Edited this a little, added Rebecca Sugar's infamous Love like you and Nothing lime you song. Btw I did make a prequel to this called Who We Used to Be it's in my stories and everything if anybody wanted to check that out well enjoy. -QueenCee
It's been centuries, for a while it seemed like the war would never end, that they would just have to watch friends die over and over again, but all wars must come to an end. Rose Quartz's army was more determined than Yellow Diamond had originally thought, she destroyed too many of her forces, gems were being ordered to retreat back to Homeworld. She couldn't leave yet though, she had to see her one last time.
Lapis soared above the battlefield, witnessing the last remains of their war dying down, few soldiers were fighting and many were retreating, but she couldn't leave, not until she said goodbye.
"AQUA! AQUA WHERE ARE YOU?!" She frantically searched the blood stained fields, hoping to spot the blue gem somewhere. "LAPIS! LAPIS OVER HERE!" Lapis quickly looked for the source of the all too familiar voice, easily spotting it's owner.
Lapis swooped down towards Aquamarine, literally tackling her to the ground, her gem glowed bright as ever as she took off her armor to properly hug her companion. "I'm so happy to see you, I just.. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, I'm so sorry this all had to happen Lapis, it could have been different, it didn't have to be like this." Lapis just squeezed her tighter, holding her closer than ever. "We both lost people Aqua, but I should have never allowed myself to lose you, I swear to you that will never happen again."
Tears flowed down each gem's face, tears of sorrow and elation fusing together and staining their faces. "You still got the bracelet?" Lapis looked down at her wrist which held a personal relic from the happier times, Aqua's silver Aquamarine bracelet, with the 'A' carved into it.
"Of course, I never took it off." Aqua blushed lightly, her cheeks flushing a dark blue. "You know, it doesn't even feel like there's a war going on around us right now, it's like we're in the eye of a storm, all around there's chaos, but right here in this spot it's the most tranquility I've had in about 1000 years."
It was Lapis' turn to blush now as Aqua stroked her cheek lightly, smearing off any blood that covered her face. Lapis gazed into Aqua's eyes, oblivious to the going ons surrounding them, they only saw each other, frozen in that moment.
"Hey, guess what I got?" Aqua tilted her head in curiosity, looking as Lapis reached behind into a bag that Aqua missed, probably from being so preoccupied staring at Lapis, and watched as she pulled out a small silver mirror, the same type Lapis put her in so many years back.
"I just... it made me think of you, I would hold it when I was really scared, when I thought I was going to die, it made me sad and happy at the same time, it was my own little portrayal of you while we were apart. "
"Man, it sucked being in there, not able to reform, not able to properly speak, not able to do anything but watch, watch everybody and everything go by while you're stuck behind a glass wall." Lapis tucked the mirror back into her bag and continued hugging Aqua, as if it were the last time they would hug.
As both gems were caught in their embrace, a large Rutile quartz gem snuck up behind Aqua, quickly stabbing her with a long sword and instantly poofing her. Aqua watched from her gem as the large gem advanced on Lapis, yelling something at her as she pushed her to the ground.
"COWARDLY TRAITEROUS TRASH, WHORING YOURSELF TO THE ENEMY, YOU BITCH!" Lapis scuttled on the ground, trying to space herself as far as she could from the hulking gem. She tried to summon her wings, hoping she was far enough from the gem, but was quickly grabbed and slammed into the ground.
Lapis crawled on her stomach helplessly as the gem inched closer and closer to her. "You know what, I'm gonna save you the trip of going back to Homeworld to be shattered." A huge weight was put upon Lapis' back, right on her gem.
She cried out in pain as the gem slowly pressed harder and harder, her gem glowed brightly until, nothing, she heard a deafening crack and felt a sharp pain, but the glowing of her gem disappeared. The pressure from her foot just increased and Lapis knew she was going to die, be shattered, right there and then on a planet she didn't care about, without her companion to hold her.
Just when her fate seemed to be assured, the heavy pressure of Rutile's foot was gone. Lapis lifted her head slightly, seeing if she could find an explanation for the stopping of her seemingly absolute death, and then she saw her.
Aqua was in a frenzy, blinded by rage as she smashed her hammer over and over again on the already shattered gem. She just kept at it, not caring that her task was completed, not caring about anything except for making her gem to be nonexistent.
"Aqua...?" A small, weak voice stopped Aqua's current assault as she swiftly came to Lapis' side, kneeling to her knees as she looked over the gem. A pool of blood gathered across Lapis' back, spilling from her gem, coating Aqua's fingers in navy blue blood.
"Lapis..." Lapis grabbed her hand, holding it tightly, fear swept through Aqua's body, memories of her dreams came back to her as she looked in her partner's mirror-like eyes. For as many emotions that passed her however, her gem never glowed, not even flickered, but she did feel a strange pain bellowing deep inside.
Suddenly a wonderful idea popped into her head. "Wait, I can bring you to Rose, she can heal your gem." To her surprise though, Lapis shook her head, "No Aqua, who knows what kind of danger that'll put you in, I won't allow you to sacrifice yourself for me, if I'm to die, I'm glad it's here with you by my side."
Lapis' face contorted in pain as Aqua pulled her hand away from her heavily cracked gem. "Lapis please, just let me do this for you." Lapis looked up into her companion's eyes, remembering everything that they've been through.
"No, if you go out there... I don't want to, no I refuse to lose you, at least like this I know you're here with me, and even if I shatter, I know you won't leave Earth so we'll always be together, no matter what." Tears fell down from Aqua's face uncontrollably as she gently gathered Lapis in her hands.
They just held each other, crying and breathing in the other's scent. "Aqua, can you sing that one song, from when we were younger?" Aqua nodded, letting her tears fall more and more freely.
"If I could begin to be, half of what you think of me, I could do about anything I could even learn how to love..." Lapis joined in, "When I see the way you act, wondering when I'm coming back, I could do about anything I could even learn how to love like you."
"Did you still remember that last part." Again Aqua nodded, opening her mouth to sing. "I always thought I might be bad now I'm sure that it's true, cause I think you're so good and I'm nothing like you..." Lapis' nimble fingers found there way to Aqua's cheek, wiping away the tears from her face.
"You're not bad, you never were. I just took too long to see how good you were,, but you're right, you're nothing like me.. I'm the bad one." Aqua watched Lapis' chest start to rise and fall more slowly, she brought her lips to Aqua's ear, whispering. "Let's stay on this miserable planet... together."
Lapis' words seemed to linger in Aqua's head as another idea popped into her head. Without Lapis knowing, Aqua took out her small dagger, letting her tears fall more frequently while she held her closer. She leaned in closer, her breathe touching Lapis' ear. "I'm sorry."
With that she plunged deep into Lapis' form, crying harder as she felt Lapis squirm underneath her, but she just held on tighter, hoping she would retreat soon. Then she did, a cloud of blue smoke filling the air, leaving behind a cracked, teardrop shaped gem in a puddle of blood.
Aqua picked her up, gently cradling the gem in her arms, while she went into Lapis' bag, pulling out the mirror. "This will keep you safe, I won't let nothing happen to you." For some reason, Lapis could hear Aqua surprisingly well, able to make out her exact words with little trouble.
Aqua put her gem into the silver back of the mirror, watching as it formed around her gem, locking it into place. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm gonna try to find one of the Crystal Gems, the faster we get you to Rose, the bet-"
A harsh, overpowering light filled the sky, almost blinding Aqua. "I'm guessing they're somewhere that way, towards the deadly looking light." The light looked far, and seeing as Aqua didn't have the same flight ability as Lapis, she was gonna have to just sprint there.
As they arrived around the general area of where the light was, they noticed this certain area had copious amounts of gem shards scattered everywhere, just piles of shards. "What in the world happened here?" Lapis instantly knew what happened, Homeworld must have used their "secret weapon" as their last attack on the Crystal Gems.
"WHO'S THERE, STATE YOUR PURPOSE!" A deeper, accented voice came from the shadows, almost making Aqua drop the mirror. "THIS IS AQUAMARINE, A SOLDIER FOR THE CRYSTAL GEMS, IF YOU'RE AN ENEMY YOU MAY AS WELL KILL ME NOW!" The shadowed figure emerged, a slightly taller, almost red colored gem, she had a cube shaped hairstyle, and some kind of visor covering her eyes.
"Aquamarine?" Aqua looked at her, wondering who this gem was. The taller gem let out a relieved kind of laugh, and walked over to her. "I can't believe you're alive! I thought it was just me, Pearl, and Rose!" If Aqua looked confused before, she must've looked completely bewildered now.
"Umm I'm sorry who are you exactly?" The gem smiled one last time before being engulfed in a ball of light, when that light dimmed down, the one tall gem vanished, being replaced with two small gems. "Ruby?! Sapphire?! You fused!"
"Well yeah, we didn't want to be apart from each other, so we stay together." Aqua was speechless, they looked so good together, she wondered what she and Lapis would look like. "Lapis! Man I almost forgot, do you know where Rose is, I really need her right now, Lapis got injured and her gem's cracked I figured Rose could fix it."
The smiles vanished Sapphire's face and she pulled Ruby away, Aqua couldn't quite make out what they were talking about though. They returned shortly, smiles gone, being replaced with a look of complete seriousness. Sapphire spoke up, "We can take her to Rose, it's not safe for you, we'll take care of her."
"No, I have to do this, Lapis is my responsibility and I can take care of her." Aqua pulled the mirror closer to her, looking at her own reflection, seeing her own worry. Tears streamed down her face again, she knew she had to give Lapis away, but she was being selfish, she didn't want anyone else to hold her.
"Aquamarine please, we'll get her to safety, you have to trust us." More tears fell as she looked at the mirror, she knew Lapis could see her, see everything that could happen, see the reluctance in her eyes, she knew that she'd know she loved her, but she said it anyways.
"Lapis, I don't know if you can hear me, but I just wanted to let you know how much I love you, and how much I'll always love you, nothing will keep me from you, no matter what I'll always find my way back to you."
She ran her fingers over the back of the mirror and lightly kissed the cracked gem before handing it over to Sapphire. "Take care of her, please."
"I will, be careful out there Aqua find somewhere safe to stay, and we'll find you." Aqua just nodded, too numb to say anything else, and turned away, not looking until she knew the gems were gone. "Goodbye Lapis."
She felt a hand on her shoulder, weighing her down, and turned around slowly, thinking it may have been Ruby and Sapphire's fusion. "Aww what's wrong little girl blue, lost someone?" To her misfortune she wasn't looking up at the fusion, she was looking into the face of pure evil known as Jasper.
"J-J-Jasper..?" Jasper let out a loud laugh, grabbing the gem by her throat. "Looks like I got a nice little souvenir to take back home, lucky me." Aqua squirmed and thrashed, hoping to somehow escape her death grip, but she knew it was hopeless.
"That's a good girl, now we gotta go, I suspect they'll break the Galaxy Warp soon and that's our only way off this cruddy planet, so hang on tight, wouldn't wanna shatter you before we get there would we?"
Lapis looked from inside the mirror, seeing as everything went by in a blur. Before long, they arrived at what looked like the Galaxy Warp. She looked out, seeing the fusion separate once more into the small gems.
Lapis kept completely silent, hoping to hear what they said. "We can't just leave her here Sapphire!" The red one looked extremely exasperated. "We don't have a choice Ruby, from what I saw, setting her free results in too many terrible outcomes, don't you want to keep Rose and Pearl safe?"
Lapis slowly put the pieces together, "Oh my stars, they're gonna just leave me here?!" Sapphire approached Ruby, taking Lapis from her hand slowly. "This is the only way Ruby, maybe someone will find her and keep her safe, I don't know, but I do know it'll be disastrous to keep her with us."
Ruby sighed, looking down at Lapis. "And what about Aquamarine? What will we tell her?" Lapis was in complete disbelief, they were really just gonna abandon her. "She's not here, she was captured shortly after our departure, I saw it. This is just another reason why we have to leave her, she'd just go looking for her, which isn't safe for either of them."
"Ugh, can't we just bubble her or something?" Lapis was trying so hard to reform, but failed miserably, the mirror trapped her. "Trapped in a mirror and in a bubble, now that's just cruel Ruby." Lapis saw a bright light out the edge of her mirror, it looked like a glow from a warp pad.
"Ruby, Sapphire, what are you two doing? I thought you were supposed to be destroying the Galaxy Warp. Wait, what's that." Pearl was pointing at Lapis, well at her mirror actually. Sapphire spoke up before Ruby could. "It's a mirror we found here, one of the Homeworld gem's must have left it."
Pearl grasped the handle, turning the mirror over slowly in her hands, tracing the crack that ran through Lapis' gem. "Pearl, you can store objects in your gem correct?" She nodded, not taking her eyes off the cracked gem. "Me and Ruby were deciding what to do with it, we didn't really want to bubble it, but I thought maybe you could keep it stored."
Pearl looked completely elated, but simply nodded and activated her gem. Lapis watched in horror, completely helpless and she came closer to Pearl's gem. She thudded and banged on the mirror, hoping to somehow break through, but her fate was inevitable, she was hopelessly stuck there.
"Wakey wakey baby blue." Aqua blinked her eyes open, looking around at a dimly lit room. She must have passed out sometime after Jasper snatched her. "W-who's there?" A sinister laugh came from the shadows. A large, familiar gem came out, followed by an equally familiar taller gem with spiked hair.
"I found baby blue looking a little lost, so I thought I'd help her find her way home." Aqua struggled against her restraints, she was glaring daggers at the sadistic pair. "This is NOT my home, this is my prison!"
The pair chuckled, apparently they found her torture entertaining. "There's no point in fighting it Aquamarine, we're not gonna kill you we're gonna keep you here til we figure out something better to do. Maybe we can even re-evaluate that little mind of yours and make you suitable enough to join our society again."
"I'd rather DIE than be apart of this!" Yellow Diamond walked forward, tracing Aqua's gem in circles. "That's just what I wanted to hear.."
"So, that was the last time you saw her?" Lapis glanced at Steven out the corner of her eye, avoiding his intent staring, trying to stop the flow of tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Lapis focused her gaze instead on the ocean, watching the sun just starting to arise over the horizon.
"I thought she was dead, I figured Homeworld would have shattered her on arrival, but they didn't...and...they did." Lapis continued gazing out into the ocean, giving up on trying to stop her river of tears from falling. "Wait, what do you mean?"
She sighed, her mind deep in thought, "When you freed me, I knew I had to find her, somehow I would have to make it to Homeworld." She tore her gaze away from the ocean and looked directly at Steven.
"I couldn't feel the presence of her gem, but I figured it was because mines was cracked, but after you healed it, I still didn't feel any connection there." Steven's expression just appeared more confused. "So then, what happened?"
"When I arrived on Homeworld, I was instantly subdued and taken away to a detainment area. I stayed there for awhile, being questioned by Jasper, they were trying to figure out where I've been all these years and if I ran into anybody while on Earth."
Steven's confused expression changed to a more sympathetic look as he gently patted Lapis' hand, earning more tears from her. "It's okay Lapis, they can't hurt you now." Lapis let out a weak laugh, "I'm weak Steven, I sold out the Crystal Gem's base and your safety all for a broken promise."
Steven's confusement returned, "What promise?" A look of shame swept Lapis' eyes and she looked down, staring at the little grains of sand. "I found her, she was alive.. kind of. After I wouldn't give up any information, Jasper said she had a surprise for me, it was her."
Little stars shined in Steven's eyes, an amazed look set into his face. "So she is alive? That's great right?!" Lapis shook her head sadly, watching as the stars disappeared from Steven's eyes.
"I ran up to hug her, but it was... different, she wasn't herself, she wasn't Aqua. She just stared at me, no emotion, no recognition, nothing. I looked at her gem and saw something off about it. It had some sort of strange object buried deep inside, some strange technology I've never seen before."
More tears came, non stop, hot, tears. Lapis saw no point in hiding it, besides, Steven was crying too. "I asked what it was." Lapis continued on, "She told me that Homeworld developed this transmitter that basically wiped any previous memory and just reprogrammed their own into whatever gem they wanted to. They called it 'the future of gem technology', but to me, they just shattered her on the inside."
Steven was now going through dramatic facial expressions, showing his obvious horror at Lapis' words. "That's terrible! They broke your friend!" Lapis flashed Steven a sad smile, inwardly laughing at the boy's innocence.
"She wasn't literally shattered inside Steven, she just wasn't Aquamarine, she was like a robot, there to be what they wanted, there to take orders, Aqua would never do anything like that. It's just that, when I saw her I couldn't stop crying, I just.. cried my eyes out and she didn't even look at me, she just stared blankly into nothing."
"So then, what promise did they break, was it a pinky promise? Oh my gosh DID THEY BREAK YOUR PINKY?!" Lapis flinched at the loudness of the young boy's voice, immediately shushing him so his "friends" wouldn't investigate.
"Shh Steven no! Nothing like that occurred, they just promised me something I couldn't refuse." Steven looked at her quizzically, "Like what?" Lapis blushed slightly, hating to recall that simple memory.
"They promised me her freedom, that they could return her back if I told them everything they wanted. I accepted without any hesitation, that was a mistake I can never expect you to forgive me for Steven."
"It's okay Lapis, I was never mad." Lapis couldn't help but bring the boy into a tight hug. "Thank you Steven, that means a lot to me." The boy's optimistic was infectious, spreading throughout Lapis' being, that is until she remembered the explanation she owed him.
"They gave me a little time with her, I tried to reach her, tried to make her remember, but she was gone, they trapped her inside herself. I couldn't leave her like that, I couldn't let her be what I was, trapped with no way out, so I turned my back on one friend for another."
"But they lied, they were never gonna fix her, Jasper told me while we were still fused. They were just gonna get rid of her, right in front of me."
Lapis hugged Steven tighter, shamelessly driping her tears on him. "What do you think they're going to do with her?" Lapis hasn't really thought about it, she knew she'd be shattered when they got back, but they never did.
"I.. don't know, but I am going to find out. I'm gonna go back to Homeworld, if only to see her one more time."
"What if she's not there? What if they broke her?"
Lapis looked towards the sky, towards the direction of Homeworld. She summoned her wings, looking back at Steven once more before taking off. "I don't belong here Steven, this isn't my planet, this isn't my home." Lapis felt a twinge of sadness as she looked down at the sad boy reaching for her as she slowly took flight.
She flew further and further, willing herself to not look back, making sure her mind won't change by the young boy's pleas. She looked up to the sky, towards the red planet she knew as home. "Wait for me Aquamarine, I'm coming for you... wherever you are."