Hi again, and welcome back to Into Oblivion.

And now... the chapter you've all been waiting for! Actually, it probably hasn't been quite like that, but it is good to get the ball rolling again. Let's begin.

Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe. Steven Universe is owned by Rebecca Sugar.

Present

"Thoughts"

Author's Note

"Lapis, are you okay?"

Lapis wrapped her arms around her elevated knees. She pulled at her elbows and rested her head, lazily to the side, and away from Steven. He put his hand on her shoulder, but she didn't turn around.

"Lapis... I can't help you if you don't tell me what's bothering you. Please..."

Now Lapis cocked her head to him. She looked him dead in the eyes, and a frown spread across her face. He mirrored the expression.

"Steven, to be quite honest, I'm not sure I should tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because..." Lapis's voice tapered off, a sigh overtaking it. "Because I'm worried about how you'll react to it, okay? I don't really know how, and I don't want to risk upsetting you more."

Steven's expression melted into one of confusion. He couldn't understand what Lapis meant by 'how he'd take' her story; he was trying to help her, couldn't she see that? Even if it was something bad about the Crystal Gems, like he was assuming, he'd never be able to help her move on without getting it out there. Regardless of the news.

"Lapis, I'll be fine. Please, tell me."

Lapis said nothing for a moment. But then, with a slow nod of her head, she turned herself to face Steven. He patiently crossed his legs.

"... Steven, when Pearl found the mirror, she didn't just keep it in her gem. She showed it to Rose Quartz.

"My mom? Why? I thought she just kept the mirror hidden until she gave it to me."

"No, she didn't... she let all of the Crystal Gems know about it. But she showed Rose first."

Steven scrunched his eyebrows. He had to admit, he hadn't quite been expecting this story, and it wasn't getting any clearer yet. Why was it a big deal if Pearl did or did not tell the others about the mirror? What did they do with it?

He gulped.

"When she showed Rose Quartz," Lapis continued, "it didn't take them long to realize I was trapped in there. I still haven't forgotten what they said... 'A Lapis Lazuli She must be from Homeworld. From the war.'"

"'Then what should we do with her?'" Lapis spoke in a slightly different voice, imitating Pearl. Steven quickly gathered she was reciting a conversation from the past, one between Pearl and his mom.

"'Well, she's been trapped in this mirror... she might've been planning to defect, and Homeworld found out and imprisoned her.'"

"'Do you think she knows something, then? Information?'"

"'She might.'"

Steven's eyes grew wide. He now knew, in an instant, where she was taking this.

Lapis fell quiet at long last. She looked down at her feet, and lowered her hands to the beach. She balled her fingers into fists, grains of sand crinkling in her palms.

"Steven, they let me out of the mirror to interrogate me. I'm not surprised they didn't tell you that..."

"Interrogate? How? What did they do to you?"

"At first, it was just Rose. She would take me out of the mirror-gently, so it wouldn't break-and let me regenerate in this humongous room, with pink clouds everywhere..."

Steven's eye twitched.

"To be honest, I didn't mind it that much. I didn't know anything that they wanted, but it wasn't awful being out of the mirror, even with a cracked gem."

"But why didn't my mom heal you? That doesn't make any sense, she'd have fixed your gem if she knew it was damaged. That's what she did."

Lapis shook her head, eyes closed in thought. "She used it as incentive. 'If you tell us what we want to know, I promise we'll fix your gem. Don't you want to stop being in pain? Just tell us...'"

Steven's face froze in shock, and he directed his eyes to the ocean ahead. No part of him wanted to believe what Lapis was saying, but... it sounded to him like the Crystal Gems—but especially his mom—USED her. Keeping her like a pet when they wanted to pry for information, and simply shoving her out of sight and out of mind otherwise. It was despicable.

It wasn't them.

"Lapis, is that true?"

Lapis's head snapped to Steven, eyes wide in shock. "What? Of course it is! Why would you even ask that?"

"Because it doesn't sound like her!" retorted Steven. "My mom wasn't like this! She was kind, and she loved all life! She wouldn't leave you injured on purpose."

"Steven, your mother was the commander of the rebellion. She killed thousands of gems, and spared no mercy on the battlefield. Interrogating one little Lapis Lazuli about Homeworld was like dust on her shoulder."

Steven swallowed nothing. He ran his top lip over his bottom, dry and crackled. His throat was remarkably similar.

"... Steven, your mother wanted to know if Homeworld was planning a second invasion, or if they left behind anything dangerous. Things that would damage the Earth. And she wouldn't believe I was trapped on accident, no matter how many times I asked."

Now Steven was quiet. He watched Lapis with sadness in his eyes, and she closely mirrored the glaze. But still, she chose to press on.

"It was off and on for a few hundred years. She'd let me out for a few days, then stick me back in the mirror for a few years."

"What did she do when she was asking you?" Steven's voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. He really didn't want to know the answer.

"She never physically hurt me. Neither did Pearl, or Garnet—"

"Wait, Pearl and Garnet?! I thought you said it was just my mom!"

Lapis shook her head. "It was, at first. But after a few times, she started bringing them into it, too. The other gem wasn't there at the time."

Steven brought a hand to his head. His fingertips rubbed across his forehead, and fast drenched in sweat as they did so. He quickly rubbed them on his shirt, and returned to Lapis.

"Steven, they never physically hurt me. I was injured enough from my gem cracks, and they knew it."

"But then what did they do?" asked Steven. "Tell me!"

Lapis paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. She eyed Steven as she did so; his eyes were wide and unflinching, his face chiseled in a frown. It seemed to her that her story was getting through to him, but he still didn't quite understand it all. She hoped to change that.

"Steven, they would always ask me the same questions, over and over again. 'What is Homeworld planning? Why did they leave you behind? Are they coming back to Earth?' I'd tell them I didn't know, but they never believed me... it was insanity. They knew they weren't going to get anything different, but they kept pressing and pressing, wanting more and more! When they KNEW I didn't have anything!"

Steven anxiously rubbed his toes against his sandals. He had no way of knowing for sure, but he couldn't understand why Pearl, Garnet, and especially his mom refused to believe her. She was trapped in a mirror when they found her: lost, confused, and injured. She had absolutely no information to give, and from the account Lapis gave, they should've realized this. It was brutally obvious.

Why didn't they?

"After a few dozen tries, they just stopped and stuck me back in the mirror for good. Pearl put me back in her gem and left me there... until she gave me to you."

Steven said nothing. His mind still ran a mile a minute, and his gaze blankly stared out at the ocean. Lapis eyed him for a moment, and then spoke.

"Ste—"

"I'm sorry, Lapis, but I need some time to process this."

Steven rose to his feet. He balled his hands into fists, turned his back to Lapis, and stormed away.

"Um... hello again, Jasper."

Jasper didn't respond to Peridot; rather she looked down at her hand, fingers outstretched. She tightened them into a fist and loosed again, and a grin spread across her face. Nice and responsive... and it didn't hurt, either.

Jasper turned her attention to Connie and Peridot, making them both freeze for a moment. Her gaze fell upon the human girl, and she scrunched her eyebrows.

"Peridot, who is that."

It was a demand, not a question. Peridot's tongue caught on itself as her mind fumbled for a reply, but Connie kicked into action.

"Well hi there! I'm, uuuuhhhh, Corrine, and this here Perry Dot is my new cool space rock person best buddy! What's your name, stranger?"

Connie spoke in the most obnoxious accent she could manage. Peridot forced a laugh, a nervous chuckle she inwardly cringed at.

"Ha ha, yes. Jasper, meet my new human accomplice, Con-Corrine. I found her on the side of the road." Peridot leaned forward, and put her hand to the side of her mouth to shield her lips from Connie's eyes. "Between you and me, she's pretty dumb," she whispered to Jasper, "but she pretty much does whatever I say. She's been handy for fetching supplies."

Jasper's eyes trailed on Connie for a moment longer. The child felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of her neck, and her wide, falsely excited eyes throbbed in pain from keeping them open.

Jasper rolled her eyes. "Feh. You and your souvenirs."

Both Peridot and Connie breathed sighs of relief, as quietly as they could. Connie in particular.

"Jeez, why did I agree to do this?! I just wanted to hear Peridot ask Jasper if she's really being herself... oog."

"Peridot, tell me where we are."

Peridot's head snapped. She turned her eyes to Jasper's face, and found she was looking around the wide open meadow. Beach City was far enough in the distance that they couldn't see it, something Peridot was more than just a little appreciative about.

"Well, we're on Earth, obviously. I moved us from that one room we were in before."

"And what about the other gems? Where are they?"

"I... I don't know. Rose left your cracked gem on the beach, and I picked you up not long after. But I've been trailing them for a long time, hoping to find you."

Peridot bit her tongue as soon as she finished talking. She silently hoped her lie was believable; if it wasn't, she knew the consequences wouldn't be pretty...

Jasper raised her fists and cracked her knuckles, and then her neck. She sat down on the spot and crossed her legs, and Peridot decided to follow suit. "Corrine" stayed standing, staring off into space with a blank, thoughtless expression.

"You've been 'trailing' those gems to find me?"

Peridot nodded. "For months now. I tried to locate you by myself, but I wasn't getting anywhere. I needed... help, and they gave it to me. Unwittingly."

Now Jasper crossed her arms as well. She eyed Peridot with a cold, thoughtful gaze, and it was returned with more than just a hint of nervousness. The green gem hoped she was doing a good job at hiding it, but she could tell her cover was slipping with every passing question.

"We need to get back to Homeworld."

Peridot inaudibly gulped, and nodded once more. "I agree. If Rose and those other gems find us, I'm not sure we can fight them off again."

"There's a galaxy warp pad on this planet, is there not?" Jasper glanced around the meadow once again, as if the pad would magically appear nearby. "We can use that to escape."

"I... I tried that already. It's broken beyond repair."

Jasper's attention slowly returned to Peridot. Peridot offered a nervous smile and a shrug of her shoulders, but was met with cold silence. Connie took note of this, however, and decided to intervene.

"Heh heh, uh, what are we all talking about? More of that rock stuff?"

"NO! Corrine, lie down and go to sleep. And forget everything you just heard."

Connie enthusiastically nodded. Without wasting any time, she dropped on the spot, rolled on her side, and turned her back to Jasper and Peridot. When her face was safely hidden from the two, however, it quickly melted into an expression of relief.

By being ordered to fall asleep (and her pretending to oblige), Connie knew she could listen in on the conversation without participating. Having the both of them there meant there was that much greater a chance of their cover being blown, but now it was much less likely with only Peridot doing the talking. It was quick thinking on her part.

"Jasper, the warp pad is destroyed," continued Peridot, "and so is the ship. There's no way of returning to Homeworld."

"Then FIND a way!" roared Jasper, startling the other gem. "Yellow Diamond needs to know what happened here. Then she can send reinforcements, and I can GLADLY take part in crushing this miserable, useless planet to NOTHING!"

Peridot shuddered. She sounded just like Yellow Diamond, over the communication line. The difference was, the gem she was speaking to was face-to-face this time. Terrified to furious face, that is.

But still, it presented an opportunity to get her point across. And Peridot knew she had to take it.

"... Jasper, is that what you really want to do?"

Jasper scrunched her eyebrows, and a frown emerged. "What? Isn't it obvious enough to you?"

"No, I mean... look, just hear me out. What I mean is, do you really want to destroy this planet?"

"It's part of the mission now."

Peridot shook her head, interrupting the other. "Forget the mission for a second; just think about you. Do you REALLY want to destroy this entire planet? Of 7 billion humans, and countless other sentient species and resources?"

The frown on Jasper's lips widened. Her eyes glared angrily into Peridot's, instilling a sense of fear in her. She started to tremble.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, Peridot, but you better get your head in the game now." growled Jasper. "This is starting to sound like treason."

"N-no, of course not! Nothing like that, don't be ridiculous!" Peridot waved her hands in front of her, as if she needed to push Jasper back. "It's just that I've spent a lot of time on this planet now. Unwillingly, mind you, but I have. And I've learned some things about it that would serve the empire better if it were... intact."

"Like what."

Peridot gulped. "Well, um... the resources! There are many different resources here, unique to this planet alone. What sense does it make to destroy it when we can harvest these for ourselves?"

In her mind, Peridot screamed at herself. Homeworld's definition of "harvesting" was even worse than destroying the planet outright. She and the others knew that from the Moon base...

"And?"

Peridot shook her head, breaking her thoughts. "Oh... um, how about humans, too?" Peridot looked over at Connie, who still lay on her side, back turned to them. "Sure, they're technologically incompetent and clearly inferior to us gems, but they could still be useful in some ways. Besides, they pose no threat to us, so what's the use in exterminating them?"

Peridot fell quiet. She looked Jasper in the eyes, hoping to see some kind of change; to her dismay, the same vicious glare from before remained. If anything, it was stronger... and focused right on her.

"Peridot, let me make myself clear. I don't give a damn about resources, humans, or the Earth. All I want is to take this stupid planet, wipe it clean from Homeworld's maps, and be done with it. Your job is to find a way to get us back to Yellow Diamond so we can get started with that, so GET GOING!"

Peridot blinked. It seemed she had her answer about Jasper.

She started to sweat.

Steven trudged down the nighttime beach, head low and hands buried deep in pockets. He kept his eyes planted to his feet, and his back hunched just a touch. The stray salt whipping through the air from the ocean stung his eyes a bit, but he made no effort to shield them.

It'd been well over an hour since his talk with Lapis, and he still needed yet more time to process. Was everything she said even true? But then again, why would she lie to him? Maybe she was just trying to make the Crystal Gems look bad, so he wouldn't trust them anymore...

Or maybe he was in denial.

Steven's train of thought screeched to a halt as he stepped on a rock, lodged in the sand. It was just a little smaller than his foot. He bent over and plucked it from the ground, and turned it over in his hand. The rough, coarse texture rubbed against his fingers, and he winced at the feeling.

"Interrogating one little Lapis Lazuli about Homeworld was like dust on her shoulder."

Steven scrunched his eyebrows. As the memory ran through his head, he gripped the rock tighter.

"She'd let me out for a few days, then stick me back in the mirror for a few years."

He held the rock even harder. His knuckles turned white.

"They would always ask me the same questions, over and over again... I'd tell them I didn't know, but they never believed me."

"AAAAAHHH!"

With a great windup of his arm, Steven chucked the rock. He threw it as far out into the ocean as he could, and he watched it fly for hundreds of feet; superhuman strength was a wondrous thing... but all the power in the world wouldn't help him now.

He stood still as a statue for a moment, unblinking. And then, with a groan, he plopped down on the spot, laid out flat on his back, and spread his arms wide. His eyes trickled up to the infinite reach of the night sky, and the stars that dotted it; he noticed one in particular, an orange light streaking high across the sky. An airplane. Commercial. Oh, how he wished he could be on it, to just fly away from it all...

Steven closed his eyes. Sleep was already overtaking him.

Wew lad.

So, what do we have here? Connie... oh, excuse me. "Corrine" masquerading as a blissfully unaware mortal in order to eavesdrop, Peridot realizing exactly what she's doing by talking to Jasper, and yet more Lapis and Steven angst. It never ends, does it?

We'll find out soon enough. mwahahaahhahahahha!1!

Have a nice day.