayed both of you, running away like a coward but he still found me, and he was ready to receive me with open arms. He always does."
"He went to the moon for me, but I can't even go to his room for him."
Peridot looked at her weeping friend, she had long known that Lapis was a little... moody . And she couldn't blame her, all things she went through would leave anyone's emotional state in shambles, and herself being a part of her bad experiences still weighs deeply in her conscience.
"...There's always a season two." The blue gem perked up after listening to those strange words.
"What?"
Peridot stopped playing with her tablet(the third one this morning). She could repair any machine with her eyes closed, but her blue friend was far more complex and volatile.
"You know, if things were like before, your chances of winning would be none, zero, non-existent, totally abis-"
"Can you please get to the point." Now Lapis's voice recovered some of her usual bitterness, Peridot counted that as a win.
"Look, if all the shows that I have watched gave me any real experience about relationships, and it does. When the protagonist it's at their lowest point, the heroine always gives an encouraging speech to make him see the light, which makes their feelings bloom, and that position seems to be vacant now so…"
Lapis's eyes went wide, her down mood totally washed over, she managed to understand what Peridot was saying. "If any human, or gem, managed to understand his situation and help him recover, he'll maybe develop very strong feelings towards them. And now Connie is very far away."
Lapis got up from her chair, and in an instant she got real close to Peridot, something in her eyes was scaring the green gem. "Taking advantage of Steven's depression…" She began to think it over, it could work, she knew it, because that's what happened to her. "And there's no other gem who can sympathize with his situation as much as me…" What are the chances of Steven meeting another gem with the same disposition right now? "But, isn't that like, immoral?"
"I don't know Lazuli, is it?" Peridot said with confidence, then took a sip of her coffee to dramatize the point...she ended up spitting it. "Puagh! What is this? How the hell can this place still run with this garbage?!"
There was something on Lapis's face, a smile, the smile of a maiden in love, or the smile of a villain ready to destroy the world, the difference was very thin.
Peridot saw Lapis's arms covering her, she mentally prepared to be strangled to death but…"Thank you Peridot." Her only weakness, physical affection. Peridot's mind was trying to process the hug when she suddenly was released.
"I'll do it!" Water wings knocked over the tables and chairs in the vicinity, Lapis began to raise. "I'll go to Steven's room right now and assau- I mean rap- I mean help him!" There was an energy traveling through her body, a warm feeling coating every part of her light form. She took off, the wind of her sudden acceleration trampling over whatever was still left standing.
"Wait! I was seriously asking, I don't know if it's immoral or not!." Those words were lost in the empty sky, Lapis now darting to the temple without looking back.
Peridot began looking around, in the spam of their conversation Lapis had managed to destroy two of her devices and make chaos all around...honestly, it went better than she expected.
Nowadays she always carries her spare ones when they meet together, too many wet incidents have taught her that, and this would be the perfect excuse to ask for the latest ones.
Only downside is that she lost the data of this evening tour for the new gems, but what are the chances of a gem she didn't know sneaking her way onto it? None!
Peridot gave one last look at the direction where Lapis was headed, this could either end up really well or really really bad. But more importantly…
"I hope that they don't mind if I keep a record of their sexual intercourse, the relationship between a gem and a human can be a very interesting study subject." She thought for a moment if she should ask them, but she opted that sneaking up and recording while they were doing the deed was a far more preferable choice.
"Good luck Lapis." Peridot sneaked away from the disaster.
"And that's Steven Junior, and that's Steven Junior Junior, that over there is Steven Senior Junior-"
"I think that Steven Junior something something is trying to eat my dress."
Goats, or hairy dogs, she still didn't know Earth's fauna. She picked up the thing trying to eat her clothes. " You know, I can see the resemblance."
"...That's a joke right?"
"Of course." She petted the bag of hair one last time and the goat went lazily to his family, she went to hers. Before Steven noticed her hand was already on his head. "Yours is way fluffier." Lapis didn't know which she liked more, the feeling of his soft hair in her hands or the annoyed expression on his face.
She also enjoyed the view from here, the mountain peaks were like islands in a sea of clouds. And at her side a familiar view, a forest, small animals, and Steven, if it was bluer and it wasn't all covered in goat poop she could mistake it for her home. 'Wait, home? ' A smile grew on her face as she doubled the petting ' I hate when he is right.'
"Sure you want to stay here?" Steven had long given up on stopping the petting, now strangely enjoying the sensation. "There's some cool old Gem stuff in the temple on top."
"So, a choice between ancient Gem culture or goat shit?" She separated from Steven and pretended to think it for a moment. They looked at each other and smiled.
"Goat shit it is."
"Steven!" Something fast, blue, and dangerously excited crashed into the beach house. If Lapis' mind wasn't going over and over through ' dangerous' and ' maybe illegal' train of thoughts she would worry about the hole she had just caused in the roof of Steven's bedroom.
When the dust settled down she scouted the room for any sign of future ' fusion partner' material, but she was alone, again. "...I thought that nowadays he spent all the time in his room." She had managed to bribe information out of Amethyst by giving her one of her paintings. Lapis didn't expect the purple gem to eat it in front of her.
She closed her eyes, focusing on the water in the house. Nothing. No sweat, blood or any other liquids that belong to a human. Steven was out.
Nevertheless Lapis began exploring the room, it wasn't a mess, but there were some clothes scattered around and the bed wasn't even done, like someone left in a hurry. Though she didn't have any right to complain, her actual studio was a chaos of canvas, paint, and whatever random items she felt to use for some Meepmorps.
The gem stared at some used clothing on the floor. ' No matter how I asked, Peridot never lent me any of Steven's clothes she stole.' It wasn't really theft if right now she seized some, right? They were friends, and at some point, a few hundred years down the line, she would give it back...maybe.
Lapis's crime career ended up short when she heard some annoying sound coming from the nightstand.
"A phone?" Lapis was a simple rock, she didn't understand technology and technology didn't understand her, so they kept from each other's paths, and when they classed one of them ended up broken, for now she had won all the battles. But something familiar was on the lit screen, she wasn't looking at the number or the name of the call, no, it was the background.
"Wait, I know that place." A blue jungle, plants with eyes… she went there with Steven a few months ago, the last time they met.
There was something more in the image, a humanoid figure that nearly disappeared with the landscape. Someone blue.
She picked the phone in a flash to examine the photo better, but the moment she hit the scream the background disappeared. "Dammit" A voice came from the phone, she had picked it up without realizing it. ' Okay Lapis, you are older than the entire civilization who created these stupid things, you can do it.'
"Yes, hello?...Who?...Oh right, the human girl…...The hell is a skating rink?...Steven? Yes, of course he is over here! I wouldn't do something stupid like crash up to his room and steal his phone, haha..….No, I can't pass this to him, you see, he is, ehh, swimming! Swimming yes, oh no, he's got a cramp, now he is drowning, Steven is dead, too bad, don't call anymore."
Nailed it.
She didn't know how to hang up, but like every other problem of her life, she just fixed it by throwing some water at it. This caused the voice on the other end to shut up, but for some reason now it didn't work anymore.
She looked at the broken phone in her hands.
Lapis sighed. "...what am I doing?" Her mood went down.
She was acting stupid, again. Lapis normally was apathetic to pretty much everything, but the moment she let her emotions take control she always screwed things up.
Her cowardice with the Diamonds made her flee from the only people that liked her, and now her lov- whatever thing she was feeling right now, was potentially going to screw up one of her few and most important friendships.
"Steven's a human, he has that human girl...he'll never want a Lapis as his partner." She wanted to flee, spring her water wings and spend some time away from Earth, until this warm feeling on her gem disappeared.
She threw herself into Steven's bed, it was comfortable, perhaps she could use Peridot's advice and sleep, though, it was always the same, when she closed her eyes, the darkness came once again. The mirror. Steven had freed her from it, but its shackles still hunt the moment when she is alone, when she is weak. She couldn't fall asleep no matter how much she tried, the moment her eyes closed she was back inside it again.
But, today was different. 'This room...it smells like him.' Lapis didn't know why but…" Steven…" She hugged the pillow. Lapis tried, but for once, her eyes refused to open.
For the first time in many days, her eyelids became heavy.
For the first time in many years, she felt safe.
And for the first time in her long life, Lapis fell asleep.
A tree, a normal tree, with his normal leaves and normal trunk, he was like everyone besides him on this small island. Only thing weird about it was the two heads popping out of it.
"First goats and now this...I don't understand human biology." The blue haired head spoke to the black haired one.
"Me neither, you had to see when Pearl tried to tell me how babies were made, I still scream at night." He knew that Pearl did it with her best intention, but a whole PowerPoint with too many details still left him scarred. Garnet and her raw explanation combined with Amethyst ' educational' online videos didn't help much either.
Both human and gem were watching from afar a whole village, like the tree, it was a normal village, if you don't count that all the habitants were Steven's shaped watermelons that's it.
"I wonder how they taste."
"Lapis!"
"What? I can see you salivating too." The blue head went back into the tree. With a few leaves on her hair, she jumped back into the ground.
It was the second time today Steven had baited her with the children's comment.
Lapis heard the sound of ruffle leaves and Steven followed her to the ground, he was sweeping away the few leaves in his body when Lapis got closer.
She picked up the leaves from his hair, and he helped pick up the one on hers. In silence, they both stared for a moment.
Lapis smiled. "Ours are cuter."
"Hm?"
"Our children, they are cuter than those watermelons." Her smile got bigger when she saw a confused look on his face. With some reluctance, she separated herself from Steven and began looking for something.
"L-lapis what do you mean? What children?" He didn't know why his cheeks were getting hotter. Kids. The whole idea seemed too adult like for him, but the mere concept...was getting his imagination to run wild.
It seems that while Steven was having a small existential crisis Lapis found what she was looking for, a nearby pond, she molded something out of water in it.
Steven saw what she was carrying in her arms and gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, that." Though a part of him was a little disappointed.
"Say it."
"What?"
"Say that our children are cuter, or she'll start crying." There was a big smile on Lapis's face, and Steven could see the corner of her lips twitch, it seemed that she was holding her laughter.
"You weren't this dumb when I met you." He was trying to be serious but his lips also betrayed him.
In Lapis's arms was a familiar sight for both of them, one of the alien plants, looking at him in absurdly good detail, if it wasn't transparent he wouldn't tell the difference from the real ones. He had to admit, it was impressive.
"C'mon say it! If you don't our child is going to die." The water plant started crying, big tears came from the water eyes and fell into the ground, making the plant smaller by the moment.
"Okay, okay!" The extreme detail on the water construct made him feel bad ." Our children are cuter." He got closer to touch the little plant, it actually purred when he petted it. From below he saw Lapis' satisfied face, but it had a shadow of a smirk in it.
"And me?" She closed her face to his, too close in fact.
"You are also cuter than a watermelon." Smoothest line in the book, his father would be proud.
Lapis let go of the water plant, it went back into normal water the moment it touched the ground.
"...so much for our child-" Before Steven could complain a kiss fell onto his lips. Lapis smirked and began walking towards the village, after a moment she stopped and looked back at Steven blushing like a little kid. Lapis liked the view, maybe she should be more aggressive from time to time.
" Our actual children will be even cuter." She whispered for herself and let Steven catch up.
The village was just ahead, it would be fun to explore it. "Hm? Hey Steven, look over there! There's a giant cactus with your face just ahe-"
A flash of Pink. In the span of a second, Steven grabbing her, and both of them flying away from the island at an extreme speed.
She was walking while muttering a song, her ponytail swayed with her every step and a smile on her freckled face.
Her eyes began wandering around, the same houses and places she had gotten used to in these past months. Little Homeworld was unusually empty at this hour.
"Lapislazuli!" Someone shouted her name. Well, the name of her gem. The only person who knew her actual one was very far away.
She looked at the people coming towards her. "Hey guys!". A tall cherry color Quartz and a black haired Nephrite were running and nearly out of breath.
"The other Lapis has gone crazy!" The nephrite stopped at her side.
"How can you survive living with her?" Even though the Cherry Quartz was big as a boulder she was still afraid of the Lapis Lazulis, though the one standing before her was the exception. Nice Lapis worked hard for that.
Lapis kept her smile, this was going to be fun."Haha, c'mon guys, she is not that bad." She was indeed that bad. But still, she respected her, as a senior and as an Era One gem. "But what do you mean about her going crazy?"
"Look!" A phone was practically shoved in her face. Through Peridot's classes she knew how to use it, but all the electronic pieces she had brought to their studio had been destroyed by Lapis in a series of incidents, her teacher was really bad with technology.
"It's pretty blurry but it seems that she was fighting Steven! How can you even fight a diamond and a hero like him?" Now that was a shock for Lapis, if the drawings that her teacher kept away in that locked closet were a reference for her feelings, the only fighting she wanted to do with Steven was the human one in bed.
As the video played her companions were trying to see how she reacted, but she stayed with the same relaxed smile through it all.
"Sooo what do you think, it's really her?" The green gem asked expectantly.
"Ummm, yes, must be her." Lapis lied.
"I knew it! On top of that she destroyed the cafe a while ago!" That sounded more like her teacher.
"C'mon! We need to show it to the others!" The big and small duo began running again, but when they looked back Lapis was still on the same spot. Smiling. "Um? Aren't you coming?"
She shook her head. "Sorry ~ I still have some drawing left to do." Lapis lied.
"Damn, too bad, well she you in class Nice L!" They waved and went her way. Lapis waves back.
Lapis stayed on the same spot for a while. ' Nice Lapis?' She didn't deserve that name, no Lapis does. Her eyes went to the sky, not a single cloud to disturb that infinite blue.
She went back to her walk, with a smile still on her face, though, a more kneen eye could see something amiss. Lapis was trembling.
' She is here.'
Death.
That was the first word that crossed Steven's mind when walking through the Kindergarten.
Not a single spec of life left, the atmosphere, the ground...even the colors of this place were dead. The creak of old machines was the only sound in these places aside from the steps of the duo.
"Steven...this is horrible." He understood her, this was the darkest side of the Gems, everyone would feel bad in this- "Look at these cuts! This isn't even uniform, and they waste so much space!" ' Wait what.' "Unbelieve, old gems may be more powerful but they have no idea how to terraform effectively, I can do a better job in a week with a bucket of water."
Steven rolled his eyes.. ' Never mind' He continued the stroll, maybe they should get something to eat, but he stopped. This place was dead silent, so he quickly noticed the absence of the gem's steps with his own. He looked back, she had a serious expression on her face, her stare fixated on the hole covered walls. He doubted that it was because of her previous comment.
" Hey, Steven… where's your hole?"
"..." This seemed like a solemn moment for her, he could tell, but so many jokes came to his mind this very moment, he decided to swallow them all down. "You- haha " It was really hard. "I think you mean my mom."
"Oh right, where's your mom's hole? Can I see it?" Steven pierced her with a glare, she had to be doing this on purpose. But Lapis's face was still serious, which only made it even harder to hold it down.
"Get in line, Pearl tried for a few thousand years and she couldn't see it."
"What?" There was genius confusion in her voice.
"Forget it." He quickly dismissed it. Steven didn't remember making these types of jokes before, Lapis was having a bigger impact on him than he thought.
She was still staring at the walls, he had seen that look before, the eyes wandering around to a better time in the past. "How was your home planet?"
Lapis smiled. "Lot's of water."
Steven buffed. "Never could have seen it coming."
"Shut it."
Lapis began walking, tracing the outline of the holes with her hand. "It was quiet. Only a single beach above water, not a spec of life on the surface or in the ocean. But it didn't look like this, let me tell you."
She looked up, the rusty machines returned the stare. "I was there only there for a few months, playing with the water, thinking about nothing... then my companion emerged and we were sent right after to our first mission, the only Lapis Lazulis born that century." She stopped, her eyes moving to one of the holes, only darkness inside them.
She heard the sound of footsteps, Steven was at her side. "Do...do you miss it?"
She shrugged. "I don't really know." Her water wings formed on her back, she had enough of this place for a while. "I just found it weird." A single wave of her wings and she was flying, the pale tones replaced by the vibrant colors of Earth and the blue sky, from this height the Kindergarten looked like a big scar on the landscape. Before she could notice Steven was floating calmly at her side.
Lapis looked back at him. "I don't know how many centuries I have lived Steven...but that place, I just spent a few months there doing nothing, but I can still see it perfectly." She remembers what Steven told her when they meet. ' Old' Lapis had never considered herself that, but right now she could feel the weight of the ages on her back. Being exposed to the short-lived human culture had changed her perspective.
They stayed in silence for a short while, enjoying the view of birds passing at their side and clouds lazily being moved over by the wind...it seemed like this place and the Kindergarten below belonged to two different worlds.
"We are free now." Steven was the first to speak.
"Free?"
"Earth and the jungle planet...we are not trapped there anymore, we can go to that planet if you want. Or any other place in the Universe." His cheeks gained a little color as he began scratching the back of his head. "You know...together and stuff."
How easy he said those words, and what a great impact it had on her. More than she could admit at the moment.
"I'll take you on that."
Steven looked at his tray of food. Two burgers, two sodas, two bags of french fries and…"Wait, are those bits?"
"On the house."
A familiar face handed him the food. Dirty golden locks and a toothless smile. And probably the only other kid of his age in town.
"Now I have the money to pay for real fries, you know that Peedee?" He smiled at his childhood friend.
"Don't care. You still get that free, is given them to you or that seagull over there." Said bird gave him a particular mean stare, and with a loud squawking, which roughly translates to very heavy insults to his mother, flew over the shop. Jokes on the seagull, because Steven would have agreed with him.
"Time flies, doesn't it?" Peedee started frying the next order. "I'm taking over the restaurant...you have stopped some aliens from conquering Earth...we both have it rough."
Steven let the food rest on the counter. Long time since he had fried food, it smelled divine. "I would take your place in a hard beat."
"Same" They both shared a tired laugh.
"Want some?" Steven took a bunch of his bits, it tastes like burned oil and he felt like every bite could cost him a tooth.
"You know, when you spend every day making fast food, it doesn't taste as good anymore." He saw that Steven's hands didn't falter and was still holding the bits. "Damit what the hell." Peedee let the final tray of fries heat up and joined him. He took a bunch. "Taste like crap."
"Yep."
They both keep eating.
"Hey Steven…" Peedee's voice suddenly took a serious note. "We were both busy, you with your gem stuff and me with, well, this." He gestures to the whole store." But you know, even if we don't hang up as much, I still consider you my bro." Steven's hand was going to deliver another bits to his mouth, but it got frozen halfway. "I may not have any cool gem stuff, and I'm not into parties like the cool kids here." Steven could see that toothless smile again pointed at him. "But I got a few games upstairs and a whole bunch of snacks, so if you are ever down, come here and we'll have some bro time. Like when we were kids."
"...Someone told you?"
"Amethyst tried to keep it a secret, but she couldn't say no the mountains of trash I have." The image of her devouring a week's worth of trashbags still filled his nightmares
"Thanks." Those were the only words that he could muster at the moment.
Peedee dismissed it with a wave. "Nothing, nothing." His smile changed into a mischievous one as he began elbow bumping him. "You can even bring your new girlfriend if you want"
It wasn't really discreet walking and holding hands with someone with blue skin in the middle of town, but Lapis had a surprisingly tight grip that frustrated all his escape attempts.
"Yeah…" His cheeks gained a faint blush, there wasn't any reason to deny it. "Oh, and sorry for the giant water stealing tower this morning. We got a little carried out."
"Sorry? Every time you guys make some weird stuff this place gets flooded with tourists. It does wander to the town."
An alarm resonated from inside the shop. "Seems like the fries are done." They both went for another handful of bits, but the bag was empty."Good luck Steven, and I'm serious, come whenever." They both shared one last smile. But Peedee shoved Steven's food tray into his arms. "Now go! Don't make your girl wait, if it's her first time eating my food I want it to be at its best."
Steven saw him going back to the kitchen, sweating while handling the hot oil, taking both kitchen and reception duty at the same time… he wasn't the only one with a hard life.
In the short walk until their table he began to think, maybe it was time to recover old friendships. 'Kiki, the cool kids, Onion, Ro-' Wait. "Ronaldo?!" In front of him sitting with Lapis. The same golden locks he just saw but in a more…spherical body.
"Steven!" He jumped out of his seat and went running to his side. "How have you been rockbro?"
"That's our word, you can't use it." Seeing him sitting with Lapis made him feel a little angry.
"Don't worry, I got a lot of gem friends, they let me say it." Ronaldo proceeded to smack, a little too dramatically, a notepad on top of Steven's tray.
"Dude! My food."
"Your food is worth nothing compared to what this page contains!" He doubted that, it cost like twelve bucks.
Steven saw with skepticism the small notepad. "...a drawing with a buffed you kissing some anim-"
"Ups,heeee, wrong one." He quickly flipped the page while Steven searched for an escape route. Sadly, Ronaldo was faster. "This!"
There were some excited and too hastily written phrases, Steven could barely understand them. "Gems are made from human bones...main enemy is the metal men...their creators were sneed and fe- What is this garbage supposed to mean?"
Ronaldo grabbed the notepad back. "This 'garbage' "At this moment Steven understood that doing air quotes with your whole hand didn't really work. "As you put it, it's the gem conspiracy that I have been trying to uncover."
'It's legal if I just bubble him away?'
"My dear Steven, for so many years I have searched the truth, and now thanks to your new friend I have it!" He triumphantly put his hand in the air. "They called me crazy when I told them about the full female alien race living outside my house. They posted smug anime girls when I told them I had a girlfriend. But with this! I'll finally have what I have always wanted, the respect of anonymous people online!"
He began shouting to the sky. "Who is the schizo poster now?!"
"CAWWW" The sky shouted back. In an instant, a seagull grabbed Ronaldo's notepad out of his hands.
"Wait!" Seagull and human, were once again, unable to understand each other. "Birds aren't even real! I demand you to stop!"
And there he went, running in the distance following a bird.
The whole incident was erased from Steven's mind. Or at least he tried.
Finally, he was welcomed by the usual blue of his companion. She didn't look at him, a thinking expression sitting on her face. The moment he sat down and began dividing the food she finally noticed him.
"Hey Steven...am I a bad person?"
"Yes. Next question."
A potato hit his nose.
"I haven't talked with someone who isn't you in a while...so I got nervous and started saying stupid things." She grabbed another fry, this time she wasn't going to use it as a projectile, maybe. "And you always catch quickly when I'm saying something dumb, but he believed everything. " With some reluctance she put the fry in her mouth.
"How does it taste?"
"Salty and oily, I have never had a worse feeling in my tongue. Give me more."
"He is a little... reactionist for saying something. But deep down he is a good guy, that's what matters." He pointed at her with a fry. "Like you." Maybe the moment would be more romantic if Lapis didn't have half her face shoved into a hamburger. "And he got a cute girlfriend. Nearly made them break up once."
Another fry hit his face.
"Yours is cuter."
"I know, but-" Another fry went toward his face, this time he caught it with his mouth.
"Yours is cuter."
Steven chewed while watching Lapis bite half the hamburger with her tiny mouth.
He couldn't help but agree.
"And that's the ninetieth reason why Yellow Diamond's Court is vastly superior to Blue Diamond's Court." A yellow gem was talking to no one in particular, but she enjoyed the sound of her own voice, so she assumed that her three friends also liked it." Now, for the twentieth one..."
Her smug tone was replaced by an annoyed one, as an accusatory finger was pointed to her friend across the table. "You are doing it again, aren't you?!" The blue gem finger stopped working on the holographic table. "You are doing silly drawings of me!"
"...no." A quiet and timid voice came from that gem, but an unapologetic smile sat on her face.
"You are drawing in a transparent hologram, I can see it!"
"Oh...then yes."
"Enough, both of you." A pink gem said with her rusty mandatory tone. She would emphasize the point by giving a light smack on the table, but it was badly damaged. ' Is that a fist mark? And… a face?.' No time for details. "I summoned The Council of Pearls because-"
"We are not calling us that." Yellow Pearl said.
"...Isn't this just our usual Sunday meeting?" And Blue Pearl agreed.
Volleyball sighed, it seems Spinel's idea wouldn't really catch on.
"And why here?" Yellow Pearl examined the cafe they were in, not even a quartz soldier's quarter was this messy. And there was no one around. "It reminds me of the battlefields after we destroyed that rebel scu-" Pink Pearl kicked her under the table. "Auch!...oh right, we are now on the other team, sometimes I forget."
Blue Pearl's soft giggles didn't help the situation. "I want to talk about her." Sitting just in front of Volleyball, the fourth member of their little quartet. Pearl.
Both Yellow and Blue Pearls could easily spot something wrong with their ex-coworker. Like the pile of sugar she put in her cafe, the normal amount of sugar for her was zero, with zero cafe too. And instead of trying to neurotically fix the mess in the vicinity, she was just there, calm, with her eyes wandering around.
"You know what it's like to love someone?" Pearl began talking, more for herself than anything. "Just for a snake to come and take her away?" The other three Pearls looked at each other, half to confirm their worries and half wondering what a snake was. "When two people are meant to be together, but then she chooses a third person?" Her grip got stronger, the coup shatter under her fist. She didn't even realize it. "Someone who didn't fight her battles, didn't protect her from the enemy didn't-"
"H-hey Pearl." Volleyball said a little afraid, Pearl's eyes weren't the usual. "Are you talking about Pin- I mean Rose?" Maybe she had to invite her to the group sessions she had with Spinel, Pink mass-produced mental issues.
"Rose?" She came back to her senses. "Of course not, I'm talking about Steven!"
Pink Pearl's face illuminated after hearing that name. "Oh! How is he? Spinel never stops asking about him." She was not gonna mention the literal heart shaped eyes that Spinel had while saying it.
"Blue Diamond also talks a lot about him." Blue Pearl chimed in. "She is wondering if he will visit Homeworld in the near future."
"I'm sure that Yellow Diamond inquired more about Steven than Blue. " She looked at the face covered with bangs across the table. "How amazing she is, still having time to worry about others while fixing broken gems. Much better than some other Diamonds smoking their problems away."
Blue Pearl's face stayed emotionless, but the soft wind caressing her hair left open for a bit of her eyes to reach Yellow. "... I do wonder who broke them in the first place."
"That's it!." Yellow stepped on the table and reached for her gem. "You're on!" It looked like she was going to pull something out of it, wordlessly, Blue Pearl also reached for hers.
"Stop ." A voice made them freeze in mid gesture. They could swear that they saw something white in the corner of their eyes. But when they both turned to the voice they just found a smiling Volleyball. "Let's stop talking about diamonds for a while. Would you ?"
Pearl didn't give any attention to the trio's antics. Her eyes began wandering again. She looked at the sky, it was weird, she had spent thousands of years on this planet, but this was the first time she saw it without clouds staining that deep blue. ' Blue…' Maybe it was a joke from the heavens, but that color made her emotions stir up again.
The conversation with Garnet was still fresh on her mind, it seems that Steven was now fine, that he had sorted his emotions out, but…' It wasn't thanks to us.' She clutched her fists. This was their mission, to protect and take care of Steven-' No!' She shook her head. ' I'm not doing this just for Rose, not anymore.' Steven was her son as much as it was Greg or Pink's.
She mentally slapped herself. Steven was fine, that was the foremost important thing, and all her strength would be directed towards keeping him that way. Pearl wouldn't let this situation repeat again. She couldn't lose him.
But there was one problem irking her.
"He...got a new girlfriend." That word nearly refused to leave her throat if it wasn't accompanied by Connie right after. She looked back at the other pearls, somehow Yellow and Blue were trying to grab each other's noses while Volleyball was trying, and failing, to stop both of them.
After that word left Pearl's mouth they all recompose themselves at an incredible speed. Gossip was truly a powerful force.
"Another human? Did that brown girl die already?" Yellow Pearl didn't know much about human biology, but she heard rumors that you could kill one just coughing at their faces.
"What?! It's Connie, not brown girl, and she is not dead. " Neither of the Pearls would make much effort to remember the name. "What's more, today she had invited us to the skating rink and-"
"Yeah yeah, we don't really care, now, the juicy news." The other two shake their heads in agreement with Yellow's motion.
Now Pearl remembered why she didn't miss these two in all her years on Earth.
"I don't know why I'm telling you this but… it seems he met with a Lapislazuli in another planet and-"
"YES!" A roar left blue's mouth. She jumped on top of the table. A blue finger nearly touched Yellow's nose. "Take that you stupid piss color rock! Blue Court wins again! Hahaha-!" Blue Pearl finally noticed the stunned expression on the trio. "I mean…" The quiet and timid voice came back as she sat again. "This is most wonderful news, I'm sure Blue Diamond would be delighted to hear it."
The other three pretended to forget what had just happened.
"Wait! You can't tell the diamonds this!" Now Pearl was the one making the scene.
"That's right!" To her surprise, Yellow agreed with her, maybe she wasn't that bad after a-" You need to give Yellow Court a chance too! Hey Pearl, you know Steven pretty well, he is more of a Nephrite or Emerald guy? Because there's someone called Centi who never stops talking about him, and Emeralds have a precedent of liking human males so-."
"No! Stop! You don't need to get the diamonds involved in this."
Yellow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like you are gonna lecture us about being obsessed with our diamond." Under Pearl's angry stare Blue and Pink pearls had to bite their laughs in.
"You don't understand, the diamonds...they like Steven a lot, but their opinion about humans is...mixed." She knew that they didn't want to kill them off like pests anymore, but she wasn't so sure that they could differentiate between animals and them. Honestly, sometimes she couldn't either. "So if they discover that Steven is with a gem, they would meddle in for sure." Now she deeply regretted explaining to them what marriage was.
"...still getting together with a Lapislazuli is highly surprising." One of Blue Pearl's many jobs under Blue Diamond's rule was overseeing those gems. "We have lost contact with many of them after all terraforming endeavors stopped, and how do I put it, they are a little…"
"Maniacs, assholes, and hard to deal with." Yellow finished for her, Blue couldn't say that she disagreed. "I could build a palace for Yellow Diamond with the amount of complaints I've had from all the gems that worked with them." She crossed her arms and looked at her friend. "And someone never did anything about them even though I showed them all my reports."
"You can't control a Lapislazuli." Blue resorted calmly. "They are too strong, some of them only responded to Blue Diamond." She could barely keep Era Two ones in line even though their powers were greatly inferior.
"Is Steven going to be okay?" Volleyball asked a little afraid. She wasn't totally sure what a girlfriend was, and she didn't want to admit it. She recalls Spinel mentioning it once or twice when they talked about Steven, but she had to confirm it later.
"Puff, please, he is a Diamond." Yellow said it was the most normal thing in the world.
Pearl didn't know why but that struck a nerve on her, she had to make a great effort to keep herself in the seat. "He is not a diamond. Steven would never harm anyone."
Steven's fist came from above, nearly missing her head and gracing her cheek. With a loud bang its collision with the platform below made the whole sky arena tremble.
Lapis touched the little scar, no blood came from it, but she could feel the heat it emitted.
"Want me to kiss it?" She looked ahead, Steven's with his two fists ready.
"Nah." Her water wings floating on her back became two giant fists of her owns. "I would prefer if you kissed the floor."