Chapter Two
Help from friends
The fight left the ruins in shambles. Barely a third of the pillars were left standing and the floor was decayed with cracked tiles. With all the destruction the fight had brought, it set a great contrast between the arena and the sky, which couldn't have looked any fresher. The Sunday group training session took all morning and now that the clashing of fists and the swinging of swords subsided, the sun glimmered brilliantly in the sky.
The four remaining laid around each other on their backs. Sure Connie and Steven were exhausted but, they had had fought in both training matches and actually managed to walk away with a victory. This victory put them at ease. Peridot was more amazed than tired. Sure she took a bit of a beating but she ultimately saw something in her herself that she had never seen before and that left her in shock. Out of everyone who laid there, Lapis took the greatest beating and her defeat left her there quiet and motionless, staring up at the sky almost like she was looking for answers.
"Holy Smokes." Peridot said to herself, slapping her hands over her eyes.
"I'll say." Connie agreed remembering Peridot's attack.
"Yeh.." Steven said still thoroughly amazed. Lapis said nothing and continued to glare at the sky.
"Well upsy daisy!" Peridot said sitting up with a chuckle. She stood up slowly but she was so content with herself that her fatigue from the fight didn't bother her in the least. She walked of to Lapis and held her hand out to help Lapis up. Lapis took Peridot's hand but winced in pain as Peridot pulled her onto her feet. Peridot put Lapis' arm around her neck and the two began to make their way toward the warp pad.
"Well thanks for the training Steven!" Peridot yelled gleefully. "Same time next week?" Steven groaned before sitting up.
"W-wait you guys don't wanna hang out?" Steven asked. "I mean training's done for Today, we could at least watch a movie or something until the others reform."
"Ummm.." Peridot stammered to groaned audibly from the pain she was in. "Are you okay Lapis?" Peridot asked worriedly.
"Never better." Lapis responded sarcastically.
"Yeh Lapis isn't looking too good." Peridot thought to herself. "It might do her more good to spend some time with Steven while she recovers so… what the heck!" Peridot turned to Steven and Connie with a big smile.
"Sure!" She yelled enthusiastically. Steven smiled before getting up excitedly. He helped Connie onto her feet before sprinting for the warp pad.
"WooHoo! Party!" Steven yelled somersaulting onto the warp pad.
"I have absolutely no idea where he gets his energy from." Connie said, catching up to Lapis and Peridot.
"I believe he receives his energy from that pink gemstone located where most humans find their belly button." Peridot answered factually.
"You don't say.." Lapis groaned resting her head in Peridot's hair. The girls laughed lightly before catching up to Steven on the warp pad. Steven flung his arms outward excitedly activating the warp pad, beaming the group to the Crystal gem temple.
In a flash of blue light, the group arrived at the temple via warp pad. When Steven was younger the gems built his room around the warp pad. It was more like a small house complete with a living room, kitchen, and a bathroom.
"Well that was quick." Peridot said, lowly throwing shade at the warp pad she built.
"A lot less spinning to." Lapis added smiling weakly. Peridot helped Lapis up to Steven's bed and laid her down gently.
"You get some rest okay?" Peridot said softly. Lapis blushed cutely. She wasn't use to Peridot giving her this much attention.
"Will do." Lapis said rolling onto her side. Peridot hesitated to leave the bedside, but she eventually found herself making her way down stairs. She met Steven and Connie in the kitchen. They had placed the rest of the Crystal gems in the fruit bowl and were searching the kitchen.
"We're looking for snacks!" Connie said excitedly.
"Yeah!" Steven said stepping into the counter to search the cabinets. "If we're gonna throw a party, we gotta throw it right."
"For why?" Peridot questioned. "I thought we were just hanging out or whatever."
" Oh we are." Steven said hopping off the counter. "It's just that we rarely hang out ….and when we do we're usually fighting something."
"Mmm I suppose your right." Peridot agreed reluctantly.
"Steven we're not looking to good on snacks." Connie said disappointedly standing up from the cabinets.
"Awe man. You're totally right." Steven said sadly. "Amethyst must have cleaned us out right before training."
"So what do we do now?" Peridot asked leaning against the refrigerator.
"Well I have a twenty in my pillow case." Steven answered. "Maybe you and Connie could go down to Fish Stew Pizza and pick up a pizza, while I stay her with Lapis to make sure she's not having any nightmares."
"Sounds like a plan." Connie said enthusiastically.
"Uhhh I don't know Steven." Peridot said eyeing Lapis, who was upstairs passed out.
"Don't worry Peridot." Steven reassured. "She'll be fine. Here I'll go get the money." Steven ran upstairs and carefully retrieved the twenty dollars from his pillow without waking Lapis, who had finally drifted into a calmer snooze. Steven leaped through the air and used his floating ability to land directly in front of Connie and Peridot.
"For you Madam." Steven said handing Connie the bill.
"Why thank you kind sir." Connie giggle while playing along. "Wouldst thou have any fine request?"
"Surprise me." Steven said rolling the r and curling his imaginary mustache around his finger.
"As you wish." Connie said before standing up as straight as she could and walking out of Steven's house. Peridot reluctantly followed Connie outside, closing the screen door behind her. Steven stood in place for a moment with his head cocked to the side and his lips pouted out just in case Connie turned around to check to see if he was still in character. Once he saw Connie walking down the beach, he turned his attention towards Lapis who was still sound asleep.
Steven walked upstairs and sat beside Lapis who had rolled onto her side facing Steven. Steven looked Lapis up and down before frowning. Her body was covered with cuts and bruises. Steven felt terrible for going so hard on her. He could sense that she was distracted, but its not like Homeworld gems are gonna hold back under any circumstances.
Steven licked his right palm and used his left hand to shift Lapis' bangs up revealing forehead. He placed his right hand over her forehead. A moment passed before Lapis' gem began glowing dimly. The cuts and bruises that were scattered all over Lapis' battered body began to fade and soon enough, all of her wounds and fatigue had been relieved thanks to Steven's magic saliva which dissolved into her skin.
Now Lapis laid there comfortably. She even began cutely talking to herself.
"No you're a clod!" She giggled innocently to herself before snorting. Lapis opened her eyes slowly, meeting Steven's gaze.
"Did you heal me? Lapis asked, sitting up in Steven's bed.
"Yeah." Steven said, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "It's no big deal. Sorry I took so long. I wanted to talk alone for a second."
"Where is everyone?" Lapis asked scanning the room.
"Well Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are reforming in the fruit bowl and I sent Peridot and Connie to go get pizza." Steven answered.
"Oh ok." Lapis asked. "Well what do you want to talk about?" Steven fiddled his feet against bed before answering.
"Well first I wanted to apologize for being so rough on you earlier." Steven said sincerely. "I could sense that you were distracted and I still sent you crashing into the ground.."
"Steven it's fine really." Lapis said sitting next to Steven on the edge of the bed. "I really underestimated you, so maybe I needed to be put in the ground." The two giggled a bit before Steven laid back. A silence crept up on them before Lapis sighed. She laid back next to Steven.
"Ugh! I envy you Steven." Lapis sighed. "You're so carefree like all the time. You're so generous to everyone. Your friends….your enemies….I just can't understand it."
"Hey now everyone deserves a second chance right?" Steven said staring up at the ceiling. "I mean the gems were terrified of you and that was something I couldn't understand. Maybe me being naive was a good thing y'know. I mean the gems would have kept you and Peridot in stasis forever."
"Must be nice." Lapis said lowly. "I'm so haunted by my past. Even after you helped me so much, the war, the mirror, Jasper…. It all came rushing back to me during our fight, and when it did I-i couldn't function. It was like watching you from the bottom of the ocean."
"I knew it!" Steven said with a smile. "Even before you got distracted I could tell you were pulling your punches. When we figure this out, I want a rematch." Lapis looked over at Steven confused.
"Why?" She asked. "You got a thing for fighting now? What happened to the fart noises?"
"Heh heh heh no way!" Steven laughed. "I just like to see people at their best y'know." The two laid there once more in silence before Lapis spoke up.
"Steven?" She asked turning to him?
"What's up?" Steven said still staring up at the ceiling.
"W-what's love?" Lapis asked curiously. The question shocked Steven, who instantly started blushing. He sat up in slight panic. He knew Lapis wasn't joking around so he needed to give her a truthful answer.
" Uh w-well its kinda complicated." Steven stalled. "Why the sudden interest?" Steven looked back at Lapis who now had her eyes focused on the ceiling.
"I don't know really." She said honestly. "It just feels like something big is missing out of my life y' know. Maybe...maybe if it's love it can help me overcome all of the things that happened to me. I know you know. You and Connie were all over each other during a fight."
"Eh your right." Steven agreed. " Me and Connie have something greater than familial love, but it takes time to build y'know. Like love isn't something that you can necessarily control. It's just a really strong feeling to be with someone. It's something that makes you do things without thinking. It's something that drives you forward in order to protect something. The others say my mom loved the Earth and that drove her to rebel against homeworld despite all the odds."
"Is it possible to love someone who doesn't love you back." Lapis asked meeting Steven's gaze.
"Y-yeh actually it is." Steven answered sadly. "That's the thing, it's not guaranteed that the person you love is gonna love you back at all, and at that point you gotta be strong enough to let them go." Lapis noticed the seriousness in Steven's tone and began to tear up.
"L-lapis are you ok?" Steven asked. Lapis sat up next to him and wiped her tears away with a sniffle.
"I'm fine." Lapis said finally. "It's just that sometimes i really don't know."
"Know what?" Steven asked scooting closer to Lapis. Lapis didn't answer. Instead she stared intently at the ground.
"Hey." Steven said said softly setting a supportive hand on Lapis' shoulder. "You can talk to me." Lapis looked back at his friend with a weak smile before taking a deep breath in and out.
"I remember when you first told me that me and Peri were gonna be roommates." Lapis started still looking at the ground. "I was such a jerk to her all day long. Even after you scolded me and I saved us from the Rubies' ship, I stayed distant with her afterwards. She knew I hated her for bringing me back to earth informant or not and she tried so hard to make it up to me. So much so that she put aside her own needs just to make me feel better...just to make me smile, but now we're in unknown territory where we spend almost all of our time together but not really together together."
"Aw Lapis.." Steven said looking at the sad gem. " Why don't you just tell her how you feel?"
" Well that's just it Steven." Lapis said looking up at Steven. "I'm not sure how I feel I just know I want something more from our relationship. I know….that something is there….between us Steven but it's like there's a wall stopping us from being like you and Connie."
"That wall is only there because you and Peridot haven't addressed the elephant in the room." Steven said supportively. "I'm sure Peridot feels the exact same as you, but like you said this is all new territory to her to."
"Elephant?" Lapis asked, unfamiliar with the term.
"It's a figure of speech." Steven explained. "Also an animal."
"Jeez you human are pretty weird." Lapis said cupping her face up in her hands.
"Yeh we are." Steven said with a smile. "And so is love. For now try not to think about it too much." Lapis nodded before Steven got up and walked over to the tv. From there he started searching through the cheesy anime movies he had stacked on top of it. Meanwhile in beach city, Peridot and Connie had finally made it to Fish-Stew pizza and were sitting at a table waiting on their pizza to be made. Connie was on her phone, making sure her mom knew where she was while Peridot used her metal powers to slightly tilt the small metal salt shaker at their table. Connie glanced away from her phone and noticed Peridot's antics. She decided to break the awkward silence.
"You were really amazing at practice today." Connie complimented.
"Wow thanks." Peridot responded dryly. Connie continued. "Steven and I had no idea you were that strong. Not to be rude but I didn't think you were gonna be much of a fight at all."
"I know." Peridot said diverting her eyes away from Connie. She let out a small forceful sigh.
" Are you alright?" Connie asked slipping her phone into her pocket.
"Y-yeh." Peridot stammered. "I-it's just…"
"It's just what?" Connie asked.
"It's just that you guys were right to assume I wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight." Peridot admitted ashamed of herself.
"What do you mean?" Connie asked. "You totally kicked our butts."
"Yeh, but that doesn't change the fact that you were kicking my but for the duration of the match." Peridot answered. " I saw Lapis crash into the ground… Steven was beating the crap out of her and something about that brought about something in me. Something I've never seen before. Something scary. I mean I would never hurt you or Steven but seeing Lapis getting the beating of her life right in front of me infuriated me and it doesn't really feel like it was me who won the fight. I mean don't get me wrong a victory is a victory but still…."
"Awe that's sweet Peridot." Connie said with a smile.
"Yeh it doesn't feel like it." Peridot replied staring down at her hands which she had sitting on the table.
"How come?" Connie asked starting to lean over the table.
"W-well...things have been a bit awkward between us lately." Peridot started shyly. "I-i mean I've been living with Lapis for a while now.. And we've gotten closer than ever but Lapis definitely wants to be even closer."
"And you don't ?" Connie asked curiously.
"No no of course I do !" Peridot said frantically. "It's just that….. During my existence I've screwed up so many times. To the point to where my whole standard for right and wrong got completely reversed. Sure I've done a lot of good but it's ultimately my fault Lapis got stuck here on Earth with me. At first it was about making up for the giant mess I made but somewhere along the line it became more than that. Lapis has been through so much trauma not including my mess up. I know more than anyone that she needs stability more than anything, but I'm such a screw up. I wouldn't want us to get closer just so I could mess it up like everything else in my life." There was a moment a silence between the two.
"Did you ever tell Lapis all of this?" Connie asked a bit too close for comfort.
"OH MY STARS!" Peridot jumped, not realizing how close Connie had gotten. "Of course not! How could I? This whole 'talk about your feelings thing is so new to me. I use to just follow orders y'know. And now I'm here on earth trying to describe my complicated feelings to someone."
"Well it's never easy at first." Connie said supportively. "To be honest, Steven was the first friend I've ever had and when I thought my mom wasn't going to let me see him anymore it tore me apart. Me and him attempted to run away together."
"Attempted?" Peridot asked. "What happened?"
"The gems formed Alexandrite and picked up the bus we were on." Connie said nonchalantly. "My parents realized that the gems were pretty good parents after that fiasco."
"Wow those clods really do use fusion for everything." Peridot smiled still down about Lapis.
"Hey don't worry about it Peridot. I know you guys are going through a weird time right now but I know it will all work out." Connie said supportively.
"How can you be so sure?" Peridot asked meeting her gaze.
"I've been hanging out with Garnet lately." Connie responded with a smile. "Call it a hunch." Connie's support eased Peridot's mind. It had been a long day for both of them and a nice open conversation helped ease the tensions between them. From there Kiki called them to the counter and gave them their pizza with completely randomized toppings per Stevens request. Peridot and Connie made their way back to Steven's house where they joined the rest of the gems, who had reformed in there absence. They all had a seat somewhere on Steven's bed to partake in a much needed relaxing movie night.