Underneath Ramos Industries
The audible beeping started as the room flashed red. Slowly, the glass lifted before there was an air horn and green light. She ran out of the room and onto the metal walkway which led to a wall with a smaller doorway. Running through it saw her enter a large courtyard, with a huge castle.
Men in black suits stood behind massive launchers aimed at the doorway. Zara was already running before they fired large, colorful spheres. The opposing men were running with the spheres, giving her two things to dodge.
This time, the hybrid was better at accounting for the unpredictability the men brought. She weaved through it all before eight spheres suddenly came at her. Four exploded into the smoke screen while the remaining four came at her, but Zara weaved through them.
Then, eight men came out of the smoke, but she didn't waver for a second. The hybrid lifted her leg and spun kicked them away before proceeding into the structure. She rushed up a spiraling staircase while more of her family's men peered over from higher floors.
They wielded handheld versions of the sphere launchers, which they almost immediately fired on her. The hybrid avoided them before moving onto the railing and taking a leap up to the level above. She caught the railing and just managed to pull herself up before booking it.
Zara made it to a doorway only for it to burst open. She lept back hard as Andrew swung through it, seeing her pushed up against the railing. Her uncle then surged forward, and even as she raised her leg to defend, he held the faux knife up to her forehead.
"Well, you've gotten better…" Andrew lowered the hand holding the knife. "…but you still fail."
"Damn it!" Zara declared frustrated. "I'm never going to be allowed to join the Crystal Gems!"
"Don't…" Andrew began.
"I don't want to hear it." Zara stormed off. "Our planet is being attacked, a fellow hybrid almost died, and I barley understand what it means to be me. To top it all off, I'm stuck here because I'm not good enough!"
"It's not strength you you lack." Andrew sighed. "What you lack is patience and forethought."
Beach House: Morning…
Steven, Jason, and Lapis walked into the beach house where the other gems were waiting.
"Hey guys!" Steven greeted. "Lapis is here to spend her time with each of you."
"All Steven and I ask is that all of you give this a genuine chance." Jason shrugged. "If this doesn't work out, so be it."
Steven proceeded to look at his phone and realized eight a.m. was only seconds away. "Speaking of which, your time begins Lapis. Pick who you want to spend time with first."
Lapis didn't think it particularly mattered since she didn't have any fondness for these gems. In the end, she agreed to give this a chance, so she might as well choose someone.
"I'll start with Amethyst." The water gem grumbled.
The purple gem took this in stride and walked up to her while Steven and Jason ushered Garnet and Pearl outside.
Lapis & Amethyst
At first, the two of them simply stood in the otherwise empty house as neither knew where to start. After what could be described by those involved as an eternity, Amethyst decided to head into her room and beckoned Lapis to follow.
"You want to see all my junk?" Amethyst asked casually.
"Uh, sure." Lapis stated uncertainly.
They proceeded to the temple door which opened in a gooey purple rift to reveal the near-endless expanse of knickknacks and trinkets which made up Amethyst's quarters. Lapis was taken aback by the disarray and was surprised by the sheer breadth of junk.
Amethyst, looking right at home, proceeded. "Bet Jason's place looks a lot cleaner than this."
"You'd be mostly right; however, he does have his own sense of mess among the neatness." Lapis informed. "It's the rooms where he works on his various projects."
"Huh, from the few times I've seen his place, and many times I've seen the back of that SUV, I thought he was a total neat freak like Pearl." Amethyst commented, mildly surprised. "She always goes on and on about how I need to straighten up this place."
They walked on through the massive room with Amethyst acting as an informal tour guide. As they traveled, Lapis was kept silent by the sheer quantity of this gem's hoard. Eventually, her mind started wandering away from Amethyst's stories.
Something had kicked in within her that she couldn't describe, but the water gem ended up heading over to a pile consisting of various, triangular objects. It was made of everything from aged stone to acrylic plastic. She began piecing them together into a pattern.
Amethyst became irritated when she looked over to see her guest had lost interest in her story and was tinkering with her belongings. That quickly faded when she saw Lapis calmly rearranging the pieces with a smile.
When she noticed Amethyst was staring at her, Lapis regained her subdued composure. "Oh, sorry. I should have asked before moving your stuff."
"Nah, it's cool." The purple gem nodded. "At least you aren't trying to bring order in here. It's nice seeing you chill out."
Lapis blushed at the compliment and continued her work. Amethyst started bringing her any piece she could think of and making suggestions on what to create next. The minutes began to blur by as the two gems laughed and let their combined creativity explode.
They constantly disassembled and reshuffled each pile, with no real rhyme or reason. When Lapis accidentally brought up her time as Steven's beach-summer-fun buddy and their pranking the town mayor, Amethyst could barely contain herself.
"Wait, let me get this straight." The purple gem laughed. "You, of all gems, kept making fart noises during Dewey's speech?"
"Heh, yeah." Lapis admitted. "I just did it because Steven thought it was funny. I think even Jason was a bit amused."
"That is awesome." Amethyst declared. "I never would have taken you for a prankster. Man, if this all ends up working out, there are many things I could teach you."
"Like what?" Lapis asked.
"Wait until you get a load of prank phone calls." Amethyst grinned. "Basically, you call someone, trick them into saying something dumb, and then laugh your butt off when the other guy wizens up. It is hilarious! Beyond that, I think you should talk to Jason."
"About what?" Lapis asked.
"About what we've been doing here." Amethyst stated. "Lapis, I knew this human, used to hang out with her a lot, and she would love what you've been doing here. This here is called art, and there are a lot of facets to it. If you talk to Jason, I'm certain he'll support you."
"Art…" Lapis had to admit this activity had been rather fun, and she knew Jason would be supportive of her. "I think I will."
For the remainder of their time together, the duo ended up resuming their decorative pastime. Before long, the clock was nearing noon, so Amethyst led her back out the temple door.
Beach House
Garnet, Pearl, Jason, and Steven were occupying themselves in Steven's room by watching television.
"Hello, you two." Pearl greeted. "How did your time together go?"
"It was…alright." Lapis admitted before looking at the purple gem. "Thanks for showing me your stuff, Amethyst."
"No sweat." Amethyst stated.
The purple gem then walked into the kitchen where she began making popcorn for the other Crystal Gems.
Lapis looked at the next gem she would spend time with. "Pearl, I choose you."
Lapis & Pearl
The cordial gem walked downstairs and moved to the warp pad, clearly intending for their activity to take place in a faraway location. "Lapis, I would like to take this time to show you something. My only concern is how fast you can fly."
"I'd say pretty fast." Lapis replied. "I did fly from here to Homeworld by myself, so we could easily reach anything in time. Where do you have in mind?"
"A place that is very precious to me." Pearl voiced. "Normally, it is a long hike away from where we'll be warping to, but depending on your speed, we can make it with time to spare."
Lapis noted how Pearl appeared jittery, but she could not distinguish if it was from doubt or cheer. Either way, they were wasting time standing around. Seconds later, they were in an earthen canyon surrounded on both sides by massive cliffs.
"Alright, let's go." Pearl stated.
Lapis felt awkward carrying a passenger that wasn't Jason or Steven, but she bared with it as Pearl directed her over miles of barren ground. What would take three hours for Pearl on foot flew by in five minutes, and they soon reached a steep wall.
Pearl was stupefied at the pace Lapis was making. Eventually, the pale white gem spotted the entry to the cave and had the water gem land. Once inside, Lapis could tell it was no ordinary cavern. It somehow remained lit even away from the sun and the floor was perfectly smooth.
Pearl led the way inside until they came across a massive, circular stage in the cave's center prompting Lapis to speak up. "What is this place?"
"This was a secret armory for Rose Quartz which has been here for thousands of years." Pearl explained. "Rose herself told me about it, and I used to think I was the only one who knew."
Pearl approached a single, square pedestal bearing the same pattern as Steven's shield. She placed her hand on the pedestal and suddenly a ring of armors from different time periods sprung into existence. Lapis was astounded and tried her hardest to take all of them in at once.
"I wanted to show you something related to the Crystal Gems since it seems you don't know much about us." Pearl stated. "What do you think so far?"
"This is…incredible." Lapis commented. "How did she get all of these?"
"Each one of these has a story, but you should know Rose's collection did not just include armor." Pearl informed.
As if on command, the armor vanished and were replaced by an equally eclectic line of swords of all shapes and sizes. A line of axes then appeared opposite the blades, further raising Lapis' curiosity. While she was gawking at every minor detail, Pearl looked at them with a small smile.
"I'm glad you find this entertaining." Pearl stated genuinely. "I wanted to share something that is part of the history of the Crystal Gems. If there is anything you wish to ask me, I will answer."
"How did all this start?" Lapis asked. "Why did Rose do any of this? What happened to the rest of you? I know there were more than just you three."
Pearl knelt beside the glowing pedestal and put all the melee weapons away with a movement of her hand. She invited Lapis to join her on the ground and breathed in as she collected her thoughts before beginning a lengthy lesson on the history of the Crystal Gems.
"It all started thousands of years ago when Pink Diamond decided to colonize Earth." Pearl informed. "Of course, this meant making the original Kindergarten to create her subordinates, and among them was Rose Quartz. At first, Rose was just like her fellow gems under Pink Diamond. She worked to prepare a colony until she noticed the world around their operation…"
Pearl went on to describe Rose trying in vain to reason with her diamond, forming an underground rebellion with those also dissatisfied with the hierarchy of Homeworld, and how she came to be the most feared gem created.
She also mentioned how she, a pearl, learned all she could under Rose's empowerment and compassion. Lapis hung onto every word and became stupefied at how much toil and triumph went into Pearl's story.
She may have been familiar with war but speaking to a longtime veteran put the entire event into perspective. Pearl only stopped when Lapis asked the occasional question or for clarification. By the end of the tale, their time was almost over.
When Pearl finally finished, she realized there was one last piece of business she had to take care of with the aquatic gem. "Lapis, I'm sorry for what happened to you."
"What?" Lapis asked confused. "Why are you…"
Pearl motioned to let her finish. "I may not be the one responsible for you being in that mirror, but I wish it did not take thousands of years to set you free. I'm sorry if one of my old friends hurt you. You never deserved any of this."
Lapis was taken aback by her frankness, but greatly appreciated the gesture. "Thanks Pearl. I guess I didn't help matters by assuming you were all bad. Maybe I could have spoken up earlier and then things would have turned out differently."
"Perhaps." Pearl shrugged as the pair walked back towards the entrance. "What I've come to learn is one can live in the past, but perhaps it is the present one should focus on."
They both smiled at that thought as Lapis once again took to the sky with her passenger.
As they flew, a question came to Pearl. "Lapis, forgive me if this is an invasion of privacy, but Jason informed me you were poofed by a gem with rainbow colored hair. Is that true?"
"It is." Lapis slowed down as she recalled the painful memory. "She was big, purple, had rainbow colored hair, and a gem that went inward."
Pearl was silent as she reflected on the fact two people told her the same thing, with one of them having been there. The description given matched Bismuth perfectly, but the white gem could not decide if she believed her old friend would have done something like that.
"Pearl, are you alright?" Lapis asked. "We're here."
The slender gem snapped back to reality and realized they were on the canyon warp pad once again. "Oh, sorry. I was just lost in thought. Let's return."
Beach House
When the pair appeared, it'd just turned four o'clock, and Steven was pleased to see the two. "Hey guys! Garnet's waiting outside for you, Lapis."
Before her guest walked off, Pearl shook her hand. "I must say you are pleasant company Lapis Lazuli. I am thankful we got to spend a little time together."
Lapis was surprised at how hospitable these Crystal Gems seemed. "Thank you, Pearl."
Lapis then walked outside for her final bonding session of the day; however, she found her gaze moving up to the portrait of Rose. She could assume it was artwork of the gem leader through her time with Amethyst. She then walked outside.
Lapis & Garnet
Lapis found the fusion sitting in one of the patio chairs and admiring the beach.
"Hello, Lapis." Garnet gestured to a chair next to her. "Take a seat."
Lapis obliged and followed Garnet's gaze to the beach. "So, what exactly are we doing?"
"This, unless you'd rather do something else." Garnet replied.
Lapis merely shrugged and turned her gaze at the scenery. She had to admit that as much as she enjoyed her time with the previous two gems, it felt soothing to simply stop and smell the roses.
As time passed, she felt the desire to speak her mind. "Garnet, you're the one in charge, right?"
"Yes." Garnet replied simply.
"How do you do it?" Lapis inquired. "Doesn't it bother you having so much on your shoulders?"
Garnet chuckled at the thought. "Sometimes it gets to be too much. I must admit, there have been times I've fallen apart, but I must look ahead. Realize the stress will pass. Although it does help to be able to do that literally."
"Wait, you mean you can see the future!?" Lapis exclaimed.
"Hm, I suppose you wouldn't know such a fact." Garnet nodded. "Yes Lapis, I have an ability called future vision which lets me see possible outcomes to various problems."
"That's fantastic! You can see if Homeworld will come or not!" Lapis exclaimed. "Are they coming soon? Will they be looking for me? Do you see me staying or going? Will Steven be alright? Will Jason get hurt like he was on that ship! I must know!"
"Lapis, it doesn't work that way." Garnet stated calmly. "I can't see everything and just because something can happen, does not mean it will happen. Besides, knowing the future isn't always a blessing."
"Oh, okay then." Lapis tried to turn away. "I guess that makes sense."
Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know that isn't what you wanted to hear but let me tell you what I told Steven when he learned about it. You see, he started asking me about every possible way something could go wrong.
He became so terrified that something was going to happen and couldn't live anymore. Even worse, I knew this could happen if I told him the truth. That's when I told him I could see many things that could hurt him, but I never should have let one of them be me.
Lapis, there are millions of possibilities for the future, so take it from me when I say it's never set in stone. Everyone is free to make the future they want. You are no different. Choose whatever future you want and work towards it."
This brightened Lapis' mood, especially with that last line about choosing her own future. She and Garnet ended up observing the landscape in peace for the remaining time. Eventually, that last minute came, and the pair stood before simply shaking hands without saying a word.
Beach House
The pair walked back in to find Steven and Jason chilling on the couch together.
"Hey guys, how'd it go?" Jason asked.
"It went well." Lapis nodded before looking at the boy. "Steven, I really want to thank you for this idea."
"No problem, buddy." Steven stated with a smile.
Jason nodded. "So, you want to go?"
Lapis thought about that for a moment as she stared around the home base of the Crystal Gems. Eventually, she walked over to the couch and took a seat next to Jason.
"If it's alright with you, I think I'd like to spend a little more time here." Lapis stated.
"No problem." Jason smiled. "Steven still has a few hours before he heads to bed."
"Yeah, we can just relax a bit." Steven added.
"Thank you." Lapis looked at Jason. "By the way, do you think you could help me find out more about art?" The soldier looked at her. "Amethyst told me a bit about it, and I think I'd like to learn more about it."
"Sure, thing Lapis." Jason smiled.
With that out of the way, the three of them kicked back, and the gems eventually joined them. Whereas she might have felt uneasy before, Lapis felt content now. As for the Crystal Gems, they'd have to worry about the threats out there, but tonight, they could simply enjoy this.
Jason & Lapis' Home: Morning…
Jason was enjoying a breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, and orange juice on his patio when he got a call from a familiar number. "Hello Councilor Wissen."
"Jason, good to hear from you again." Wissen replied genuinely. "I'm calling to tell you I will be arriving in Beach City tomorrow at ten. Will outside your residence be a good place to park my RV for the time being?"
"It should be fine." Jason stated. "If all works out with the gems and Greg, you'll get a chance to have a session with Steven as well."
"I'll be looking forward to it." Wissen stated before they ended the call.
dindagangleader14:Oh yeah, this does certainly stand to help Stevonnie.
