One day at Beach City on the beach near the crystal temple, Lapis lazuli and Steven were on the edge of the ocean near the crystal temple, with Steven enjoying the view of the beautiful, blissful body of water near his home.
As Steven was enjoying the view, the former terraformer of worlds was practicing some productive uses of her power of hydrokinesis, such as using small floating pools of water to mold it into the shape of a cookie cat, which made Steven reminisce for a moment,
"Oh, cookie cat..." sighed Steven. "How I miss you so."
"I'm still sorry about your loss, Steven," said lapis as she looked at Steven with sympathy.
Then she changed the floating water's shape into a poodle dog with a top rotor on his back. This was one of Steven's favorite fictional heroes, Dog Copter.
Lapis lazuli knew what dog copter was from Steven when he told her about his dreams about a dog with a helicopter rotor, including the movies he watched about him.
"Dogcopter!" cheered Steven in heartfelt glee.
Garnet suddenly came out from the front door to the Crystal Temple to watch the scene unfold with a smile with Steven and then called out to lapis
"lapis! Pearl and Amethyst need you on the warp pad!" softly called out Garnet, snapping lapis to her attention. "there are corrupted gems on a nearby island outside of Beach City!"
"Oh, stars! I'm on the way!" called lapis lazuli, returning the manipulated water to the ocean where it belonged. "I have to go, Steven."
"oh, okay, lapis..." sighed Steven sadly; as he had seen this outcome multiple times, he had wished that the Crystal Gems would stop leaving him alone at the crystal temple, even though he usually stayed with his father, Greg.
"Hey, don't worry, Steven, we'll be back soon!" said lapis. "And what say afterward? We have some fun together? My summer fun buddy?"
"I'd love to lapis!" said Steven, waving lapis goodbye for now as she went into the crystal temple
"garnet! Please take care of Steven for me!" cried lapis as she opened the door and went inside to join Pearl and Amethyst
"I will!" Smiled Garnet having anticipated Lapis' response and intentions with her future vision and then turning towards Steven, enveloping him in a hug
Inside the crystal temple, the main headquarters of the crystal gems, a blinding flash occurred on the warp pad. The crystal gems were off on another mission to defeat another corrupted gem for the day. Garnet stayed behind to watch over Steven while Pearl led Amethyst Lapis to their next destination.
The warp pad at the destination beamed up a pillar of light, and when the latest team of crystal gems stepped off the warp pad, they looked around for a moment.
The area where the corrupted gems were last seen was in an area surrounded by trees, but some were decaying due to time and, in some cases, pollution of mankind's hubris. But the crystal gems speculated the destruction of the area was the corrupted gems' work.
"The corrupted gem should be here somewhere," said lapis as she eyed the surrounding area for any water she could use later on
"Yeah, it oughta be here. That's what Garnet said earlier before we left," said Amethyst
Then suddenly, the crystal gems heard a growl as a large paw slammed the ground, shaking it, and out emerged a corrupted red gem shaped like a giant bear. But with no visible eyes and horns on the top of its head, This corrupted gem was a ruby. With a roar, the nearby trees started to bend, and some of the trees snapped off from the ground from the powerful gust.
"There it is!" Cried Pearl, bringing out her spear as the corrupted Ruby charged at Pearl, who then jumped up and slashed at the corrupted gem's leg
"Alright then!" Cried Amethyst, starting to spin and dash toward the corrupted gem at top speed, ramming right into her. "Let's get her!"
As she nodded, lapis quickly pulled out her rapier from the gemstone on her back and summoned her water angel-like wings as she hovered and circled the giant corrupted gem.
"No water around..." thought lapis. as she looked around her surroundings. "I'll just have to rely on this for now!"
lapis swooped down and swung her rapier at the corrupted Ruby, slashing at it just as Pearl had already made her next attack and was swung away by it
"Take this!" cried lapis as she again swung her rapier at the once entirely sane gem and then transformed her water wings into giant fists, hammering into the corrupted Ruby. Lapis had been practicing a few techniques to make her water wings more versatile in her spare Time with the crystal gems.
The corrupted Ruby roared as she was taking much damage from the rebel terraformer of the homeworld. lapis swung her rapier repeatedly at the former gem, and then, The corrupted Ruby was sent into a tree with one last punch of water. Thankfully, the corrupted Ruby's gemstone was on her shoulder, so she didn't shatter. Amethyst wrapped her whip around it, entangling the corrupted Ruby.
"Alright, guys! I think we got her!" cheered Amethyst.
But her victory was cut short when two more corrupted rubies suddenly emerged from the shadows with their own roars. One of the newcomers swung at Pearl from behind, sending her next to Amethyst just as the other corrupted Ruby snapped the whip, trapping her as the three corrupted rubies surrounded the three rebel heroes.
"You just had to jinx it," criticized Pearl, holding up her spear as she tried to devise a strategy to handle their current situation.
"Hey, I thought we had her, okay?" quipped Amethyst, gripping her whip.
"Can you two just save it!?" snapped lapis, gripping her rapier and raising her water wing fists with an annoyed look, "We've got bigger problems here! Let's go!"
The three crystal gems faced the corrupted rubies with regained focus and resolve.
Amethyst brought out her second whip and cracked it at the giant corrupted Ruby, causing her to shriek. And swiped her claw at Amethyst, knocking her away only a few feet from the monstrous, formerly whole gem.
"Don't think I'll go down that easily!" cried Amethyst, determined to prove herself, which has made her quite reckless,
The purple gem tossed herself at the corrupted Ruby again with a spin dash across the stomach, knocking them into a tree. As it nearly poofed her, Amethyst jumped off of the giant Ruby. Just when she was recovering, Amethyst didn't waste time finishing her off with a custom technique.
"I've been wanting to try this out for a while," smirked Amethyst as she flung her whips at two nearby trees. She pulled herself backwards only a few meters away to gain incredible velocity when launching herself at the giant red hard-light creature who had once been sane.
Amethyst then allowed herself to be flung at the corrupted Ruby while also turning herself into a deadly spinning ball once more, hitting the corrupted Ruby head-first in the stomach, causing it to roar one last time before exploding into a cloud of smoke, leaving only her gemstone intact, in which Amethyst quickly picked up and bubbled.
"Alright! Score one for Amethyst!" cheered the purple crystal gem before sending the bubbled Ruby back to the temple,
"If you're done..." cried Pearl, taking a few hits from the corrupted Ruby before struggling with her spear, holding them back. "I could...use...some help here!..."
"I'm on it, bird queen!" said Amethyst as she rushed to help her rival Pearl.
The corrupted Ruby howled and swung wily at Pearl, who gracefully dodged each attack until the corrupted Ruby managed to score a hit on Pearl through a sidestep claw.
lapis was then flung across the ground. The impact nearly poofed her, but lapis struggled to get up as she saw the corrupted gem close in on her with a claw ready to strike when...
"Hey! Get away from her!" Yelled Amethyst, Cracking a whip at the corrupted gem's claw, stunning them, giving Pearl an opening to stab the giant Red corrupted gem, causing them to roar and poof back into their gemstone
Using this opportunity to her advantage, lapis summoned her water wings, morphing them into twin spinning buzzsaw discs, and aimed them at the remaining corrupted Ruby.
"Take this!" cried lapis, launching her water buzzsaws at the mutated gem in front of her, slicing right through the corrupted Ruby, causing them to explode into a cloud of smoke, leaving only their intact gemstone in the center. "Well, that takes care of them!"
"Hey, great work, lapis!" cheered Amethyst, celebrating their victory and throwing a fist into the air triumphant.
"Thanks, amethyst!" replied lapis lazuli
As the crystal gems left for the warp pad to return home with the bubbled corrupted gem, lapis had been planning what to do after returning home.
"So what now?" said Amethyst with a shrug. "I don't think there shouldn't be any more trouble for the rest of the day."
"I promised Steven we'd hang out after today's mission," lapis told her fellow crystal gems. "I could ask him about what to do for the rest of the day!"
"yeah! That might be fun!" chuckled Amethyst, liking lapis lazuli's idea. "Have fun with him, big sis lapis!"
lapis lazuli nodded as she and the other crystal gems returned to the warp pad, their mission accomplished for the day
Back at the crystal temple, as the team warped back there, Garnet was still watching over the young Steven universe as she kept him occupied while her allies went out to defeat the latest corrupted gems that were sighted.
"Hi, Garnet! We're back!" called Amethyst, having gotten a nod from Garnet using her future vision to foresee their safe return
"Yes! We took care of the corrupted gems over there," smiled Pearl with pride, a mask to hide her own insecurities
"Excellent," said Garnet. "well done, crystal gems."
"Heh, it was no problem," said Amethyst as she walked off the warp pad. "although I was thrown for a loop, though."
"Well, that was because you were being reckless, amethyst," scoffed Pearl
"Whatever, not like you were doing any better," countered Amethyst
"Hey, save it, you two," said lapis, trying to break up the fight. "We made it back safely and protected the humans; that's what matters."
"Yes, we all did our part," replied Garnet as she stood up after ruffling Stveen's hair, "and so has cutie pie over here."
Amethyst and lapis giggled playfully at this, along with Steven, who enjoyed the playful gesture,
"Aw, thanks, Garnet," giggled Steven as the young boy stood up and walked over to lapis, who welcomed him with open arms
"So, Steven, while we still have free time, what would you like to do?" asked lapis
"Well, uh…" said Steven as he placed a hand on his chin in thought and wondered what to do with lapis now that they had free time on their hands for the time being until the kind-hearted young boy had an idea as he looked up at lapis
"oh! Maybe about that thing I talked with you about a couple of days ago?" asked Steven. Lapis, for a moment, looked confused until the son of pink diamond/rose quartz clarified. "With that giant water woman thing?"
"Oh yeah! We did talk about that!" cried the blue gem master of hydrokinesis. Remembering their discussion at the end of the day when the cookie cats were canceled and the centipeedles attacked, "Thank you for the reminder, Steven!"
lapis ruffled Steven's hair with affection and love. And Steven giggled all the while
"That's fine by me!" Said amethyst
"Well, here we are!" said lapis, who then proceeded to walk into a section of bushes
"Hey! Wait up, lapis!" called Steven as he followed the crystal gem master of hydrokinesis through the large bushes, brushing aside many of them.
lapis waited for Steven to catch up, and when he did, they continued on their way through the bushes and large trees in the island-like area; in the center of it all sat a large pool of water with several streamlines connecting the pool to the oceans just outside the island
Lapis lazuli summoned her water-like wings from her back gemstone and then flew to the center of the large pool then, went to work with the large body of water and used her great power over any and all liquids possible to shape the water into several tiny water tendrils but then began to swirl and mold into a humanoid shape, eventually forming a signature 150 foot tall Giant Water Statue of lapis lazuli herself.
"gasp! Giant water woman again!" cheered Steven with stars in his eyes, looking up at lapis lazuli and her once again summoned giant water statue.
"yep! Here I am!" Smiled lapis lazuli still rising just a little further until her water statue reached 150ft tall, towering high above the trees, which now are lower than her water statue's knees
lapis then lowered a gigantic water hand, which Steven stepped on and could stand in, despite the hand being made of water as if she made the water solid. lapis then raised the giant water hand up to her water statue's face with a smile, the figure mimicking her movements
"Wow, you're so awesome, lapis!" praised Steven as he stood on the water statue's hand while also admiring how gigantic lapis was in her present form.
"Why thank you, little summer fun buddy!" replied lapis, bringing Steven close to her water statue's cheek and hugging the young boy with it. "What say we go for a walk out in the water?"
"Sounds good to me!" Nodded Steven as he held on, lapis then put Steven on the water statue's shoulder, allowing him a good view of the area below him
Then Lapis controlled her water statue to step out of the large pool of water. Remaining herself, she had to put the water back where it belonged. When she was done, she commanded her water statue to step out of the water, the aquatic sculpture forming legs and bare feet as she stood tall above the many trees surrounding her and the grass. Lapis then slowly walked out of the pool after seeing the water refill, using her own powers to speed up the process so the life that lived on the waters would be preserved, as rose quartz would have wanted,
When that was done, lapis in her 150ft tall water statue form and Steven on her shoulder made their way across the island's landscape, her giant footsteps making multiple loud booms on the ground with each step.
THOOOM!...THOOOM!...THOOM!...THOOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...
Steven watched the Gigantic water Statue form of lapis in awe while sitting on her shoulder as she stomped across the lush grass of their island. He loved the view and how tall lapis was in this form compared to him and the surrounding areas. Lapis continued to walk and stomp across the lush trees until she came to a halt near a clearing.
"Why did we stop lapis?" asked Steven curiously
"Look over there," said lapis as she had her water statue point toward a large mountain in the distance, as well as an even bigger pool of water surrounding it
"Whoa... it's beautiful!" called Steven, admiring the view. There were many trees, but some of them were grown even larger than others.
The large pool of water in front of the brother-sister-like duo was shaped like an oval, and it went much more profound and possessed more water pressure than the other ponds, as this pool was connected to the currents outside the island.
More and more, Steven was trying to see why lapis loved coming to this place; it was beautiful and a perfect place for lapis to practice her hydrokinetic powers.
"Wow, lapis, this island is really great! It's beautiful!" awed Steven with stars in his eyes of unknown origins
"Thank you, Steven," blushed lapis slightly as she placed a giant water hand behind her water statue's head and then waved across the scenery around them, even from so high up. "I sometimes come by here. I used to come here most of the Time..."
"All the time?" asked the curious hybrid son of rose quartz. Wanting to learn more about the past despite the consequences
"Yes," sighed lapis, realizing that Steven deserved to know more about her personal hangout location, "but that was after the rebellion...and during the time...your mother was still here with us..."
"Oh... I'm really sorry to hear that," sighed Steven. He was still sad and in pain that he, tragically, never got to meet his mother, who had to give up her physical form to give birth to him. "Does that mean that because of me, you don't...?"
"No, Steven, I don't blame you. For me, not spending less time here," comforted lapis, snapping to Steven's attention, her water statue mimicking her movements from within. "Please don't blame yourself for what we do with our lives because of your mom's decisions."
From Time to Time in the past, lapis sat down with Steven to talk about his insecurities about the crystal gems worshipping rose quartz as a false goddess and how Steven felt his crystal gem guardians preferred rose quartz over Steven,
but lapis would often take the time to tell Steven otherwise. As Steven grew up with lapis, she had matured more and more, especially with her last request from Rose Quartz to look after her son, helping the aquatic gem all the more, having grown so much from a terraforming destroyer of worlds for the diamonds, to steven's honorary big sister alongside Amethyst and garnet.
Telling young Steven from time to time that he matters and, that he is valid, and that he doesn't have to be his mother to be loved by all, despite the powers he was given.
Steven would be loved for who he is, not trying to emulate rose quartz, and that was enough. It was what he always wanted to hear,
"I didn't spend less time here because of you, Steven," reaffirmed lapis. "I spent less time because because...I didn't want to break my promise to your mother when she...to take care of you, and that's what I'm going to do."
"thank you so much, lapis..." sighed Steven happily, once again comforted. "I'm happy you took the time to spend time with me...the other gems barely even do the same; they're always out on missions and stuff."
"I know...but the corrupted gems are still out there..." reminded lapis. "Still, you can always count on me to be there for you. Steven"
"I really appreciate this lapis," said Steven. "So, should we continue on?"
"of course!" cheered lapis as she commanded her water statue to again walk and stomp across the plains of the island, with Steven still admiring the size of the water giant woman that lapis had constructed
And so lapis and Stveen continued their gigantic stroll across the island, eventually reaching the ocean outside the island. Steven was surprised that Lapis' water statue was still walking on the ocean floor like it was solid ground but remembered that it was perhaps Lapis' power and control over almost all liquids in existence.
Steven continued to admire the view and how high he was up while sitting on Lapis' water statue's shoulder; she towered over the mountains and trees, while in her water statue form, lapis lazuli truly was a giantess he would be nervous about heights,
regardless, he trusted lapis to take care of him while up this high.
While Lapis strolled around the ocean surrounding her personal island, she giggled to herself as she saw Steven admiring the view; she knew he always enjoyed it whenever lapis used her water statue technique.
But lapis shared her thoughts on other things also. She kept thinking of rose quartz and her last request to lapis to look after Steven alongside the other crystal gems, which she did her utmost best to do so
lapis then had her thoughts directed at Pearl, whom she had a longer time trying to trust,
Rose Quartz's last request to lapis to take care of her son Steven was taken seriously to the point one Christmas years prior, during Steven's younger years as a baby, after stealing Greg's van, Pearl tried to remove Steven's gem to revive Rose Quartz, which would kill him instantaneously Lapis immediately stopped Pearl, gripping her arm tightly and was quite furious, to the point she smacked Pearl in the cheek in anger,
leaving young Steven in Garnet's care, lapis dragged Pearl outside of Greg's hijacked van and had a heated discussion over Pearl's grief-fueled, cold-hearted decision. A physical fight almost broke out when the sound of Steven's tears and Greg's arrival stopped the fight immediately before more metaphorical blood was spilled.
But even then, lapis barely spoke to Pearl afterward. Greg was more insistent on having Steven in his custody due to Pearl nearly murdering his son to get her master back and reclaim Rose Quartz's unrequited love for Pearl, feeling like that was her one and only purpose since birth, despite the gift of free will and choice all sentient creatures had been given.
But during that time after Christmas day, regardless, lapis and Greg had made it quite clear to Pearl that Steven was off limits from her for the unforgivable crime of nearly murdering a child. Garnet and Amythst are still trusted with Steven, however.
As the years passed, Steven would usually stay with his father, Greg, in his home apartment and van, only coming to the crystal temple to visit the other crystal gems, especially lapis, whom he began to see as his honorary big sister alongside Amethyst.
Although Steven had made a great effort to avoid Pearl, whom he was extremely nervous about being around due to what she nearly did to get her deceptive master back at great cost
It took a long time for lapis to forgive Pearl, and even afterward, the pain remained. The ocean crystal gem made it clear as her eyes pierced rose quartz's former servent's soul that there would be no mercy if Pearl tried to pull Steven's gemstone from his stomach again. Pearl would have been shattered on sight.
lapis lazuli, gem master of water, swore it so.
Shaking off her angered thoughts toward Pearl's insidious crime toward Steven that contributed to his deep-rooted childhood trauma, lapis refocuses on moving the water statue around the island, making loud stomps on the ocean floor with the water statue's bare feet as she did so, splashing water everywhere.
THOOM!...THOOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...THOOM!...
This went on for half an hour as lapis continued to stroll across the island with Steven on her shoulder. Having fun with her gigantic footsteps booming across. The island until eventually, lapis decided it was time to return home to the crystal temple for the day.
"Well, Steven, I think it's time to go home," said lapis as she turned her water statue back to the center of the island
"aw man…I was having fun!" Sighed Steven
"Hey, don't worry, Steven, who knows?" Said Lapis, trying to comfort the young hybrid. "Maybe we might do this again whenever I'm free from the others!"
"That's a great idea, lapis! Thank you!" Nodded Steven
"Anything for my summer fun, buddy," smiled lapis as she commanded her water statue to continue the gigantic march back to the island
After reaching the center and letting the water statue's bare feet crash into the ground gently, lapis lowered Steven into the ground near the lake and next to the trees before dispersing the water statue from foot to head and forming a large sphere of water from it, while summoning her angelic like wings, lapis commanded the water she used to create her statue to return to the lake making a large splash, as the water joined the recollected water that gathered while lapis collected the water 30 minutes ago, preserving the aquatic life there.
"Alright, Steven, let's go home. Let's get late anyways," said lapis while ruffling Steven in the head, which he returned with a giggle.
And so the sister-brother-like duo returned to the warp pad they came from and returned home to the crystal temple, having much fun with Lapis' water statue, which she was told she could put to good use and not just to terrify or fight people.
That night, sometime after returning home, lapis went to Greg's house and asked him if she could tuck Steven in his bed tonight, which Greg was more than happy to do, but he wanted to be sure lapis didn't do anything to him; which lapis reassured him she wouldn't make the same mistake as Pearl made years ago.
Then, as lapis was tucking Steven in his soft bed in his bedroom
"So, did you like our little hangout today?" asked lapis, applying a little stand from atheist that rubbed off on her, the same way Steven's kindness did in a positive way
"I sure did, lapis!" replied Steven. "your island was beautiful, and you were GIGANTIC!"
"Aw, thanks, Steven," smiled lapis as she looked at the starry night sky; the moon was half full. "And hopefully, we'll be able to go there again one day if there's a good time for that."
"I'm just glad you and Garnet can spend some time with me, unlike the others…" said Steven, a bit saddened.
"I know, I know, Steven," sighed lapis, looking at him with sympathy, "but please understand, the earth is still endangered by the corrupted gems…"
For a moment, lapis paused
"…Which were formed by our mistakes…." said lapis sadly, still wishing for a way to cure the corrupted gems back to the way before they were unwillingly transformed into the mindless monsters they are right now. "But hopefully, one day, we can find a way to restore them. Until then, we have to find them and protect the planet."
"I know lapis…" said Steven, who then had his cheeks grasped by the blue gem, looking at him in the eyes, as Steven hated violence and wished for the threat of the corrupted gems to end peacefully with their restoration.
"But don't think that will stand between me and my little summer fun buddy!" reassured lapis lazuli
"Hehehehe thank you lapis!" Giggled Steven
"Well, I better get back to the temple now," said lapis as she stepped off the bed, landing on her bare blue feet. "Don't want Pearl to 'raise a ruckus,' as Amethyst would say."
"Okay, goodnight, lapis!" Yawned Steven as he felt his energy drain, causing him to slowly go to sleep for the night
"Goodnight, Steven," waved lapis from behind as she exited the room
Afterward, lapis flew back to the crystal temple on her watery wings, leaving Steven comfy on his bedside, and he retired to his bed for the night, for tomorrow was another day…
One that would have the crystal gems and their aquatic friend face perhaps a familiar world of danger in their midst, one each of them never wished to revisit even though sometimes, facing them is necessary….
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Everyone, I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting for months, but here is the latest chapter of Ocean Crystal Gem! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, especially with the gigantic water statue bit and stomping and walking around Lapis' personal hangout island. It was a lot of fun,
And I also figured Steven, canon or otherwise, would love it as well.
Canon Lapis should be proud; her water statue technique can be put to good use here!
Speaking of lapis, I hope I'm doing a great job with my take on her character in this AU in making her more kind-hearted, a bit braver, and being a good sisterly figure to young Steven.
And my apologies to all of you who were unnerved by lapis threatening Pearl after she tried to pull Steven's gemstone out of his stomach as a baby, but for what Pearl tried to do in the canon show, I could NOT let her get away with it!
And it will be a long time before lapis lets that go…
While writing this chapter, I had to deal with slow motivational energy in my writing and creativity for the past few weeks while I was working on this chapter and other projects; please check them out when you can. By the way, any positive support is appreciated!
I'm very sorry it took me a long time with this chapter to get it out there, and I hope to do better next time!
I hope you all have enjoyed this latest chapter of my Crystal Gem AU, with lapis joining them from the start, and I hope to see you all next time!
See you all next time!
