Hey everyone. So this fanfic was inspired by someone else's story. But I'm impatient and they havent updated in a year. So I wrote my own fanfic based on theirs!

archive of our own dot org /works/17347295/chapters/41393669

It's called "Like Water" by the talented AyokaiW

I loved their story so much. It had amazing lore, the way they portrayed the characters was phenomenal and I urge you to read it!

So I hope you enjoy my interpretation of their work 3

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Chapter 1: Malice

"Just give up!"

But she couldn't, not under the blackened waves that crushed her soul. It was the continuous routine. The struggle and dance of dominance and pain. Who would win? Would she care?

Under the lashing waves of malice, a Lapis Lazuli held her own against earth's perfect Quartz soldier.

And she was loving it.

The back and forth of power, holding down her own prisoner in a sense. Did that make her a monster? The thoughts blocked out as the fluctuation of the fight surged through her being. It rifted against her gem, forcing the other to continue to be bound to her.

Their screams going unnoticed under earth's ocean.

Lapis opened her eyes, staring at the other in their own makeshift dungeon. Jasper remained kneeled, bound by chains to keep their Fusion together. But she could only chuckle.

"You're going to regret this when I get out"

A whip of current smacked her dead in the face, snapping her head backwards as blood trickled from her nose and dissipated though the waves.

"If you get out"

Was the only response given by the Lapis.

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"We have to find them!" Pearl paced around the living room as the other gems watched her make tracks along the hardwood.

"Pearl c'mon. You can't be worrying about her all day and night. Give it a break!" Amethyst cried out as she planted her face into the couch.

The exhaustion was evident on the team. Even on Garnet, who remained silent, staring out into the distance in thought.

"With an unstable Fusion like that, do you know what problems could ensue?"

Pearl snapped back at Amethyst, pale blue eyes met with purple as the taller gem took a challenging step forward.

"The association will be on us, and they'll use this as an excuse to continue to-"

"Alright, Pearl, that's enough"

Garnet's voice had finally cut through the tense bickering, letting silence consume their home once more.

"No more talk of the association, especially if Steven is nearby. We can't scare him while he's so young. For now, we rest and recuperate before heading out for another search."

The Fusion slowly stood up, walking towards the large window by the front door. Pearl crossed her arms over her chest, taking in a deep breath to try and recollect herself.

"Lapis is down there holding Jasper together. Let's put our hope in her keeping her contained before we find them"

"Are we really gonna trust her to keep Jasper contained?" the purple gem finally spoke up again, lifting her face off from the couch.

"We have no choice, Amethyst. It's all we can do"

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This. Sucks.

Her first day off in weeks and she was being called back into the office. Being the "daughter of the company" you'd think it'd come with perks. But no. In fact, it was the grand headache of all headaches.

Peridot stuffed her hands into her hoodie pockets as her headset bled music from her ears. It was always an ordeal to get here in the first place, let alone when it was about to rain. Not that her mother would even bat an eye to that.

So she entered through the main doors once again, to the same four walls she had consumed herself into. Long nights of programming and coding. Cleaning up messes for clientele or from different departments who couldn't code a splash screen if their life depended on it.

It wasn't long before she found her way back to the same spot she spent every waking hour of her life. Slaving behind a screen to make ends meet. There were several major projects going on within the company. All of which needed all hands on deck to get them moving towards their clients. However, there were only two coders familiar with the program sent by Diamond Incorporated to bypass certain bugs and clean up what others have made.

It was a full on shit show, so to speak. With newbie programmers making a mess of their design before she sat down at her desk. The only other one here was her coworker Ronaldo. He was the only other one in the building that carved away at the numbers on the screen to get their program up and running.

He had a five o clock shadow, and his eyes bloodshot and squinting as he pressed his face into the screen to continue typing.

Peridot swung her arm behind her seat and she leaned back, watching him for a moment.

"I take it you worked overnight?"

But her chubby cohort said nothing in response, only tensed his shoulders as his typing became more frantic and angry.

"Someone has to rewrite this entire mess. It was botched from head to toe! Every line! Every speck! Not one thing I left remained. Who do these people think they are?!"

Peridot had listened to his rants over and over again. They became iconic. Her unimpressed gaze fell over the man as she finally turned her attention to her own screen.

Four diamonds shown bright in her background as her company computer booted up. Diamonds. As in, other life from space. That was always a strange pill to swallow. That life came from another galaxy to make their home here. History dictated that this planet was made to be another colony for the Gem homeworld, but due to a rebellion called the Crystal Gems, the plan was thwarted. Now gem-kind live among humans.

And there have been open economic trade between the two worlds. She's heard of humans traveling to Homeworld for business, but she has yet to see it herself.

So she was here, one of the few that were able to use one of Homeworld programming technology. In the beginning, it was complete hieroglyphics to her. Unable to decipher any type of code that manifested on the screen to power otherworldly devices.

But she was determined.

She worked for weeks on end. And the weeks bled into months, which turned into years.

Now green eyes stared lifelessly at her computer, watching as the program loading icon finally disappeared to showcase the latest project she was working on. Just seeing the same repeated pattern of symbols and letters made her aggravated. She could feel the familiar spike of anger that rose from her stomach through her arms.

"Hey Ronaldo. I'm heading for the break room to get some coffee. Want a cup?" the blonde stood up from her desk, pushing the seat back as her hands found their comfortable spot in her hoodie pockets.

Ronaldo squinted at the sound of her voice, waving her away with his hand. A simple notion to get her to stop bothering him and go away.

Whatever, he was always like this when stressed out. Rolling her eyes, Peridot made her way towards the breakroom. She liked getting their early before the bustle of others. Before she had to contain herself to the shackles of social etiquette. If it were up to her, she'd tell everyone to shut the fuck up and leave her alone.

Heavy combat boots managed to find their way to the break room, where she found the lonely little coffee pot that held yesterday's coffee. It was an ongoing thing that she had giving up telling others to throw away the coffee and clean up after themselves once they were done. Now it was a meditation mantra, a calming mindless activity before downing her caffeinated drink.

While the pot began to heat its water, Peridot relaxed against the counter, pulling out her phone to aimlessly scroll through her social media. Picture after picture of so called friends and of random pages she followed. Her finger lingered over a picture of a petite blue gem. Her dress matched her skin tone. Deep blue. It seemed the photo was a rushed candid due to the blurred lines and the shocked expression on the Gem.

"This blue bitch came out of no where on the road! She flooded my whole van and disappeared! Who thought it was a good idea to let these things live here?"

The rest of the comments were just as hateful. Peridot herself didn't mind Gems. She didn't mind the integrated life style. But…

Her eyes lingered on the picture, studying the teardrop shape gem that was embedded into the shoulder of the girl in the photo.

She could not stand the idea of drowning.

The coffee pot suddenly beeped, starling the blonde from her dissociative stupor of her hyperactive imagination. Repeating her fabled death of drowning over and over in her mind. Shaking the thoughts away, Peridot turned around pouring two cups of coffee. Hopefully the hot drink will bring her back to reality.

As the blonde haired woman walked back into the office, she noticed that Ronaldo had disappeared. Presumably to the bathroom. She placed his cup of coffee on his desk before settling back down in her own.

Her hands lifted, typing in her password to her computer. An audible chime had played out through her speakers, making her tense up out of reflex. It was an email from her mother. Aka the head of this company. Green eyes glanced down at the corner of her screen to see the subject matter.

"Discussing matters"

Peridot groaned, letting her head slam down against the desk out of frustration.

"Already trying to give yourself brain damage?"

Her head lifted up in a glare, staring at Ronaldo who managed to find his way back into the office space.

"As if hearing your voice daily hasn't done that already"

Peridot leaned back in her seat with a sigh, placing her palm on her forehead as she stared up at the ceiling. What could that woman possibly want now?

Ronaldo raised his brow at the others' actions, taking his cup of coffee to take a long sip from.

"The matriarch summon you?"

"Do you mean the crone in her dungeon? Yeah."

With a scoff, Ronaldo sat back down at his desk, raising his hand up in a jaunty salute with his back turned towards her.

"I'll remember you in therapy"

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Peridot took a deep breath as she stared at the expensive door of her mother's office. She could have sworn it cost the company someone's yearly salary just to get it installed.

Her brows furrowed in frustration at the blatant display of wealth. Taking in one final breath, she opened the door to her mother's office and closed it shut behind her.

"You wanted to see me?"

The woman didn't look up from her laptop for a moment, furiously typing away at either an email or a document. Periodots eyes drifted towards a wall in contempt. She knew better than to say anything. It was always an issue when she did.

As soon as the final thud of the keyboard echoed in the room, her green eyes finally settled over the blonde adult. She had her legs crossed and her hands folded under her chin as she stared at the other critically.

"Your performance fell behind again"

Of course that's what this is about. What else would it be about?

Peridot folded her arms, shifting her weight on the balls of her feet. Anything to distract her from the boiling amount of anger in her chest.

"I single handedly saved the SpaceGen project from disaster-"

"Did I say you can speak?"

Peridot bit her tongue and took in a sharp breath as that same condescending tone passed through her mother's lips. To have her mother as her own boss made her skin crawl. She knew what was coming next.

Her mother straightened herself out a bit, the only sound coming from the obnoxious clock on the wall.

"Your performance is subpar. We've had several complaints about bugs and other programs having severe glitches and mistakes. Even when we promised them that they'd be immaculate. And it was late!"

Peridot's mind ran in the background as her mother's voice raised at her. All that she was claiming was false. And even if it was true, most of what she was talking about had nothing to do with her. Nothing made sense. But the more the blonde continued to rack her brain, the more things fell into place.

Her expression went deadpan, staring at her mother with 25 years of unhinged exhaustion. An expression that caused a spike of irritation in her mother.

"What?"

"I'm the scapegoat aren't I?"

There was a moment's silence between them as Peridot's mother stared daggers into her daughter.

"Just like always, right? But isn't there a rule about not bringing your personal life to work?"

The young woman stuffed her hands in her pockets as the exhaustion and anger finally consumed her.

She was done.

"So you're going to blame me for someone else's fuck up? Who's huh? Was it you, mom? Did you fuck up?" The young woman took challenging steps forward with each prodding question she stabbed with.

"You think you're smart don't you?" her mother shot right back.

"You think that just because you work here with me it makes you a big shit? Well guess what, Peridot, you are nothing. And you will never BE anything without me!"

Her hands slammed on the desk as she rose up to stare daggers down at the spawn she birthed.

"And as part of your idiotic behavior today, from your mistakes on the company and from your disrespect to me, you are hereby relieved of your position. Pack your things and leave"

One could say they would be shocked at an exchange like this. But this was all too normal. The dance of aggravation as Peridot called it. Only this time, she didn't live with her mother anymore. Hell, she didn't even work with the company anymore! The realization that she was now free to do anything had brought back the life in her eyes. As well as the magnitude of her rage. And this did not go unbeknownst to her mother.

Without any sense of control, Peridot lunged forward, yanking her mothers laptop right off the cords. In an instant, she slammed it against the corner of the desk, feeling all her anger melt away down her arms the more she smashed it over and over again.

Peridot could barely here her mother wail for security, it was just easier to demolish everything in her stupid fucking office. Every lavish item. Every monotonous decoration. Her certificates she didn't earn. Everything. Just break it. Whatever it was. Her mom didn't deserve it anyway.

The office door was barged open as two security guards came to hold down the thrashing girl as she wasn't just quite done with redecorating her mother's office. And as they dragged her away, she saw how her mom fell into the arms of one of the guards.

"She was a menace and just attacked me! Get her out of here! Call the cops!"

Pft whatever. Even while being dragged away, her mom wasn't going to have the last word in this.

"Shut the FUCK up, Laura!"

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That's the end of Chapter 1! I hope you guys enjoyed it. I really enjoy the Gem Lapis and Human Peridot stories and thought AyokaiW had the best version of them. Let me know what you guys think!

Have a wonderful day 3