Backstage Protection

A Steven Universe Fanfiction

Chapter 12

A/N: I'm actually really close to finishing this, and it's making me a little emotional. Just a few chapters left. And hey, this update is actually on time! I'll also have a one-shot about Lapis up later today.

Lapis had mostly just been walking around in the water, occasionally peeking at Peridot to see how the decoding was going. She seemed to be mostly finished, the writing on her thigh almost matching the length of the message on her other leg. They had been beneath the water for at least a day by now, and as much as the ocean gem loved her domain, she was getting fairly bored and impatient. She had no idea where Jasper was, and that made her anxious and frightened her; what if the brute was going after herself and Peridot, or had gone to Beach City to attack Steven and the Crystal Gems?

The message was fairly short to begin with, but Lapis only was literate up to the language that had existed before she was imprisoned in the mirror. It had gone through quite a few changes since then, to the point she didn't even recognize them as words, just strange symbols. So she had no way of knowing exactly what was going on unless her friend could manage to decode the transmission.

So she had been exploring the ocean floor, watching the Earth wildlife go about their daily routines and finding countless sunken ships, which she typically crept into in order to see if there was anything worth keeping inside. She didn't think much of the treasures of this planet, but she knew that there was a certain beach summer fun buddy that might appreciate a few shiny objects of value if she ever saw him again. Not to mention it made her feel powerful, knowing that she had complete control over something that had taken so many lives and wrecked so many large boats. On one occasion, she swore she had seen a human female with a long fish-like tail, but she hadn't thought much of anything about it; she'd seen weirder.

Lapis crept into a rather large ship with multiple gaping holes of blackness in the hull, able to see remarkably well in the dark as she looked around at what had probably once been a magnificent sight. The ship seemed to be very old, and the skeletons she spotted while wandering wore clothing unlike what she saw on most modern humans. She carefully moved past a shark that was calmly swimming through, looking around for drawers or boxes or anything else she could pillage to find something worth taking.

She was definitely a Gem that preferred solitude, and the ocean was nothing but. Quiet and peaceful, where she would be left alone with the exception of the occasional playful dolphin that would dart up to her and playfully poke her with its nose. Sometimes, she forgot she had company as she listened to the whales sing. Of course, she would always be reminded that she wasn't alone when Peridot would think she had been abandoned and call out for her in a panic.

The blue gem thought that, maybe, she wouldn't mind staying down here once they had arrived in Beach City. She would be nearby if she was needed, and she would be in the closest thing she had to home almost all the time. It was calming, knowing she had a place to stay and return to when she needed it; this was something that had avoided her for thousands of years.

Lapis finally found a desk, and carefully opened it to find a small cracked telescope. Not the most fabulous of artifacts, she supposed, but it might be fascinating. She lifted the item and placed it into her pocket – the only real change she had made to her physical form when she regenerated.

She then proceeded to leave the ship through the same hole she had entered with and sit in the sand, staring up at the light filtering down from the surface of the water. She felt strangely at peace as she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them, closing her eyes as she listened to one of the large, majestic orcas let out a low sound as it passed overhead.

This is nice. I could get used to this. She thought to herself as a small, rare smile crossed her lips. It was better than the Homeworld she had returned to, that was for sure. While she would always miss her original home, she supposed she would be better off under the water than anywhere else.

She found herself ripped out of her thoughts, however, when she heard a high voice call out for her. Sound traveled rather well through water, and Lapis had good hearing to begin with, so she visibly flinched when she heard her name before actually getting up and returning to Peridot.

"Did you figure it out, or did you just get lonely?" She asked, sounding somewhat tired, which she supposed was the feeling she got when relaxed. Always tired, just a perpetual feeling of sleepiness when she wasn't absolutely ecstatic or in a blind panic.

"I actually have it, thanks a lot." Her partner scoffed, light green eyes narrowing a bit at her as though she had been accused of being needy – which Lapis supposed was exactly what she had done, but she digressed. "Can you read?"

Well, that question probably could have been delivered a lot more gently. "Not the modern language, no." When she saw the look of disdain on Peridot's face, she couldn't help but get defensive. "I'm still advanced in the language that was around when we were children, though!"

"That one hasn't been used by anyone since the war." The technician sighed heavily and exasperatedly. "But yeah, this isn't good news. It's about as far from good news as it can get."

"So read it to me."

She rolled her eyes, much to Lapis's frustration. "The long and short of it is that the Diamond Authority is sending backup, including Yellow Diamond herself. They're headed to Beach City."

Despair settled in rather quickly as the ocean gem's eyes widened. She grabbed Peridot and quickly flew up out of the water. She didn't even have to say that they needed to hurry as she quickly took off in the direction of the seaside town.