Blue and Green: This is OUR Home Chapter 5: Home (Day 5: Part 1), a steven universe fanfic

Hey, Everybody! So this next chapter is going to be a little word because it will be a two-parter! I wanted to do it this way because there is a huge tone shift in the chapter and it felt weird to keep it all together in one. Plus now chapter five will be in two very manageable chapters instead of one long mess- although I doubt that bothers anyone.

-Thanks for understanding, PartyGod Douglas

Day 5: Part 1

Home/Family

A couple of days have passed since Peridot and Lapis had Steven and Connie over. The barn life had quieted down back to its idyllic pattern of farming, creating meep-morps, playing with Pumpkin and both of Peridot and Lapis' individual interests. The green gem to this blue-green duo was keeping herself hard at work in the barn repairing the drone that had been destroyed while she was dueling Steven and Connie. Lapis was lying in her favorite lawn chair out in the middle of the cornfields napping the day away. Her face which is usually peaceful while she is sleeping is looking strained.

"Why can't I shake this feeling that something bad is going to happen?"

Lapis said this to no one in particular. The closest being to her was her wife and she was too far away and far too busy to have even attempted hearing Lapis' question. Lapis turned over onto her side and stared at a leaky garden hose for a good few moments before bring out her right hand from underneath her and twirling her fingers in the air.

From the leaky garden hose, Lapis made mini water duplicates of all of the crystal gems, Connie, and of course Peridot. She then casually relaxed and watched as all of the water duplicates interacted. Tiny-Amethyst was giving Tiny-Pearl a noogie. Tiny-Steven was excitedly trying to tell Tiny-Garnet something. It was hard to tell if Tiny-Garnet was interested or if she cared because she was equally as enigmatic as the person she was based on. Tiny-Pumpkin was running around Tiny-Peridot excitedly yipping all the way around. Tiny Lapis was all by herself a good couple of feet away from anyone else her size, much closer to regular Lapis than anything.

Lapis looked down at her tiny water counterpart.

"I understand that, Water-Lapis."

Tiny-Lapis looks up. Her eyes empty and soulless like the rest of the water duplicates, but her features unmoved and stoic compared to everyone else. Lapis looks over to the rest of the water duplicates. Tiny-Garnet has picked up both Tiny-Amethyst and Tiny-Pearl and Tiny-Steven has joined Tiny-Peridot and Tiny-Pumpkin. Tiny-Peridot was distracted from the other two tiny duplicates around her and was heavily focused on Tiny-Lapis just across the way.

Tiny-Peridot turns to Tiny-Pumpkin and Tiny-Steven and says something quickly before making her way towards the tiny version of her wife. The minuscule journey would be over in mere moments for anything else but for the tiny duplicates, the journey was reminiscent of a short walk around the block. Lapis' focus intensified on the tiny version of Peridot as she got nearer and nearer to her own tiny replica.

Closer.

Tiny-Peridot reaches out to touch Tiny-Lapis on the shoulder, but Lapis' concentration broke when she heard a familiar whirrrrr in the air. Lapis looked up and she saw what looked to be a homeworld vessel, at least from what she could tell from her brief stint being back to her original home. Lapis' chest tightened up and her breathing became shallow and quick in almost a second.

"What are they doing back here? They can't be back here. They have no reason to come back here."

Lapis' thoughts started racing. She couldn't stop hyperventilating. She didn't need to breathe then why was she breathing so much? Her head started to hurt. She's a gem. Why is her heading hurting? Why can't she stop breathing? Lapis closes her eyes to try and focus but nothing is slowing down. Her eyes break open and they are mirrored over. She can't stop it. The only thing she is able to see is getting poofed and getting left behind.

Getting poofed and getting left behind.

"Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this."

Water starts floating all around Lapis, enveloping her in a sphere. Her subconscious mind building a barrier around her. The sphere suddenly freezes over and the image is clear as can be. Lapis can't see anything through the ice fear except for getting poofed and getting left behind.

Getting poofed and getting left behind.

Over and over. Non-stop.

Lapis reaches her limit. She passes out. The images in the ice sphere stop.

She isn't dreaming anymore.

There is a shadow outside of the ice sphere and a light pounding.

Peridot on the outside is pounding on the ice sphere and is making no progress.

"Lapis! Lapis! What's going on?"

Peridot had been pounding on the sphere for about five minutes calling out to Lapis but with no luck.

"Clodding, cloddy ice!"

Peridot screamed in frustration. She balled herself up.

"What should I do?"

It only took a few quick moment of panicked thinking before Peridot shot up with an idea.

The Green gem took off back towards the barn.

She returned about ten minutes later. Floating all around her very various tools. A pickaxe, three shovels, two hoes, and what appears to be a decorative sword. Peridot stood about three feet away from the melting ice orb and with her metal powers, she began surrounding the ice orb from all sides with her various assortments of tools. Once she had the ice orb adequately surrounded she took a deep breath and concentrated.

"Let's get you out of there, Lappy."

Peridot performs the full range of motion with her fingers and the various tools react by slamming themselves against the ice with varying degrees of success. The pickaxe was doing the best easily followed by the shovels, then surprisingly the sword and lastly the hoes.

Peridot's fingers kept going through the full range of motion, chipping away the Ice orb slowly. More and more chunks of ice started falling off and Peridot's concentration and dexterity were waning.

How thick was this ice orb? Why did Lapis make it this thick?

In a brief moment of serendipity, a solid hole was finally dug through the ice and Lapis was finally visible. Peridot took notice of this weak point and brought all of the tools around to this single spot. Peridot took in a deep breath to steady herself. She now moved her fingers in a more robotic, one-after-another pattern as compared to her previously fluid motions.

Several minutes later and a sizeable hole finally opened up in the ice. Peridot let her concentration go and let the various tools fall to the ground. She quickly recovered and climbed her way up into the hole that was several inches off the ground eventually face-planting a mere couple of feet away from Lapis' unconscious body.

Peridot runs over to Lapis.

"Lapis. Lapis, wake up!"

Peridot shouted at Lapis but she didn't react at all.

"Guess, I'll have to get her back to the barn myself someone," Peridot said looking through the hole in the ice.

Peridot sighed.

Lapis snaps up awake in a panic. She twists her head around erratically taking in her surroundings. She sees that she is back in the barn, but more specifically that she is back in her hammock the unofficial-official bed of the barn. Peridot was sitting nearby in a lawn chair.

"Lapis!"

Peridot jumped out of her lawn chair and scuttled over to the hammock to check on her wife.

"Lapis, are you okay?"

Lapis looked at Peridot and her sincere, genuine emotion. She went to say something but pulled it back at the last second.

"I was just having one of my really bad days."

Peridot could sense Lapis was hiding something. Lapis can be a pretty convincing liar in the right frame of mind and mood especially since she usually remains stoic or indifferent a good portion of the time. She has not been able to lie to Peridot though, even back when she told her to leave and never come back she was honest with Peridot and how she felt.

Thinking about those days upset Peridot if she dwelled on them too long.

"I could tell. What happened? What caused it?"

Peridot was quick on the recoil and this was something Lapis was not prepared for.

"She's serious," Lapis thought.

"I was just lying in my lawn chair outside and trying to nap in the sun."

"I can't tell her what I really saw. That will set her off! She'll either panic herself to death or get herself gem-deep in a situation she won't be able to get out of."

Lapis held her eyes shut tight at the thought.

"Something I can't save her from. I have to lie to her. Just a little bit."

Lapis looked Peridot straight in the eyes, catching the green gem's focus.

"I'm sure Steven will handle whatever that ship is here for," Lapis finished thinking and began to talk.

"I made little water duplicates of everybody while I was trying to relax. Just for fun. Something happened though and my little-Lapis started acting crazy and attacking everybody."

Peridot's glare cracked and her concern started pouring through.

"Then I began to question whether or not I can truly become good. After homeworld, after being abandoned, and after Jasper."

Lapis sighed then pulled her arms over her chest defensively.

"I guess my guilt took over. It surrounded me in ice to that no matter what all I could see was my pain."

Peridot lifts her visor and rubs tears from her eyes.

"I guess I must have passed out," Lapis finished.

Lapis wasn't proud of the lie she told. It isn't technically a lie because she struggles with these kinds of thoughts often.

It just isn't what set her off this time around.

Peridot was at a loss for words. When she finds herself unable to speak Peridot instinctually pulls Lapis in for a hug. It's a way of saying everything Peridot should and needed to say with a single action.

The most effective way route to comfort.

Lapis is unable to reciprocate Peridot's action this time around. The guilt she felt in her stomach by lying to Peridot so blatantly was unbearable.