Chapter 15
A War of Words
I own Nothing
"Come on, come on!" a hiss rung out through the empty halls of the fallen gem ship as, within the ship's main control room, a frantic gem found herself skimming through holographic schematics. Using a cord attached to one of her limb enhancers, Peridot powered on the main deck control panel. The energy produced from her enhancer was far too little to grant her full access to it but it granted her just enough to run through the ship's read out and make a full diagnostic report.
Maybe, just maybe these overgrown clods hadn't fully destroyed the ship, maybe there was something salvageable that could allow her to escape or, hell, even call back to homeworld to insure Yellow Diamond of her survival. It was a long shot and Peridot was more than aware of how dangerous it was for her to walk into enemy territory. She's scoped the place out for a week now, watching the comings and goings of both Obsidian and Lapis - trying to find a routine that she could exploit. The problem came when she realized Lapis never seemed to leave the barn, always being found somewhere on the premises, it was aggravating!
Along with her constant presence within or around the barn she was almost always awake. Unlike Obsidian who's always indulged in the act of sleep even when he was back on homeworld, Lapis would spend days without an ounce of sleep, leaving Peridot little in ways of options. So, imagine her surprise when she found both Obsidian and Lapis completely unconscious on top of the grain silo. It was like a gift from the Diamonds themselves!
Of course, seeing the two so close and cozy together made Peridot feel...strange but she didn't have time to deal with it, she needed to strike while the iron was hot. "My sweet, technological marvel, what did these clods do to you?! You've been practically gutted!" she lamented, looking through every single read out of the ships integrity, possible power output and what functions could be operational.
The deeper she went the more she realized that even though these 'clods' were nowhere as smart as she was, they were quite thorough in their utter desolation of this ship's functionality. There were no parts that were salvageable other than a few components in the upper areas of the ship, everything else was either manually destroyed by the Crystal Gems or was corroded by the salt water the ship wallowed in for the first 12 hours of its touch down on earth. Peridot was beyond furious at this point, another avenue to escape this doomed rock was blocked off by these foolish gems! First they interrupt her analysis of the forced fusion test subjects at the prime Kindergarten and now, even when they are nowhere to be seen, they're still foiling her plans.
"This is hopeless!" Peridot ripped out the connector cord before slamming her limb enhanced fist first into the console, "Think Peridot, think! There's gotta be a way off this doomed dirt ball, there has to be!"
"Doomed?" Peridot's words hitched in her throat as the chilling sound of another voice radiated through the empty control room. She hesitantly looked over her shoulder and noticed a figure slightly concealed in the shadows of the dimly lit starship. "What makes you say that?"
Stepping forth into the control room, Obsidian is revealed thanks to the dull, iridescent glow Peridot's attack, much to her dread. Whipping around, she activated her limb enhancer firing capability and aimed a charged yellow orb at her once beloved ally. "Don't you dare come any closer, traitor!" she hissed, a tinge of panic seeping through her authoritative tone.
"Easy Peri," Obsidian hummed, raising his hands so she could see them. "I'm not here to hurt you."
"Excuse me for not taking your word to heart," Peridot hissed, inching closer as she made her way towards the exit. "Now, where's the Lapis you were snuggling with, huh?"
"She's still fast asleep on the silo, we're all alone here." Naruto remarked, following her movements with a critical eye, refusing to budge from the entrance of the control room. He needed to make sure she was blocked from the only way out of this spacecraft. "So please, lower your weapon, let's just talk."
"Talk? What is with you and talking," Peridot asked as she took another step closer, her weapon still aglow with heavy destabilizing energy. "I have nothing to say to scum like you. Someone who could betray your Diamond like you did deserves to be shattered on the spot and if I had the tools to do so I would in a heartbeat!"
"That's not true," Obsidian said softly, taking a step forward which caused Peridot to do the opposite. "You had all the chances in the world to shatter me but you didn't,"
"J-Jasper wanted you alive, I wasn't going to-," Peridot began, jerking her weapon forward in order to accentuate her threat. "I said don't you dare get any closer!"
"I'm not talking about Jasper, I'm talking about you and I, 5 years ago." His voice still held a tender tone to it even after her threat. He was aware of how dangerous her tech could be, a full powered blast from one of those limb enhancers could stun and destabilize a gem 5 times his size and yet he refused to budge. What he wished to talk about was too important to let it slip him by. "You had the chance to shatter me, to take out all of your pain and hatred towards me...but you didn't,"
"Stop talking!" She hissed, feeling her back touch the captain's chair before instinctually firing, blasting a hole mere inches from Naruto's feet, causing him to halt his progression. "I-I had my orders! I needed to keep you alive so...s-so we could get information about the traitors in our midst! Nothing more!"
"You're lying to yourself, Peri," Obsidian remarked, seemingly unfazed by the massive hole in front of him. "Yellow Diamond wanted me dead for my betrayal, but you fought to keep me alive. You could have killed me or, better yet, reset me."
"W-What?"
"You've never been the best at lying, Peri," he smiled ever so slightly, trying his best to defuse the situation. "During my time as the right hand of Yellow Diamond I was informed of a new technological development, a Gem Rejuvenator. One slash from this device and you can reset a gem back to its factory settings."
"I-I'm...well aware of the tech, I was there when it was designed. What of it?" Peridot seemed to grow more and more anxious as the black gem's questioning continued towards a more accusatory direction, a direction she didn't wish to deal with.
"Then you knew what it could do," He said, drawing an imaginary line across his chest. "One simple slash and POOF, I'd be back to factory standard. A mindless gemstone ready to follow Yellow's orders to the letter. But if you did, you would have lost your closest friend, isn't that right?"
"C-Closest?! Don't make me laugh!" She barked, firing off another bolt of destabilizing energy, this time landing mere inches from where Naruto stood. Reflexively, he skidded back - granting the tech gem her much needed space. "You were nothing more t-than a worker gem! Someone I was forced to deal with because I wasn't built for combat!"
"Don't throw away the connection we had, Peri," He said, a look of pain clear on his features. Something about the way he said it made Peridot's core ignite, her knees wiggle and her arms get heavy. She thought she'd be over such gushy statements like that, but even after god knows how many years hearing him speak like that can still drive her crazy. "You were one of my closest allies, second only to Jasper. I cared for you two more than I could describe."
"Is that what you said to Jasper before you destabilized her?" Her words oozed with contemptment. "I was able to salvage some of the recordings during the final hours of this ship's voyage. I needed to see how you, of all people, could have taken down your 'old friend'. Most of the audio was corrupted, but it was enough. You said something to her, something that dropped her guard so you could destabilize her!"
"I-I had to. If we went back to homeworld, everyone would have been shatter-,"
"Don't give me that!" Peridot screamed, her features contorted into a twisted snarl. "You talk about how much you care for us and yet, when your back's against the wall, you'll choose these insolent, traitorous clods every time! You did it on homeworld and you did it here!"
All he could do was shake his head in defiance. "Our culture is sick, Peri! We're nothing but pawns in the twisted games of dictators! I did what I did so I could work to free every last gem from under the boot heel of the Diamonds!"
"You bought into their rhetoric. Hook, line and sinker," She muttered hotly, slamming her hand against the console. "You trusted the word of traitors over your own Diamond! Over your own people! Over MINE!"
"Because you can't see beyond your blind loyalty to these despots!"
"I can see just fine, Obsidian." Her eyes grew cold as she charged up another attack, aiming it directly at Naruto's chest. "And what I see right now is a gem who needs to be shattered. For the good of the Great Diamond Authority!"
"I won't fight you, Peri!" Obsidian decreed, preparing himself for what was to come.
"Good, it'll make shattering you a whole lot easier!" The sound of blaster fire echoed throughout the hollow halls of the decommissioned space craft as Peridot let loose a flurry of shots towards her once friend. He was quick to dodge, slipping behind the captain's chair just in time for it to take the brunt of the assault. Soon the chair gave way, exploding into chunks thanks to the build up of energy, leaving Naruto out in the open once more. "You can't hide forever, old friend!" The words slithered from her tongue like snake venom. She hated that monacare, and she hated so much more that deep, deep down inside herself it still made her feel tingly when he said it. If she ended him now maybe then she'd feel nothing. Maybe then she could go home without feeling so guilty.
Naruto said nothing and simply retreated down the hallway he came in on, hoping Peridot would follow him deeper into the belly of this decommissioned space craft. "You can't hide from me on this ship!" She yelled, running after him with her arm outstretched, ready to fire off another destabilizing round once Obsidian was in her sights. "I know these Warships like the back of my hand! Every nook, every cranny, every vent, storage unit, and cell! You're in my world now,"
The deeper they went the more her boastful words came to bite her in the ass. Soon she was lost, completely unaware of where exactly she was within the ship. Yes, she practically lived in ships like these but not this demolished, not this dilapidated and not this dark! Other than the beam of green light from her gem, this dismantled warship was pitch black. The darkness hugged her like a lost friend, each corner she turned filled her with dread. Somehow, Naruto slipped through her fingers with ease, leaving her lost in this maze of rusted metal.
"Ahhh!" She cried as the sound of scurrying feet whipped behind her. She turned swiftly, aiming her barrel right where she had heard it. She had recently entered what remained of the holding cells and was making her way towards the end of cell block 1 before she heard movement scuttle within the final cell. She scanned the cell with her gem light, trying her best to find what could have made that noise. It was hard to make out much detail, seeing as the cell was a far cry from its original shape. The metal flooring had bowed upwards, revealing the inner wiring that rested under every inch of flooring in this ship. The walls were caked in rust; 'the sea water did horrors to this ship' she mentally lamented, taking a few tentative steps into the cell.
"D-D-Don't try anything, Obsidian," she tried to sound tough but her nerves got the best of her, making her voice quiver like a childs. "I'm serious, I'll destabilize you in a second. Don't tes-," as she continued something ran across the rotted floor. She screamed as she let off four shots of her cannon, scorching what remained of Cell 001 and scaring the daylights out of one curious little mouse. Scampering through a crack in the haul, the mouse left Peridot shaking in a mixture of fear and embarrassment. Her chest heaved, rising and falling in a vain attempt to keep herself under control as, unbeknownst to her, her target was about to make himself known.
He moved without a sound, catching his former friend by surprise as he slipped his arm around her neck, not enough to choke her but enough to keep her back pinned to his chest. Before she had a chance to respond, he used his free hand to grab hold of her right limb enhancer and twisted, disconnecting it to its connector piece before flinging it behind him. Within one single action he spun her around and pinned her back and remaining limb enhanced arm against the rusted cell wall.
In the two seconds it took Obsidian to apprehend her, all Peridot could do was let out a startled shriek and squirm meekly in his grip. She tried to wrench her robotic arm from his grip but it was futile, she knew better than anyone how weak she was compared to Obsidian. "Let go of me!" She snarled through gritted teeth, using the arm he hadn't pinned to deliver a weak yet flush punch to his face.
He let her strike him, and then again, and again, and again. Each pitiful attempt to dislodge him from her person was met with a somber look from her former companion. Soon, her flurry of blows stopped and they both stood there, silently gazing into one another's glistening eyes. "W-Why," she whimpered, letting her head dangle limply. "Why can't I…Why can't I hate you?"
Her statement ripped at Obsidian's non-existent heart with reckless abandon. A tear streaked down his cheek as he brought the gem close and wrapped her in his arms. Damn this fight and damn being on edge, he didn't care anymore. If she wanted to shoot him then fine, he'll suffer in silence. "I'm so sorry, Peri. For everything," he felt her body stiffen when he hugged her, it lasted a bit before she seemed to meld into it, bringing her unsymmetrical arms around his waist. Soft, muffled whimpers escaped Peridot's lips as she buried her face into his chest, taking in everything she's missed for the past few years. His smell, his presence, his heat, everything! It brought her back to before this all happened, before they were enemies on two separate sides, before the world became so…complicated. "I never wanted any of this to happen,"
"But it did," she sobbed, tightening her grasp on his waist as if, at any moment, he'd slip through it and leave her again. "We can't change that, now can we? This…this is who we are now,"
"It doesn't have to be this way," his voice was soothing to Peridot's ears. It wasn't defensive or brash, it was vulnerable and kind - the way he used to talk to her all the time back in the day. He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head up to face him. "Join us….join me. It won't be like it was all those years ago but…we can make it better,"
"I-I….I can't," she twisted her head away, unable to reject him while looking into his shimmering eyes. They did something to her she couldn't quite put her finger on - her chest would tighten and her mind would grow all hazy. It was odd, and yet she liked it at the same time. "I can't join a group with the same clods that took you away from m-...f-from Jasper and I," she corrected, a dust of red coloring her cheeks.
"They're not the same, Peri. They're completely dif-," he began but Peridot was quick to interrupt.
"But they still believe in the same garbage!" Her pitch heightened, as if the very idea of Naruto trying to deny it was an affront to her. "But maybe…just maybe….there's something else we can do,"
"What's that?"
"Run away with me," she stated bashfully, taking Naruto's hand into her own - allowing her flesh to meet others for the first time in what felt like forever. "No clods, no Diamonds, no Homeworld….just you and me,"
Naruto's eyes widened in shock, "y-you'd do that? You'd abandon Yellow Diamond?" His voice hitched in his throat, he had never seen such a side of her.
"For you, yes," she whispered just enough for Obsidian to catch it. "B-Besides, Yellow Diamond probably thinks I'm bubbled or worse, so I wouldn't be abandoning my post per say. Just…taking a leave of absence,"
He squeezed her hand lightly in reassurance, "Peri, I can't believe it. You'd truly do all of this…for some gem like me?"
A light, almost innocent giggle left her lips. "I'll take that as a yes?"
"I'd-," as Naruto was about to give his answer a thud echoed throughout the empty expanse of this warship.
"Alright, I guess I'll let myself in," Lapis hummed to herself as she stepped over a large door that supposedly fell off its hinges. "Hey, Naruto, you here?"
"It's that Lapis Lazuli again," Peridot mumbled heatedly, slipping from Naruto's embrace and going to grab her discarded limb enhancer. However, before she could reach it, Naruto had snagged it first, keeping it from her reach. "What are you doing?!"
"Don't worry, you won't need this, Peri." He remarked, his soft smile easing her enough to listen to his reasoning. "She's a friend of mine, we don't have to fight."
She seemed a little too close to you on the cylo to be considered 'friends', Peri's mind grumbled but, with a sigh, she relented. As she stood and prepared herself for what was to come, Naruto took her un-enhanced hand into his and slowly walked her out of the cell and into view . The Cyan gem was at the end of the cell block, scanning the left and right corridor in hopes of finding some indication of where her friend had gone.
"Lapis, over here!" He called, causing the Lazuli to jump.
"Jeez, Naruto! Give a gem some warning nex-," she sighed as she turned to face Naruto but, the moment her eyes caught a glimpse of the large, diamond shaped hairdo Peridot sported, the words died in her throat. "Naruto, look out!" She yelled, forming some water from her back gem in order to create a translucent, water tendril and strike out to hit Peridot.
The tech gem was prepared for such a possibility and, in one swift action, slipped her hand from Naruto's and readied her destabilizing cannon. However, as the two prepared to clash, Naruto stepped between them, pushing Peridot's arm towards the right just as she pulled the trigger and allowing Lapis's tentacle to wrap around his extended forearm. "Easy, Lapis! It's alright,"
"Alright?!" Lapis questioned, her face contorting into a confused snarl. Peridot, now recovered from Naruto's push, has backed away and readied herself for another shot. "How could you say everything's alright when you're hand in hand with someone like her!"
"She's my friend, Lapis. She's not going to hurt you,"
"Then why is she pointing a weapon at me?" Lapis hissed, glaring down the tech gem with murderous intent.
"I knew these clods are nothing but troublemakers," Peridot sneered. "So quick to strike you without a second thought,"
"Peri, that's enough. This isn't-,"
She was quick to cut him off, "I'm not letting my guard down, Obsidian. Not around this one,"
"Strange, that's not very friendly of her, Naruto." Lapis said mockingly, retracting her water whip from Obsidian's arm and readying to strike again.
"Stop calling him that!" Peridot yelled, firing a shot that narrowly avoided Obsidian. It careened down the hallway with unmatched speed as it sparked against the metal walls, radiating the hallway with this eerie sound. Twirling upwards, Lapis took flight and narrowly avoided Peridot's destabilizer before charging past Naruto and directly into Peri. Tackling into her, the two gems tumbled across the floor until one was on top. In this case, it was Peridot who wrenched herself from Lapis's grip and placed the barrel of her cannon directly in the Cyan gem's face.
Lapis's eyes widened in fear as the green orb pulsated inches from her face; she could feel the heat radiating off of it. It was only thanks to her quick thinking that her form wasn't dispelled within an instant. She morphed her water wing into a tendril once more and, with the speed of a desperate gem, cracked Peridot across the face. In the same movement, as Peridot was still reeling from the strike, she wrapped the tendril around her neck and tossed her off of her and across the hallway. The wispy green gem skipped across the waterlogged floor like a stone across a lake, only stopping when she came into contact with the wall on the adjacent side.
The impact rung heavy throughout this once mighty warship, her eyes shook in their sockets, her form shook with pain, she even felt a strange bit of sickness that crept from where humans would have their stomach. She had never dealt with pain like this before, or pain period. She was a Peridot for goodness sake! She was no warrior, she felt most comfortable in maintenance or a lab, not the battlefield. However, when that damned Lazuli called her Obsidian by that foolish name, she couldn't help but throw away all of her thoughts of self preservation. Even now, still completely knocked for a loop, she prepared herself to fight. Raising her arm once more, she began to charge her next attack. Her aim was horrid, she could barely tell what was what, all she could manage to do was to spot two blurry figures moving.
"Lapis, stop this!" Naruto began, stepping over her prone body before offering his hand to her. "I told you, we're friends."
"Well, excuse me for finding that a little hard to believe." She remarked hotly as she slapped away his hand. However, just as she got to her feet, her left foot slipped through a gap between the flooring, causing her to fumble back to the ground. Or rather, she would have, if not for Naruto. Thinking quickly, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. At the moment they were close, some would say too close. A fairly large blush creeped onto Lapis's features while Naruto was seemingly unfazed.
"T-Thanks," she mumbled before she pushed lightly on his chest. "B-But I think I can stand on my own two feet, now."
"Of course," he said with a sigh. "Look, I understand why you'd be on edge seeing her. But we've been talking and I think I can get her to join us."
"You think so?" Lapis crossed her arms and cocked her brow.
"I know so," he remarked with a smile, something that sent a soft shiver down her light form. "Before you arrived she asked me to run away with her! I know that might not seem like much to you, but I know her! She'd never have brought that up all those years ago. I think, with just a little more time, I can get her on our side."
Such news should have brought a smile to her face, but she simply turned her gaze to the floor - as if looking Naruto in the eyes was too much of a bother. "...Would you?" She asked simply.
"Would I what?"
"Run away with her?"
There was a pregnant pause that hung limply between the two, Naruto looked befuddled by such a question. "W-What does that have to do with anything right now?"
Lapis shrugged, still unable to make eye contact with the gem. "She asked you and I wanted to know your answer,"
"But why is that relevant to getting Peridot on our side?"
"Why can't you answer me?" She questioned, "yes or no, it's simple."
He sighed, his cheeks now crimson at the sudden line of questioning. "The answer shouldn't matter, it's that she's willing to abandon Yellow Diamond,"
"Stop deflecting, I wanna know," his responses were beginning to worry Lapis. 'Why do I care?' she wondered to herself, unable to grasp why her chest tightens every time she thinks of Naruto running away with her.
"We'll talk about it later, I promise" he said, his tone squashing all desire to continue this discussion. "Right now we need to get back on Peridot's good side, I really think that if we work together we can- AHHHH!" Without warning a stabilizer blast erupted against Naruto's back, sending static arching through his body and allowing cracks to form around him.
"NARUTO!" Lapis yelled, catching him just in time as his legs gave and he collapsed. In her arms his body glitched in a strange middle ground between transparent and solid. A bubbling rage built up inside of her, Naruto was struck down by this bitch of a gem who he still trusted. There was nothing on this dirt ball of a planet that would stop her from ripping Peridot's gem out!
As the haze slowly cleared from Peridot's view she was greeted with the horrors of what she had done. The cracks forming in Obsidian's light form gave off a green glow, illuminating the hallway ever so slightly. She was mortified at what she had done. There was no mistaking it, she had hit the wrong gem! She should have waited, she should have never shot blind in the first place! She stumbled to her feet and was prepared to make her way towards her fallen friend but was caught off guard by Lapis's flying frame. Grabbing hold of her shoulders, Lapis slams Peridot into the wall once more - her blue eyes burning with rage.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Shouted Lapis, backhanding Peridot across the face with enough force to send her glasses flying. "HE STOOD UP FOR YOU AND YOU SHOT HIM IN THE BACK!"
Peridot was too stunned to speak, all she could do was look past the rage filled Lazuli and stare at her fallen friend. 'I did this to him,' she thought, a tear streaming down her cheek. 'I hurt him…again,'
"WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, HUH?!" She yelled, cracking her across the face again. "SAY SOMETHING, DAMN IT!"
"L-Lapis…S-S-Stop!" A distorted plea caught the cyan gem's attention. Once Lapis's guard was down, Peridot slipped out of her grip and ran towards her other limb enhancer - discarded after Naruto was shot down. Quickly she grabbed it, slipped it on and started her escape. "P-Peridot," she paused, giving one last glance over her shoulder. She saw Obsidian's glitchy frame stretch out a wayward hand towards her, his face twisted by pain both physical and emotional. "D-D-Don't…go,"
Her bruised face was covered in tears, she couldn't bear seeing what she had done any longer. She left without another word, descending into the darkness of the ship.
"You're not running from this, you bi-," Lapis began, taking flight and prepared to chase her to the ends of the earth, but was stopped when she felt Naruto grab her by her ankle.
"S-Stop…" he groaned, the cracks on his body starting to dull with time. "Let h-h-her go…h-help me back t-to…the b-barn,"
She was prepared to argue against it but the second she saw the look in his eyes she knew there was no reason to try. He had the eyes of a broken man, today he had gotten so far with Peridot and yet a single mistake might have thrown all of that progression away. He couldn't bear to see her hurt anymore than she already is. So, with a heavy sigh, Lapis obliged and took him home.
Once the two arrived Lapis took him to his room upstairs and placed him where he wanted, right in front of the hay loft doors. He dangled his legs off the edge and laid his back against the hay covered floor, allowing his body to rest as much as it could. Once he had gotten comfortable Lapis left him to relax while she, unbeknownst to Naruto, went back to the broken down ship to try and find that traitor. However, no matter how many hours she spent searching that ship she couldn't find a single trace of her. When she exited the ship from a large hole punched through the exterior she noticed that the sun was setting and she must have been long gone by now. 'There's no mistaking it,' Lapis sighed, 'she's gone.'
Seeing there to be no reason to continue searching she returned home as well, growing weary of the interior of that damned warship. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" She heard as she began to descend towards their barn. Peering into the hay loft she spotted Naruto sitting up, gazing towards the setting sun in abject admiration.
She chuckled, turning to face the scene in question. "I mean, it's alright," she hummed, floating herself into the hayloft as she took a seat next to her wounded friend. "I fancy the moon and the stars more, but that's just me."
"I know," Naruto remarked, pointing towards the silo. "I see you sitting up there almost every night."
"Ew" she playfully groaned, "I don't know how I feel about you spying on me."
"Hey, it's not my fault the silo's right in front of my room." He pushed her lightly as a chuckle left his lips. "If you don't want to be watched, pick another place to stargaze."
"I see, blame the victim." The both continued poking and prodding each other for some time, and before they knew it, the setting sun gave way to the rising moon.
"Lapis,"
"Yeah?" She asked, noticing a shift in tone in his voice. He didn't seem mad but his words held a bit of frustration that couldn't be ignored.
"I was so close," he said, tightening his fists causing his form to distort ever so slightly. Though he rested for quite some time and even the cracks in his form had vanished, the effects of the destabilizing shot still held firm. "If I had more time I could've ended this without a fight."
Lapis winced at that, she didn't blame herself for Peridot's actions but she felt guilty that she struck first and put Naruto in danger when he probably had everything under control. It wasn't her smartest moment, "Maybe, maybe not."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we don't know how it would have gone otherwise, all we know is how it went now. Right?"
"I suppose you're right," He sighed, nodding lightly. "I just wish I could have done something different."
"It's not your fault, she's the one that shot you in the back," Lapis said as plainly as she could but a hint of judgment was evident in her voice.
Heatedly, Naruto responded, "she didn't mean to!"
"How do you accidentally shoot someone in the back?" She challenged,
"...I-I'm not sure," he muttered back, racking his brain for an idea but quickly came up empty. "Maybe she was confused or hit her head or something, I don't know, but I know she wouldn't do that on purpose."
"What makes you so sure?" Lapis asked, genuinely curious how he could think such a thing after what she did to him. "You told me she interrogated you back on homeworld, cracking your gem without a second thought. Hell, not a few weeks ago she tried to take you back to Homeworld to stand trial! How can you have so much faith in someone who's done nothing but try and hurt you?"
He was silent for a moment as he stared off into the distance, trying to find the best words to describe it. "Because of what she said today,"
"What? That she wants you to run away with her? That's not-," Lapis began but Naruto continued.
"Not that," he said, a small, sincere smile now resting on his lips. "She said…'Why can't I hate you?'"
Lapis was stunned, "...she said that?"
"Yes, before you arrived we had a heart to heart and…well, hearing that put a lot of things she's done into perspective." He began, "I always hoped she still cared for me, but hearing it from her made all the difference. It's not too late to change her mind, it's not too late to save her,"
"Save her? Save her from what?"
Naruto looked back, eyeing up the bubbled gem of his once beloved friend. "Save her from turning into Jasper."
She smiled at that, deep down all he wanted to do was save those he once held dear - it was quite commendable. As they sat there and watched a comet pass on by, a question came to mind that our blonde needed to answer. "Say, you promised me something."
"Oh?" He hummed,
"Would you run away with Peridot?"
He snickered, "why do you want to know so badly?"
"Why won't you tell me?"
"Alright, fine. You wanna know?" She lazily nodded her head, of course she wanted to know. "Honestly, I didn't even know at the time. I was so filled with joy to know that she didn't hate me that I would have said yes to anything…but, I can't, even if I wanted to. I have so much to do, so many wrongs to right, and so many friends I need to protect. I couldn't throw all that away, even for Peri." He said, a toothy grin ever present on his face.
Lapis placed her hand on his lap, a smaller, more refined smile danced on her lips. "Good, that's all I wanted to hear. I don't know how well the others would have taken you running away again. Especially Amethyst,"
"If I tried they'd bubble me for sure," he said, getting a small yet charming laugh from his cyan colored friend. However, once the name Amethyst was brought forth his mind began to churn. 'I need to see her, I can't leave things unsaid.'
And scene! Thank you all so much for reading this far. I know this has been a long time coming but I'm finally trying to get back to my writings. I would greatly apricate a review or a PM. I hope you have a wonderful evening
