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andrewmoocow · 3 years

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Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 14: A Fusion Too Far (originally published on April 19, 2021)

AN: Well, time to get this big elephant out of the room before we move onto the big Part 2 finale. I'll be honest, I was kind of disappointed we didn't get any closure on Jasper and Lapis's relationship and that they'd turn into Vegeta and Goku respectively. But then again, I'm here to fix this myself, so here we go.

Synopsis: Steven helps Lapis and Jasper try to make up for the past.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Zuli, Diopside

Kimberly Brooks as Jasper, Cherry Quartz

Estelle as Garnet

Amy Sedaris as Teal Zircon, Diopside

Ian Jones Quartey as Snowflake Obsidian

Auli'I Cravalho as Orange Spodumene

Featuring Esmé Bianco as Malachite

"Okay Gems, Steven left me in charge of his interpretive dance class since he left, so I'm gonna need you all to work hard for him." Lapis ordered a class made up of Zuli, Cherry Quartz, Teal Zircon, Snowflake Obsidian, and Orange Spodumene while she set down a boombox and tightened the sweatband around her head. "Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" the class of Gems shouted with a salute.

"Ooh, this is gonna be so much fun!" Zuli muttered cheerfully.

"I know, right?" Teal Zircon replied just as eagerly.

"Are we ready?" Lapis asked rhetorically as she switched on some music. "A five, six, seven, eight!"

"Same as it ever was, same as it ever was. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was." The stereo began playing as the class began copying Lapis's moves. When she twirled left, they twirled with her. When she jumped up and landed while pumping her fist in the air, they jumped up too. "Same as it ever was, same as it ever was. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was."

"I'm having so much fun!" TZ exclaimed excitedly as the class began freestyling, but her gem began glowing without her knowing.

"Me too!" Zuli replied as her gem began glowing as well. Suddenly, as the two stood dancing back to back, they transformed into a large mass of light and then, into a massive fusion bearing traits from both Gems. Unlike an average fusion, this one was a lot more deformed due to the accident that caused it.

"Uh, guys?" the fusion of Zuli and Teal boomed nervously as the rest of the class gazed in shock at her. "A little help here?"

"Uh oh, we got another fusion accident." Snowflake declared worriedly.

"I'll go get Amethyst and Pearl, hopefully they'll know what to do." Orange Spodumene stated as she raced to get help.

Lapis was just as stunned at the sight as her students, but for far different reasons than the rest. A Lapis fusing with another Gem that results in a big problem? That seemed all too familiar to her. "Uh, you know what? Class dismissed."

"Wait, Lapis!" Cherry Quartz cried out as their teacher flew away. "What about TZ and Zuli?!"

"Amethyst and Pearl got this covered!" Lapis called back to Cherry. "I just need to settle some problems of my own."

As Lapis continued flying, the fusion of Teal and Zuli continued standing there, contemplating what just happened. "So, anyone want to ask me what the weather is like from up here?"

"Now just breathe in, and out." Garnet instructed Steven as they took a private yoga class at the tower. "Let these troubled thoughts know that you won't let them take you over."

"Don't let them take over, don't let them take over." Steven repeated to himself while shutting his eyes, but he did let one thought take over as he heard someone land behind him. "Lapis?"

"Hey Steven, hey Garnet." Lapis greeted the two Gems.

"Did class end early for you?" Garnet asked the waterbender as she got up to face Lapis.

"Yeah, but there was a little problem." Lapis answered. "Teal Zircon and 2F8D accidentally fused during class, which really reminded me of a certain incident."

"You came to us because that reminded you of Malachite, right?" Steven asked. "You know, I've already made a mental note to get you and Jasper to make up for what happened while you were fused."

"I like that you want to help them amend for the past," Garnet smiled to Steven. "But I feel they won't forgive each other, since their time as Malachite was torture for both of them."

"Yeah, remember?" Lapis reminded Steven. "Jasper tormented me because I forced her to stay fused with me, but then I tormented her because she tormented me, and it was all one big cycle of abuse and toxicity until we were separated. I feel like if I really want to move on, I need to make up for at least some of my past actions."

"I know, no need to remind me of stuff I already know." Steven said. "But I still feel you two can make up somehow!"

"Absolutely not." Jasper declared angrily as Steven and Lapis stood before her in the forest later that day.

"Garnet warned you." Lapis cautioned Steven out of the corner of her mouth, but he didn't listen.

"Aw come on Jasper, Lapis really wants to apologize for torturing you while you two were fused as Malachite!" Steven begged Jasper to listen to him.

"Oh really?" Jasper raised an eyebrow in disgust. "The way I see it, I came out as far more stable once you freed me from her!" she bragged. "But I think a bit of my attitude may have rubbed off on the brat here. I mean, what has she done since we de-fused?"

"That's a bit personal." Lapis replied in shock at Jasper's accusations. "Also, YOU came out a little more stable? The first time we met since the island, you were begging on your knees to fuse with me again AND you started hunting down corrupted Gems just to get that feeling, which led to you getting corrupted yourself!"

"I think that's enough of this kind of back and forth for right now!" Steven got between the two Gems. "Why don't we try some trust exercises, like an icebreaker?"

"An icebreaker?" Jasper replied in confusion. "Well, there sure isn't any ice around here."

"No, it's not that kind of icebreaker." Lapis corrected her ex-fusion partner. "It's like you ask people questions to try and get to know them better. I'll start." She then cleared her throat. "What do you like to do in your free time?"

"Training, brooding, terminating all kinds of Earthlings that try to invade my territory." Jasper responded. "What about you?"

"A lot of stuff." Lapis replied. "I really like making meep morps, collecting leaves, dancing-"

"What on Earth is a meep morp?" Jasper interrupted Lapis. "Sounds like some dumb human ritual."

"It's what she and Peridot call art." Steven informed the larger Gem. "Now Lapis, please continue."

"Gladly." Lapis said. "I also love watching this show with Peridot called Camp Pining Hearts. It's a Great North drama set in a summer camp where all the campers compete against each other in Color Wars."

"Sounds dumb, kind of like you." Jasper rudely declared, which got Lapis mad.

"Now you see here you big lug!" Lapis yelled. "Camp Pining Hearts is good-natured, cheesy dramatic fun! Well, except for Season 5, that was utter garbage."

"Kind of like your attempts to try and "make up" with me." Jasper replied in air quotes.

"Okay, maybe icebreakers aren't working very well but hey," Steven interrupted the bickering pair. "Why don't we try something different, like trust falls?"

"What's that?" Lapis and Jasper asked in unison.

Steven would soon answer that question by having Jasper stand with her back facing towards the edge of a cliff, with Lapis spreading her arms out down below. "It's exactly what it sounds like." Steven explained. "One of you has to fall over and put their trust in the other person to catch them."

"Yeah, I don't buy this." Jasper snarled as she turned around to face Steven and Lapis from above. "I could easily crush her, as much as I really want to."

"For once, I think I'm gonna side with Jasper on this one." Lapis agreed with the larger Gem, making herself sick to her stomach. "I never thought I'd say that."

"Okay, change of plans." Steven suggested. "Lapis falls and Jasper has to catch her, sound good?"

"That makes more sense." Lapis obliged and flew up to the cliff while Jasper dropped down to meet Steven.

"Okay, now close your eyes Lapis, and let Jasper catch you." Steven commanded the ocean Gem.

"Alright then." Lapis replied as she shut her eyes. "Are you still standing there Jasper?"

"Yes, yes I am." Jasper responded with her arms spread out. "Now fall already!"

Lapis did as she was told and leaned off the edge of the cliff, allowing herself to start falling to the ground. But when she came close to returning to solid earth, Jasper casually moved out of the way, letting Lapis instead fall back first onto the grass.

"Jasper!" Steven scolded the bigger Gem.

"What, you never said how to catch her." Jasper grinned nervously, and Steven returned it with an irritated glare. Lapis just facepalmed as she got up off the ground.

"Okay, let's try another team building exercise." Steven stated while walking Jasper and Lapis through the forest. "Here's the deal, one of you has to wear a blindfold and walk through the woods while the other one has to give instructions." He opened up his jacket and pulled out some cloth to serve as a blindfold. "Now who wants to go first?"

"Give me that." Jasper ordered as she snatched the cloth from Steven's hand and tried to wrap it around her head. Unfortunately for Jasper, the knot she tried to make wasn't very good. "Come on, stay on my head you stupid Earth material!"

"Guess that means I'll have to tell her what to do." Lapis realized while Steven tied the blindfold around Jasper's head for her. "For once."

"Okay, are you ready guys?" Steven asked the pair as he finished tying a tight knot on the blindfold.

"Uh, yes." Lapis nervously said.

"Uh, where are you two?" Jasper asked while facing away from Steven and Lapis. "I can clearly hear you, but I can't see you. What kind of torture device is this?!"

"I can see you're already getting the hang of this." Lapis grinned snarkily. "Okay, first, you gotta walk towards those trees over there." She pointed over to a group of trees lined up nearby. "Got that?"

"What trees? All I see is white!" Jasper barked before Steven put his hands on her hips and guided her towards the trees.

"Okay, next, follow the trees until you hear rushing water." Lapis grinned mischievously while Jasper did as she told and she and Steven followed her. "I can see you're getting warmer."

"And I have a bad feeling about this." Jasper muttered while following the sound of racing water. The source of the sound came from a nearby raging river, and Jasper was about to fall over before Lapis gave her next command.

"Okay, stop!" Lapis ordered, telling the big quartz to halt in her tracks before she gave one last order. "Now that we found the source of the rushing water, jump in."

"I don't know where this is going, but if you say so." Jasper obliged and jumped into the river, but she realized too late what she got herself into. "What is this?!" Jasper yelled as she ripped the blindfold off her face and realized she was drifting down the stream. "Lapis, you tricked me! I'll get you for this!"

"Lapis!" Steven scolded Lapis, who just replied with a shrug.

"I punched her sky high and she turned out fine." Lapis responded. "She can survive this." Despite her protests, a disappointed glare from Steven forced Lapis to fly up and race after Jasper to save her from the river.

"If this is payback for letting you fall, I understand why but this is totally disproportionate!" Jasper yelled as the force of the river continued carrying her throughout the forest. "Um, can anyone please help me?"

Jasper's prayers were soon answered, though not in the way she wanted. Lapis soared over the drifting Gem and prepared to pick her up with the river water, but Jasper instead grabbed her by the hand and pulled her down. "Oh no, you don't! You started this, and now you're coming with me!"

"I was only trying to help you!" Lapis yelled crossly. "Though Steven forced me to do it, but still!"

"You help me?" Jasper said before she let out a loud cackle. "Maybe when I get shattered!" The big Gem kept on laughing much to Lapis's irritation, but she was soon cut off when she realized the river was going to lead to a waterfall. "Uh oh.

"Don't tell me, we're going to go over a waterfall." Lapis deadpanned.

"Indeed." Jasper confirmed just as deadpan.

"Sharp rocks at the bottom?" Lapis then asked.

"No, unfortunately."

"Doesn't matter, bring it on."

And just like that, the bickering pair put aside their differences and came together screaming as they went over the waterfall.

As soon as Lapis and Jasper got out of the mountainside lake that the waterfall led to, Steven stood there with his arms crossed and crossly tapping his foot. "You two are unbelievable!" he chastised the two. "I just want you to forgive each other for Malachite and at least be friendlier to each other! Is that too much to ask?!"

"Steven, you have to learn that sometimes, even when two enemies become friends," Lapis said to Steven. "there's no chance they'll instantly treat the horrible things they did to each other in the past like someone stole forty cakes or something."

"I concur." Jasper nodded.

"See, another thing you two can agree on." Steven nodded in exasperation. "How about this? You say at least one nice thing about each other, and that's it. Understand?"

"Okay, if it makes you chill out a bit." Lapis shivered at Steven's current behavior and turned to Jasper. "Well, I'll give you this Jasper. You may not have wanted to do all those activities, but at least you didn't just give up on them."

"Kind of like how you never gave up on treating me like trash." Jasper harangued in reply, stunning Steven and Lapis. "Just look at you Lapis. Even years after we split, you keep on refusing to treat me with kindness."

"What kindness?" Lapis growled. "You never treated me like that, so what makes you think-"

"LET ME FINISH!" Jasper boomed. "You abused me, and what do you get? A nice life with that Peridot, being a member of the Crystal Gems and living at that stupid Little Homeworld! Meanwhile, I've spent my entire life neglected and tortured on this worthless planet, yet you get off scot-free for all the horrendous things you've done! Let's face it, you may think everything's all okay, but I'm still the only one who's seen you for the monster you are."

Throughout Jasper's furious lecture, Steven stood there in shock at how nothing had been going his way today. All he wanted to do was help two enemies become friends, but nothing had worked. And as Jasper kept on accusing Lapis, he slowly began to turn pink until finally, he snapped. "ENOUGH!"

"Again?!" Jasper yelled at the sight of Steven turning pink again.

"This is new!" Lapis exclaimed.

"I just wanted you to make friends, but neither of you are listening to me!" Steven yelled as the force of his tantrum knocked the two Gems off their feet and back into the lake. "Why can't anything go the way I wanted to FOR ONCE?!"

With a single stomp of his foot, Steven almost caused an earthquake, and the mountain above them began to violently shake until it resulted in a rockslide. As he came back to his senses, Steven realized just how bad he had made things. "Oh no!"

"Steven!" Lapis cried out and tried racing to rescue Steven, but Jasper held her back.

"Leave the kid, he can survive this!" Jasper discouraged Lapis from saving her friend.

"But he's one of my best friends, and your Diamond!" Lapis replied. "You wouldn't want to see him get hurt too, right?"

"Correction, Pink Diamond is my Diamond." Jasper admonished snootily. "That right there is just her son who thinks he can walk around making people do what he wants just because of his lineage."

"But still, you wouldn't want Pink to die again, right?" Lapis said when she got an idea. "Wait a minute! Let's fuse!"

"You're joking, right?" Jasper said in utter disbelief.

"We got no other choice, please!" Lapis begged her ex-fusion partner while reaching her hand out. "Come on, just say yes!"

Lapis was right, they did have no other option, though Jasper believed she was making things up just to make Steven happy. But regardless, Lapis did make a good argument.

"Fine." Jasper finally relented and took the blue Gem's smaller hand. "But we are never doing this again, capiche?"

"You got it." Lapis obliged before she was twirled around and caught by Jasper in a dip, and then they started glowing as their forms began to merge.

"Of course something horrible happens when I try to do good." Steven admitted in defeat as the rockslide began to get closer. He didn't even try thinking of escaping or protecting himself, believing that this was to be his fate. "Lapis, Jasper, everyone. I'm sorry."

Just then, a massive turquoise figure with two sets of arms, one dainty pair and one burly, came flying from the lake and landed in front of Steven. He could see that on her back was Lapis's gem and when the Gem turned to face him, she had Jasper's gem on her face. The more graceful hands picked Steven up while the bigger hands got to work on forcing the rockslide back with a seemingly infinite series of massive punches. "RAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Lapis?!" Steven gasped at what he was seeing. "Jasper?!"

"Yes, it's us!" Malachite said. Unlike the last time Steven saw the fusion of Jasper and Lapis, she instead had a British accent of sorts. However, Lapis's softer tone could be heard until she suddenly switched to Jasper's rougher tone. "Now keep quiet while you're being saved!"

Steven did indeed stay quiet as Malachite held him in one pair of hands while the other pair finished punching the last of the rocks away. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Steven panted nervously.

"Good, let's go home." Malachite smiled, when her head suddenly twitched and Jasper started taking control of the fusion. "Seriously, how did he not try to run or protect himself?!"

"Really ruining the mood here!" Lapis's side of Malachite argued as she began to fly away from the lake.

The two halves of Malachite's personality kept on arguing while she flew Steven back to Jasper's cave, until they finally touched down and de-fused.

"I still can't believe it!" Steven exclaimed happily. "You guys fused, and neither of you was forced to do so!"

"Well to be fair, Lapis kind of forced me to fuse with her because she kept convincing me you were her Diamond, like everyone else does." Jasper said as she decided to return to her cave.

"But still, it was nice to have something to work together on, right?" Lapis said.

"Okay, I'll admit, it was nice to have a common goal for once." Jasper agreed. "Look, like you said, the past can never be forgotten. But I think that might be a good first step."

"Yeah." Lapis replied.

"Well, guess we should be going now." Steven said while he and Lapis prepared to leave. "See you again soon Jasper."

"Whatever." Jasper groaned while fully retreating into her cave.

"So, how was it?" Steven asked Lapis while they walked back to Little Homeschool.

"It was real weird at first, especially when we became Malachite again." Lapis admitted. "Even though we still were fighting for control, I think we may have made a breakthrough on Jasper. Who knows, maybe you're right and we could become friends one day."

"Yeah, who knows." Steven sighed happily until he came to a realization. "Hey, speaking of fusions, how are Zuli and TZ doing right now?"

"Uh, still need a little help here." The fusion of Zuli and Teal Zircon, now dubbed Diopside by the other Gems, called out while everyone gathered to gaze at the new fusion. "Is there any way to turn this off?"

I have a feeling this chapter is going to divide people, but I feel like it was finally time to deliver a reconciliation that was as in-character for both Lapis and Jasper as I could, and give us a slightly more stable Malachite that was more Two-Face than monstrous depiction of a toxic relationship. Speaking of which, did you know malachites become less toxic when sealed? But enough talk, next chapter is the beginning of Part 2's big finale, and I am so excited to finally focus more on a certain Rutile and her Topaz.

#steven universe #steven universe future #fanfiction #steven universe alternate future #steven quartz universe #lapis lazuli #jasper #malachite

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minijenn · 4 years

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Universe Falls Chapter 79

Ayyyyyy its here fam, the chapter right before RMD is finally done which means I’m ALMOST ALMOST THERE AHAHAHHAHAHAH IM SO FUCKIN HYPE! But for now, enjoy this fucking preliminary angstfest, which I also really like even if it is a teeny tiny lil chapter. Just as well since RMD are all boutta be fucking monsters in terms of length. Anyway enjoy!

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/618035050504732672/universe-falls-chapter-78

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Chapter 79: Alone on the Lake

TN XBAVUSA SUL ZUSALLZF GSL ZLZBKX IFK AJUWLK DPNZ BWMSL LUZ OACM HV YW KLKHXJ GGBZ EKBIJK?

“Ok, Lapis, we’re almost there!”

“I think I’m starting to guess the surprise, you two,” Lapis noted with a small smile, still keeping her aquatic wings wrapped over her eyes as she followed Steven and Mabel’s enthusiastic lead.

“Your eyes are supposed to be closed!” Steven reminded brightly.

“Sorry,” Lapis chuckled, following his instructions this time as the pair continued to guide her onward. “Are you still back there, Dipper?” she called, glancing over her shoulder behind her, though keeping her eyes shut all the while.

“Hm?” Dipper looked up, his hands shoved away in his pockets as he kept pace quite a bit behind the trio as they traveled down the dock. “Oh, uh, yeah, I’m here.”

“Mind telling me where we’re going?” the blue Gem continued addressing him with a small, playful smile. “I have an idea, but these two aren’t giving me any hints.”

“Cause that would be cheating!” Mabel pointed out, resolute. “And it would ruin the surprise.”

“Speaking of surprises, wait here just a second.” Steven and Mabel both relinquished their holds on Lapis’ hands, running over to join Greg and Stan near the edge of the dock before unveiling what they had in store for the day. “Surprise!”

Lapis let her wings retract, opening her eyes to see something that she didn’t really know what to make of at first. The wide lay of Lake Gravity Falls spread out before the group from the small dock they were all on, its murky waters dully glistening in the mid-morning sun. And resting on that lake, tethered to a post, was a moderately large boat, one that looked rather fancy and modern, aside from the bizarre, out of place skull and crossbone flags draping from its sides and hanging from its flagpole.

“We bought a boat!” Steven proclaimed excitedly.

“Correction, we rented a boat,” Greg chimed in. “I may be rich, but buying a boat would be going a bit… overboard!”

“Ugh, please someone make him stop,” Stan groaned insincerely. “He’s been making lame boat puns ever since we picked this thing up from the rental place. I’d fire him for them… if he still worked for me.”

“What can I say, Mr. Pines?” Greg let out a small chuckle. “I just keep reeling ‘em in!”

Steven and Mabel were quick to join in on the former rock star’s amused laughter, and though it took Stan a moment, he ultimately folded with a bit of a wry smirk himself. “Uh… what’s with the pirate theme?” Dipper spoke up as he looked over the boat.

“Er, the rental place was out of the “Family Friendly Day On the Lake” boat package,” Greg explained. “All they had left was the “A Pirate’s Life for Me” package, which is really just those flags. Oh, and I think there’s a stuffed parrot and a set of decorative swords on board.”

“There’s also a bunch of peg legs, pirate hats, and eye patches stored under one of the seats,” Stan added dryly. “So, ya know, you kids can knock yourselves out with those.”

“Ooo!” Steven mused, intrigued.

“I call the eye patch!” Mabel quipped, raising her hand.

“Oh no, ya don’t,” Stan pulled said eye patch out of his pocket and slipped it on. “I already beat ya to it, pumpkin.”

“Aw, dang it! Not again!”

“Steven, Dipper, Mabel,” Lapis spoke up, glancing over at Stan and Greg, somewhat confused. “Who are these people?”

“Ah, Greg Universe,” Greg introduced himself, holding out a hand for her to shake. “You, uh, busted up my van trying to use the lake to fly back to your homeworld?”

“Lapis Lazuli,” the blue Gem offered him a somewhat awkward smile though she didn’t return his handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

“And Lapis, you remember Grunkle Stan, right?” Mabel asked as she came to stand alongside the conman.

“Oh right!” Lapis nodded. “You’re the guy who looks like Ford, but isn’t Ford.”

“Ugh, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that one when I was a kid...” Stan rolled his eyes, disgruntled.

“That’s ‘cause Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are twins,” Mabel informed the blue Gem with a smile as she suddenly pulled Dipper close beside her. “Just like me and Dipper!”

“Ugh, Mabel! Knock it off!” Dipper huffed in annoyance as he quickly pulled away from her. He paid no mind to the curious looks the others were sending his way as a result of his sudden harshness as he instead went to take a seat at the far edge of the dock instead.

“Aw, c’mon, bro-bro, I was just… aw, ok…” Mabel sighed in quiet defeat as she watched him sullenly walk away.

“Yeesh, he’s acting even more Dippery than usual,” Stan remarked bluntly before oblivious moving on. “Anyway, we’d better get a move on. The ice in that treasure chest-shaped cooler on deck is only gonna keep those sandwiches cold for so long.”

“Good point,” Greg agreed, trailing after the conman. “Let’s get the boat started.”

As the pair headed aboard the rented vessel, everyone else hung back on the dock for a bit, particularly Lapis as she hardly even seemed to be focused on the boat at all. “What’s going on with Dipper?” she asked Steven and Mabel with newfound concern. “He seems… upset about something.”

“I don’t know…” Steven frowned. “Yesterday he seemed so excited about our plans to bring you out here to spend the day with you, Lapis, but now…”

“I-I think I might know what’s up,” Mabel said, glancing down apprehensively. “Last night I overheard him talking in his sleep--which he only really does when he’s having a nightmare--a-and it must have been a pretty bad one cause he said something about… a-about you know who…”

“No,” Lapis shook her head, confused. “Who?”

“Oooh…” Steven immediately understood, however, his expression quickly turning grave. “Again? I thought he stopped having those kinds of nightmares after we put up the unicorn shield around the shack.”

“The what?” the blue Gem tried interjecting once more, completely out of the loop.

“Yeah, well… you know Bill,” Mabel said, her tone and expression both taking on an air of disdain. “He never quits, even when he really should. And if he can’t mess with us for real anymore, I guess dreams are the next best thing for him.”

“Wait, slow down,” Lapis said, putting her hands up. “What are you guys talking about? Who’s this Bill person? Someone who’s been messing with Dipper?”

“Messing with all of us, actually…” Steven rubbed his arm. “He’s this really powerful, really mean demon who we’ve been fighting against all summer. We’ve been up against him a bunch of times, but the worst was when he-” The young Gem stopped short at this, particularly as he met the sight of Mabel silently shaking her head, her lips pressed in a thin line and her eyes wide with worry. Steven was quick to understand her intent, however, when he happened to glance between Lapis, who was looking to him with expectant curiosity, and Dipper, who was still sitting alone, forlorn as he stared into the lake from the edge of the dock. “Uh… h-he, um…” Steven stammered, unsure of how to explain exactly what had happened what felt like ages ago now. Especially to Lapis, of all Gems, who cared so much for Dipper and had, at least in some way, been the very driving force for him striking the dangerous deal with the dream demon that he had back then. A deal that was clearly still leaving it’s heavy, painful mark on him, even long after it had ended.

“L-long story short,” Mabel cut in just in time with a brief, largely safe explanation. “Bill tricked Dipper into making a deal with him that went pretty sour pretty fast and it, uh… m-may or may not almost got him, um… k-killed,” she winced, a familiar pang of guilt filling her as she so much as said the dreadful word.

“W-what?!” Lapis exclaimed, aptly alarmed.

“O-oh, but don’t worry! It didn’t actually, o-of course,” Steven rushed to interject. “A-and my healing powers helped patch up everything else‒eventually. So, everything’s fine now! W-well… almost everything…” The young Gem frowned as he looked in Dipper’s direction himself, wishing there was more he could do to help heal what was an entirely different kind of wound now.

“B-but, I don’t understand,” Lapis shook her head, her expression awash in immense worry. “Why would Dipper make a deal like that anyway? Even if he was tricked, I know he’s smarter than to fall for something like that.”

Steven and Mabel exchanged an uncertain glance at this, knowing that the last thing Lapis needed was to know exactly why Dipper had taken a chance on such a risky bargain in the first place. “Uh… w-who can say?” Mabel shrugged, forcing out a harsh, fake chuckle. “It doesn’t really matter anymore anyway since it’s all said and done and we can forget about it and move on with our lives! S-so instead of talking about all that depressing junk, let’s talk about something way more fun instead! Like this boat! What do you think about it, Lapis?”

“Oh, uh… it’s… nice,” Lapis said somewhat absently as she finally pulled her gaze away from Dipper. “But... I don’t know…”

“Look, Lapis,” Steven took a deep, steadying breath, noticing the hesitation in the blue Gem as she turned her attention to the lake in particular. “We know you spent a really long time fused with Jasper at the bottom of the lake, but… you’re not Malachite anymore. And water is part of who you are. You can’t let one bad experience take that away from you!”

“It was more than one…” Lapis sighed, crossing her arms.

“Well… maybe we can turn all those bad times around and make a brand-new good time instead!” Mabel encouraged warmly. “We promise that this is gonna be the most fun you’ve ever had!”

“Thank you, but I… I don’t deserve this…” Lapis shook her head fretfully.

“Of course you do!” Steven insisted. “We even named her Lil’ Lappy!” He nodded over to the boat, where Stan and Greg were attempting to tape a banner with this new name to the side of the boat, only for it to slightly slip off to reveal the vessel’s true title: the S.S. Misery”.

Despite this, Lapis was unable to hold back a snort of an amused laugh at such a ridiculous sight, one that told just how hard the kids were working to put all this together for her. “Ok, I’ll give it a chance. But just one.”

“That’s the spirit!” Mabel beamed. “Now c’mon! We better get on board before Grunkle Stan hogs the rest of that super cool pirate gear to himself!”

“Too late!” Stan called from on deck, clad in the eyepatch, captain’s hat, and fake peg leg alike.

Even so, Mabel and Steven hurried on ahead to climb aboard, though Lapis stayed behind, largely so she could go over to join Dipper as he remained at the edge of the dock. Along the way, she couldn’t help but let her thoughts wander, both to the deepest concern for the boy himself, and quiet, yet fledgling fury for the mysterious demon who had apparently put him through so much lingering distress. “H-Hey,” she greeted him as casually as she could manage, despite all this. “Aren’t you coming along?”

“Oh! Y-yeah,” Dipper was quick to stand, though he made no move to go over to the boat as he offered Lapis a concerned glance instead. “Are… are you sure you’re ok with this? I tried telling them that taking you out on the lake might not be… the best idea, considering… well…”

“N-no, it’s ok,” Lapis assured him with a small smile. “I think it’s really… sweet that you guys went to all the trouble to put all this together for me. Even if it might be a bit… too much.”

“It’s always too much when Steven and Mabel are involved,” Dipper finally let out a small chuckle, one that set Lapis’ worries to ease as she hoped that maybe he wasn’t as upset as he seemed. At least for now.

“Need a lift?” she asked, summoning her wings as she extended a hand out to him.

“Sure.” With this, Lapis easily swept Dipper up off the dock, giving him an easy landing on board the boat alongside Steven and Mabel before she came down to join them herself.

“How do I say it again, Mr. Pines?” Greg’s voice echoed from the ship’s intercom on the bridge. “Mighties?”

“It’s ‘maties’, Greg,” Stan deadpanned, not realizing the mic was already on either.

“Got it; maties,” Greg actually turned to the intercom so he could properly address the group on deck. “Uh, ahoy, maties! Are ya scurvy land-lovers-”

“Landlubbers,” Stan corrected once more.

“...What the hey is a lubber?”

“Ugh, gimme that!” the conman promptly took over the intercom at this. “What he’s trying to say is, are you all ready to take off or not?”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Mabel and Steven proclaimed in unison, both of them presenting dramatic salutes.

“...Yes,” Lapis said simply as Dipper nodded his agreement as well.

“Good,” Stan said simply, hanging up the intercom line. “You do know how to work this tub, don’t you, Greg?”

“Uh… w-well… It can’t be that tricky…” Greg looked over the ship’s rather complicated control deck, though he did manage to find its starting clutch. “Aha! Full speed ahea-” The former rock star was abruptly cut off as the entire boat jolted hard as it began to take off, knocking everyone on board about. However, as it did, the force of the vessel’s abrupt movement suddenly ripped the post it was tethered to, one that neither Greg nor Stan had thought to untie it from before climbing aboard. “Aw, geez…” Greg shuddered upon glancing back to see the post skimming behind the boat as it ventured out onto the open lake. “You think anyone will notice?”

“You better hope no one does,” Stan remarked. “Trust me, Greg, you do not want a run-in with lake police. I learned that the hard way…”

Despite the pleasant, late summer weather, not too many other boats were out on the water, meaning the group largely had the lake all to themselves. As soon as the boat had settled into a more relaxed pace out near the center of the water, Lapis and the kids went to join Greg and Stan up in the bridge, largely to inquire about the wooden post still lagging behind the ship.

“Yeah, I-I think I did a number on that deck,” Greg scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Maybe someone else should take a shot at being captain instead…”

“Ya think?” Stan deadpanned.

“What do you say-” Greg grinned as he took his captain’s hat off and turned it over to Lapis instead. “Captain Lazuli?”

“I-I shouldn’t…” Lapis winced fretfully.

“Go for it, Lapis!” Steven encouraged.

“Yeah! You’ll make a great captain!” Mabel chimed in enthusiastically. “You can even use this spare eyepatch I stole from Grunkle Stan when he wasn’t looking!”

“Wha-” Stan took pause, reaching near his eye to find that his eye patch wasn’t covering it anymore. “When did you-”

“Don’t put me in charge!” Lapis suddenly snapped, agitated. She drew in a small, anxious gasp as she realized just how intense her refusal had been, to the point that all three of the kids were sending concerned looks her way.

“Lapis…?” Dipper spoke up, by far the most worried of the already very worried trio. And as soon as Lapis caught his concerned gaze, she made a very rushed effort at righting herself, more for his sake than anyone else’s.

“Oh, uh… s-sorry,” the blue Gem shook her head to clear it. “I mean… y-you shouldn’t trust me with the boat.”

“Uh, that’s ok,” Steven said, trying to brighten the tense mood once more. “Don’t worry about it. We can all be first mates, so there’s no pressure. Only fun stuff today!”

Lapis nodded, allayed by this plan, even if she was still discreetly trying not to pay too much mind to the wide lay of the lake all around them. “Lapis, you can still wear the hat if you want,” Greg held said hat out to her again.

“Thanks,” Lapis smiled. “But I’m not putting that on my body.”

“What about the eye patch?” Mabel asked, eagerly offering it to the blue Gem until Stan intercepted it instead.

“Give me that!” he swiped the patch, proudly placing it over his eye once more. “Ah, now that’s better.”

“Ok, everyone,” Greg grinned, putting the captain’s hat back on as he took the boat’s wheel once again. “Let’s set a course for fun!”

Though Lake Gravity Falls was quite sizable, it was still a rather small lake compared to the boat itself, which was why there really weren’t too many places it could go upon it. Still, that hardly stopped the small group aboard from enjoying themselves in whatever ways they could. They snacked on their small stash of cold cut sandwiches alongside a bottle of sparkling orange juice served in fancy glasses (a ritual Lapis didn’t quite understand and didn’t really know how to indulge in even as everyone else did). Still, Lapis watched on the sidelines as Steven and Mabel engaged in a pretend “pirate duel” with the decorative swords on deck (a duel Greg was quick to put a nervous stop to when he realized the swords, however dull they might have been, were still made of actual metal). After that, they all took a break to lounge out on the boat’s open deck, soaking in the rays of the warm summer sun, though most of the while, though Lapis found herself preoccupied with two other completely different sights instead. The first was the lake, its calm, quiet, cerulean waters practically taunting her with thoughts of the dark, empty prison she knew lay just beneath them. But then there was Dipper, who was hardly engaging in the activities Mabel and Steven had planned as he instead leaned against the boat’s railing to stare out at the lake himself. Lapis took a break from “sunbathing” to join him, hoping to ask him more about what Steven and Mabel had only hinted at before. And yet, before she could get as much as a hello out, the aforementioned pair rushed over to pull them both back into more of the “fun” they had in store.

That next bout of fun was up on the bridge, namely in the form of the ship’s pull horn. Though Lapis didn’t understand the appeal at first, she quickly did upon giving it a small, experimental tug, only for the horn to loudly blare out, echoing across the entire lake. The blue Gem couldn’t help but be completely charmed by the rather grating noise, letting out a full, genuine laugh as she pulled on the horn over and over again, much to the kids’ delight and Stan and Greg’s chagrin. Even Dipper couldn’t help but muster a small, warm chuckle upon seeing just how much Lapis seemed to be enjoying herself through something so simple, even if it wasn’t the easiest on the ears.

After about an hour or so, the nearly-nonstop bellowing of the horn finally fell silent, a relieving change of pace for Stan and Greg in particular as they continued fishing off the far side of the boat. “Oh thank god, they finally stopped,” the conman let out a sigh of relief as he uncovered his ears. “I thought I was gonna go deaf. Well, even more deaf,” he said, tapping his hearing aid.

Greg let out an amused laugh at this, though as he did, he happened to notice Lapis and the kids coming down from the bridge to join them. “Oh, hey, you guys!” he greeted them with a smile. “Finally get enough of that horn?”

“...WHAT?!” Steven shouted obliviously, his ears still still blaring with the lingering noise of the horn.

“What are you doing?” Lapis asked, curiously eyeing the pairs’ fishing rods.

“Catching fish,” Greg explained, casting his line out into the water once more.

“Or at least we’re trying to,” Stan grumbled, boredly leaning against the railing. “Those suckers just aren’t biting today…”

“Oh, maybe I can help!” Lapis volunteered, her tone surprisingly eager. Taking in a deep breath, she easily connected with the body of water before her, calling upon a massive swath of it just below the surface. Everyone else watched in apt awe as she easily pulled that swath up, an immense mass of water rising up into the air just above them, one that encased more fish than they could have ever hoped to catch swimming inside.

“Whoa…” Dipper said, quite impressed. “Lapis, that’s amazing!”

The blue Gem practically beamed upon hearing this, more than happy to meet the bright smile he was sending her way. A smile that she unquestionably treasured, yet unfortunately hadn’t seen enough of today, as much as she wished she had.

“That’s a pretty… uh, fancy way of catching fish…” Greg noted with a bit of a nervous chuckle.

“Fancy?” Stan scoffed. “Pfft, some might call it overkill.”

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel chastised, hoping that the conman’s rather callous remark didn’t offend the blue Gem.

“That’s ‘cause Lapis is supa strong!” Steven proclaimed with a dramatic flex.

“Well, uh… I appreciate the gesture,” Greg said, trying to be as tactful as he could. “But I-I think it would be safer to stick to the old-fashioned way of doing it…”

“Oh, uh… sure.” Flustered, Lapis was quick to pull her “catch” back down into the lake itself, creating a sizable wave in the process, one that shook the entire boat before the water settled itself back down. “So… how do you fish the old-fashioned way?”

“Oh, it’s pretty simple,” Greg reeled his line back in so he could demonstrate. “You start with a rod, and you put a hook at the end of your line. And then, when you feel a nibble, you reel it in. And there it is; you’ve caught yourself a fish to eat!”

“Or to sell if you manage to catch a peppermint angelfish or a freshwater polka dot stingray,” Stan piped up. “Those kinda puppies will land you the big bucks, whether you’re sellin’ em legally or not‒n-not that I would know.”

“But why would a fish ever bite a hook?” Lapis asked, confused.

“You got to bait it,” Greg said, reaching into his nearby tackle box. “Put something on it you know it wants, like a worm or a $20 bill.”

“Now that’s my kind of bait!” Stan grinned greedily.

“We’ll keep that in mind the next time we need to fish you out of a lake, Mr. Pines,” Greg chuckled alongside Steven and Mabel. At the same time, he cast his baited line out into the lake to properly show Lapis how fishing was usually done.

And like how fishing usually went, the group ended up waiting quite some time for even a nibble to become apparent. Stan had all but fallen asleep in his sunchair, his own fishing pole completely forgotten as Greg minded them both instead. Lapis and the kids lazily leaned against the boat’s railing, keeping an eye on the water, even if there was no sign of any sort of underlying fish to be found.

“So when does the fish part happen?” Lapis asked boredly.

“Well, sometimes it isn’t about the fish you keep, but the company you catch,” Greg said with a sly wink, though none of the others really caught his drift. At that exact moment, however, a sharp, sudden pull on his fishing pole caught the former rock star’s attention instead. “Whoa! I got a bite!” Greg tightened his grip on the fishing rod as whatever it had caught began to pull aggressively against it. “Lapis, here! Give it a try!” he offered the blue Gem the pole, and though she had her reservations, she took it.

“Like this?” she asked, starting to reel the line in.

“You got it!” Greg grinned as the kids crowded close to watch. “Looks like it’s a big one!”

Lapis set her focus on her rod as she continued to steadily reel it in, though whatever was on the hook quickly tugged hard on the line, abruptly yanking the blue Gem forward along with it. Lapis stumbled forward, but fortunately everyone else was quick to respond, calling out to her in concern as they hurried to help hold her steady so she could keep the struggle going.

“Y-You got this, Lapis!” Steven encouraged with a loud grunt as he and Mabel clung onto the straining blue Gem. “Reel it in!”

“It’s… pulling… so hard!” Lapis shouted, pulling back against the unseen fish or force that she was so, so close to landing. So very close to the surface, yet still so far away.

Just as Malachite had been all that time.

Lapis gasped just as the fishing rod suddenly snapped under the immense pressure completely. Its other half flew into the water as whatever it had caught got away, leaving everyone to run to the side of the boat to see if they could catch so much as even a glimpse of it. Lapis in particular kept a close eye on the lake as it calmed once more, her sudden panic starting to die down as she realized the only reflection she saw on the water was her own.

“Dang it, Greg!” Stan fussed as he finally awakened from his brief nap. “We weren’t supposed to break any of these!”

“Yeah…” Greg winced as he looked over the broken rod. “Looks like this pole rental just turned into a pole purchase. But, you did a great job tangling with that beast, Lapis.”

“Yeah! I totally thought you had it!” Mabel added, hands on her hips.

“B-but don’t worry about the one that got away,” Steven encouraged with a small smile.

Lapis simply returned their praise with a terse, unreadable nod as she realized that their party was now one short for some reason. Mostly since that missing one among them had quietly slipped away long before her fight against that unknown catch had even begun.

“Welp, that’s my adventure quota for the day,” Greg concluded as he began putting the tackle box away. “I’ll be at the controls. Holler if you need me.”

“And I’ll be raiding that cooler to see if there’s any of that fancy orange juice left,” Stan said as he also began to head out. “Fishing’s thirsty work; it’s got me parched.”

“But Grunkle Stan, you were just napping most of the time,” Mabel pointed out.

“Yeah, well napping’s thirsty work too.”

With the adults heading off to their own devices, Mabel and Steven were more than ready to keep their excitable plans for the day going, even if fishing had gone somewhat awry. “Ok, Lapis, what do you…” Steven trailed off as they both realized the blue Gem had also stepped away at some point. “Lapis?”

For her part, Lapis had returned to the main deck, where it didn’t take her very long to find Dipper. He sat on one of the lounge chairs, his chin perched against his hands as he silently watched the dark clouds that were starting to roll in over the lake. And as the blue Gem slowly came to take a seat alongside him, she noticed just how tense and apprehensive his expression really was. She had every reason to suspect why that was, and couldn’t help but feel guilty that she hadn’t done more to try and change that. Though still, she figured now was better late than never.

“Dipper?” Lapis spoke up, finally breaking him out of whatever thoughts he had been distracted by.

“Oh! Lapis!” he started, quickly turning to her as he put on a clearly fake smile. “H-how’d fishing go?”

“It… went…” the blue Gem glanced down. “Why’d you leave?”

“Ah, I-I… just wanted a little peace and quiet, is all,” Dipper said, offering an excuse Lapis could see right through the moment he said it.

“Oh,” she replied, though this time, she refused to simply leave it there. “Dipper, a-are… are you all right?”

“What?” Dipper blinked, caught off guard by the question. “Y-yeah, of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be? Are you all right, Lapis?”

Lapis flinched, not wanting to face such an inquiry, especially as she accidentally stole another small glance toward the lake once more. “I-I… l-let’s focus on you instead,” she countered as evenly as she could. “You’ve been so quiet all day. I know something’s wrong-” she hesitated, not wanting to give specifics about how or what she knew just yet. “So… if you want to tell me about it, then I-”

“No!” Dipper said, a bit too fast and a bit too forcefully. “I-I… I mean, it’s… seriously nothing, Lapis. You don’t have to worry about it. It’s really not important.”

“It’s important to me,” Lapis said earnestly, knowing, practically feeling that he was lying to her. “If something’s bothering you, then… maybe there’s some I can help somehow. I want to help.”

For a moment, the most Dipper could do was look to her in disbelief before he shook his head almost bitterly. “Lapis, I-I appreciate it, but really, I don’t need any help. Besides, today isn’t supposed to be about me; this whole lake trip was supposed to be to help you.”

“B-but I don’t deserve help!” Lapis argued far more fiercely than she had meant to. “Everyone’s so worried about making me feel better, but we should be worrying about you! Especially after what you went through!”

“After what I-” Dipper stopped short at this, confused. “Lapis, what are you talking about?”

The blue Gem faltered at this, knowing that the last thing she wanted to do was openly bring up what was obviously such a painful memory, but she couldn’t help herself. He needed to know just how much he needed this. “T-the deal, Dipper! I’m talking about the deal you made with t-that… that Bill guy that almost got you killed!”

Dipper froze, completely taken aback, upon hearing Lapis mention that terrible deal. A deal he’d done all he could to keep her from finding out about ever since she returned, for more reasons than one. “W-what… h-how do you know about-”

Before he could even get another stunned word out, the entire boat was suddenly rocked as something seemed to crash hard into the side of it below the surface of the water. Just as the ship seemed to settle once more, it took another heavy hit, one that nearly knocked Dipper and Lapis off their feet completely as they wondered to themselves about what was happening.

Mabel and Steven wondered the same thing as they took a detour on their way back to the main deck to stop by the bride to check in with Stan and Greg. “I-is everything ok, First Mate Dad?” Steven asked, concerned.

“Shh!” Greg quieted, glancing up from the boat manual he’d been pouring over. “You hear that?”

The group paused to listen for any further disruption below the boat, but strangely, they were only met with silence on all sides. “Uh… no?” Mabel frowned, confused.

“Maybe whatever it was is gone now,” Steven theorized.

“Well, at least that’s one good thing,” Greg sighed. “I think something’s wrong with the boat.”

“Augh!” Stan growled, trying his hardest to move the boat’s otherwise stiff wheel. “Nope, something’s definitely wrong with the boat. The rudder won’t move for anything. Something down there must be throwing it off.”

Mabel let out a sharp, dramatic gasp at this. “Maybe it’s the Gobblewonker!”

“Or Mr. McGucket’s Gobblewonker robot!” Steven added just as zealously.

“Would you two pipe down?” Stan rolled his eyes as he began fiddling with the ship’s control panel. “It’s not a robot or some stupid lake monster. We probably just hit a rock or something. What’s that manual of yours have to say, Greg?”

“I-it’s really not any help,” the former rock star frowned as he flipped through the book. “It’s mostly just advice on sun tanning and what crackers go with caviar!”

“Well, what crackers go with caviar?” Steven asked.

“Water crackers!”

“Ayyyy!” the pair exclaimed, exchanging a set of wry, playful grins. The levity was immediately broken, however as the boat violently shook once more, this time accompanied by a small, yet prominent explosion from somewhere inside the ship itself. The group wasted no time in rushing down to the boat’s small engine room, though as soon as Greg pried open the hatch, thick, dark smoke immediately started pouring out from it.

“Oh, crud! The engine!” Greg exclaimed, distraught. “I-I don’t know anything about fixing an engine! Do you, Mr. Pines?”

“Er… I can take a swing at trying, but I can’t make any promises,” Stan said as he began looking over the busted engine. “But either way, we’re gonna be out here for a while…”

Mabel and Steven exchanged a fretful glance upon hearing this, but all the same, they left the pair to work on the engine so they could relay the unfortunate message to the boat’s other two passengers. In the aftermath of the explosion and how it shook but the boat once again, Lapis was in the midst of helping Dipper back up onto his feet, checking over him to make sure he was unharmed as Steven and Mabel arrived.

“Uh, guys?” the young Gem spoke up. “We have some… not-so-great news. There’s trouble with the engine and… it looks like we’re stuck out here for now…”

“Great…” Dipper muttered as Lapis let out a low, disappointed sigh. “As if anything else could go wrong today…”

“W-well, let’s try to look on the bright side!” Mabel chimed in. “At least it’s not raining!” Almost at that exact moment, however, raindrops began sprinkling down from the dark, dreary skies above, growing more steady with each passing second. “...How did I do that…?” Mabel wondered, amazed by her apt timing.

“I-I’m sorry!” Steven professed to Lapis in particular. “This whole thing is our fault! We just wanted you to have fun, but everything’s turned into a mess. We shouldn’t have made you come on this trip…”

“No,” Lapis spoke up, her tone cold as she turned to face the side of the ship. “It’s my fault. I’m the one to blame.”

“What?” the young Gem shook his head. “No, it’s not-”

“I’m really trying to enjoy it out here, but… I can’t stop thinking about being fused as Malachite,” Lapis confessed, not even noticing Dipper tense up beside her at the mere mention of the twisted fusion. “How I used all my strength to hold her down in the lake, and how I was always battling against Jasper to keep her bound to me…”

“Lapis…” Steven began, though Dipper was quick to interject before he could say anything else.

“W-what does any of that even matter anymore?!” he countered harshly, clearly agitated by the mere discussion alone. “That’s all over now! Malachite’s gone. You don’t have to be with Jasper ever again!”

“T-that’s not it…” Lapis said quietly, shame filling her expression as she finally glanced back at the kids behind her to reveal the horrible truth. “I… I miss her…”

“What?!” All three of the kids exclaimed, shocked by the very thought.

“W-we were fused for so long…” the blue Gem practically whispered, shaken as she wrapped her arms around herself tightly.

“But… she’s terrible!” Steven protested anxiously.

“I’m terrible!” Lapis argued, fully turning to the trio. “I did horrible things! I left Ford behind on Homeworld! I stole the lake! Go on! Tell me I’m wrong!”

Steven and Mabel were more than prepared to try and do exactly that, but once again, Dipper beat them both to the chase on a seemingly different tangent entirely. “You miss her…” he began, letting out a bitter scoff as he did. “Even after everything she put you through, after everything she did?! After everything I did to try to help you?!”

“Dipper-” Lapis tried to counter, though he was far too incensed to back down now.

“I know what you went through was awful, I get that. But you have no idea what I put myself through to just to get you back!” he practically shouted, outraged that she’d make light of all the sacrifices he’d made by so much as hinting that she wanted to go back to what he’d only barely managed to help rescue her from. “I was ready to do nothing else but sit on the shore for the rest of the summer waiting for you! I stayed awake for nights on end trying to figure out a way to help you! I risked my life several times against Malachite and you did basically nothing to stop her! And worst of all, you asked me about that deal I made with Bill earlier? Well, you wanna know why I even did that in the first place?”

“Dipper, stop-” Mabel tried to interject, especially as she noticed the growing, fearful alarm in Lapis’ eyes brought on by his outburst. Yet even so, he kept going with the truth he could no longer keep buried under the surface, even for as horrible as it was.

“For you, Lapis!” he finished, tears starting to brim in his eyes even against his immense fury. “I nearly lost my body, my life‒all because I wanted to save you! And what do you want, even after all that? To go back to being with Jasper, back to being Malachite, like the rest of us‒like I don’t even matter!”

For a moment, the most Lapis could do in response to such a harsh accusation was remorsefully accept it, largely because she had no idea how to argue against it. Because really, if all that was indeed true, if Dipper really had almost lost so much in a last-ditch effort to help her, then that was just another reason--perhaps the very worst of all--on the already substantial list as to why she didn’t deserve any sort of kindness or support at all after every terrible thing she’d done.

Once again, Steven and Mabel wanted to speak up to try and ease the heavily palpable tension between the pair, yet before they could, that tension was broken altogether by the boat heavily jolting once more. This time, however, the steady tremors didn’t stop as something heavy latched onto the ship’s anchor chain, lurching the entire vessel to the side as something, or rather someone, began to climb up it. For a few breathless, uncertain seconds, the group on board glanced around frantically, unsure of what was happening. That is, until that someone finally reached the deck itself, the last Gem any of them could have expected--or wanted--to see: Jasper.

The orange Gem easily heaved herself onto the boat, ignoring the shared gasps of shock from everyone else as she rose to properly stand, a wide, almost demented grin spread across her face as she set her sights on Lapis in particular. “Finally,” she said, a burst of heavy thunder crashing over the lake at the exact same time. “I thought I’d never catch up to you!”

“J-Jasper…” Lapis barely managed to choke, though at the same time, she instinctively held a protective arm in front of the trio of kids behind her. “You… you’ve been following us?”

“I’ve been following you,” Jasper’s menacing grin deepened as she took a bold step forward.

Lapis flinched back in apt fear at this, though Steven was the first to step forward, his shield already formed over his arm. “Stay back!” he shouted bravely as he came to stand between the two Gems. Likewise, Mabel brazenly joined him, even without her grappling hook (which she hadn’t brought along on the trip) in hand. Dipper, on the other hand, hung back behind Lapis, taking a small step backward as he watched the frightening situation unfold carefully, quietly. Just out of Jasper’s notice all the while.

For her part, Jasper let out a twisted, amused laugh as she glanced down at the young pair before her haughtily. “This dulled-down version of Rose Quartz works for you now? Along with one of her dumb human pets?” she sneered callously as she nodded back up to Lapis. “You’re pointing that shield the wrong way. She’s the one you should be afraid of.”

“T-that’s not true,” Lapis tried to protest, though there was no conviction behind her words.

“You can’t lie to me,” Jasper asserted. “I’ve seen what you’re capable of. I thought I was a brute, but you… you’re a monster.”

Lapis froze, terror filling her entire form, though it was hardly aimed at Jasper. Instead, it was fear reserved solely for herself, for what she knew she could do, what she had done. Fear that what the orange Gem had just said was true; that she really was a monster after all. “I-I…” she trailed off, unsure of how to argue against that blatant truth. Even if Steven and Mabel were more than ready to do that for her.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Mabel defended, resolute.

“Yeah! Lapis doesn’t want anything to do with you!” Steven added just as firmly as he held his shield steady.

Jasper let out a severe, aggravated growl at this show of resistance, one that she didn’t hesitate to remove from her path through sheer force alone. “This is between US!” she shouted, brutally lashing out at the pair. Fortunately, Steven’s shield took the brunt of the heavy blow, but it was still enough to send them both flying across the deck, resulting in them roughly landing quite a ways behind the orange Gem.

“Steven! Mabel!” Lapis anxiously called, aptly alarmed. Likewise, Dipper nearly made his first move to join the confrontation, though he stopped short upon seeing that Steven and Mabel were largely fine, if not a bit disoriented from the attack.

At the same time, Jasper stopped Lapis in her tracks, tightly grabbing her by the wrist with both hands as she fell to her knees before the blue Gem. And then, she looked up to her manically, almost desperately even as she made her horrific proposal. “Let’s be Malachite again!”

Needless to say, Lapis was completely caught off guard by such a bizarre, demented request as she practically felt the orange Gem’s obvious madness from the tightness of her clinging grip alone. “Why… why would you want that?!” she dared to ask, unable to imagine why anyone would willingly, eagerly desire to go back to being chained down and trapped like Jasper had been with her.

“I was wrong about fusion!” the orange Gem professed with an unhinged smile. “You made me understand! Malachite was bigger and stronger than both of us! We could fly!”

“L-Lapis!” Steven shouted as he began to help Mabel back up. “Don’t listen to her!”

“Stay out of this!” Jasper barked back at him as she stood once more.

At the same time, Lapis shook her head incredulously, her thoughts racing far too fast for her to even try to keep up with any of them. “I… I was terrible to you…” she began, her voice shaking just as much as her entire body was. “I liked taking everything out on you. I needed to‒I hated you! Malachite hated existing so much! It was bad!”

“I-it’ll be better this time!” Jasper argued, taking her hands once more, even as she tried to pull them away. “I’ve changed! You’ve changed me! I’m the only one who can handle your kind of power! Together, we’ll be unstoppable!”

Somewhere in the distance, thunder echoed off the lake once more, though Lapis barely heard it as she let Jasper take her hands once more. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as everything else grew hazy and distant, save for the orange Gem and what she was trying to promise her, what she was trying to get from her. And for the briefest of moments, that offer, that plea, almost sounded tantalizing. Because if Jasper was right about anything, it was that Malachite was powerful, that she had felt powerful while they were together. That, for the first time in centuries of being trapped and lost and alone, she had felt strong, she had felt like she had actually been in control of something, even if that something was a twisted, self-loathing mess of a fusion. It was an appeasing kind of control, even if it came at the expense of someone else and even herself. And for the briefest, tiniest of moments, she honestly considered taking that control for herself once more.

And yet…

“And what do you want, even after all that?” Dipper had asked her just moments ago, tears in his eyes and anger in his voice. Anger that made complete and perfect sense, all things considered. “To go back to being with Jasper, back to being Malachite, like the rest of us‒like I don’t even matter!”

Is that what she wanted? Did she really want to tear herself away from people who she genuinely cared about, who cared about her in return‒people like Dipper and Mabel and Steven‒just to go back to someone she unquestionably, deeply hated like Jasper? Was whatever kind of demented control she had as Malachite really worth it to betray their trust, to turn away from their kindness, to do the very thing Dipper had accused her of by making his own sacrifices for her completely meaningless in the end?

All it took was the smallest of glances at Steven and Mabel far ahead of her, and perhaps most importantly of all, the most discreet look at Dipper still standing behind her, for Lapis to make the choice she knew she’d always stand by from here on out. Because she knew, above all else, what truly mattered to her most of all.

“No!” she exclaimed firmly, tearing her hands out of Jasper’s as she glared up at her bravely.

“What?” Jasper hissed, narrowing her eyes down at the blue Gem.

“What we had wasn’t healthy!” Lapis said, resolved and unshaken. “I never want to feel like I felt with you. Never again! So just go!”

“But Lapis!” Jasper tried to argue, though she didn’t get very far before someone else stepped in between her and the blue Gem instead.

“She said no,” Dipper began coldly, sending a relentless glare up at the much larger orange Gem as he came to stand protectively in front of Lapis. “So leave her alone!”

“Dipper… I…” Lapis trailed off, unsure of what to say. Yet even so, Dipper briefly glanced back at her with a small, assuring smile, one that carried the promise that he was on her side, no matter what happened.

Briefly, genuine surprise filled Jasper’s expression at this intrusion, until sharp, sweeping rage rushed in to take the place of that surprise instead. “You again…” she growled hatefully, recognizing the continually interloping human before her immediately. “You always have to come to her rescue, don’t you? You may have ruined Malachite for me before, but I’m not about to let you take her away from me this time!”

In an instant, Jasper latched out, though this time, it wasn’t toward Lapis. Instead, she abruptly grabbed Dipper by the arm and roughly yanked him toward her, pulling him out of Lapis’ reach even as she made a panicked, yet failed attempt at saving him. Of course, from the very moment Jasper latched onto him, Dipper began struggling against her heavy hold, though all his attempts to pull away and free himself did little against the orange Gem’s immense strength as she found a way to turn the tables on Lapis completely. “Listen, Lapis, you “care” about this human, right?” she asked, sending a disgusted, disgruntled nod down at Dipper as he beat against her arm with his free hand as hard as he could. An effort that she easily ignored, despite how desperate it was.

“L-leave him alone!” Lapis begged, her hands held up in tight, shaking fists as she looked between Dipper and Jasper anxiously. “Please, Jasper, this is just between you and me. He isn’t part of this. Let him go!”

“I’d say he is part of this since he’s the reason you even agreed to fuse with me in the first place! And he’s gonna be the reason why we fuse again,” Jasper retorted, tightening her grip on Dipper’s arm to the point that it felt like it was going to snap right in two. Lapis winced as she heard him let out a small, involuntary cry of pain, one that shook her to her very core, especially as Jasper continued her cruel demands. “Either you form Malachite with me right here, right now, or…”

“O-or what?” Lapis practically whispered, her eyes wide with terror all the while.

“Or I take your precious human here somewhere you’ll never be able to find him,” Jasper finished, her tone deadly serious.

“Dipper!” Steven and Mabel both exclaimed, aptly horrified upon hearing this. Without hesitation, they both acted on the same beat, joining hands as they prepared to form Maven so they could take Jasper head-on and save him. And yet, just before they could, Dipper managed to glance back at them, the fear in his expression obvious, though something else was there too. A certain sort of steadiness that came paired with him putting a silent hand up to stop them, almost as if he was sending them the unspoken message that he had a plan. Which, by all accounts, he did, especially as he noticed one of the decorative swords that had fallen by the wayside earlier lying on the ground just a few feet away from him.

“I… you… you can’t do that to him!” Lapis shouted at Jasper, furious yet deeply afraid all at the same time.

“I can, and I will,” Jasper coldly assured. “It’s either gonna be you, Lapis, or your human. Your choice.”

By this point, Lapis was nearly on the verge of tears as she glanced down mournfully. Because without even thinking twice, she knew what she had to do. She had already made the choice against becoming Malachite again on her own volition, out of her own desire to. But if it was for Dipper, if it could keep him safe now just as she had once thought it had before, then she would gladly, readily make that choice to give up her freedom again for him. For him, she’d do just about anything.

“O-ok…” Lapis whispered softly, sadly, as she prepared to return to the prison she’d hoped she’d never see again. “I… I’ll fuse with you.”

“Perfect,” Jasper said with a beaming, leering grin. Lapis simply closed her eyes as Jasper extended her free hand out to her once more, and yet just before it could reach the blue Gem, her approach was brought to a literal swift stop.

It happened in an instant so quick that Jasper didn’t even catch it until after it happened. A blade that was otherwise completely dull came down on her hand with such a great amount of force behind it that it sliced through her wrist completely. Her hand instantly vanished into particles of the light her form was composed of, and as she let out a startled gasp by the unexpected amputation, her other hand just so happened to release its firm hold on her captive that had done this to her in the first place.

Jasper only briefly paid any attention to her now stub of a wrist as she instead noticed Dipper, now free and armed with one of the decorative swords, taking his place between her and Lapis once more. The orange Gem glared daggers down at him, but Dipper met her ire evenly with his blade in hand, ready to use it in an instant if need be. “You will never, ever fuse with Lapis again,” he told her, his tone icy and unyielding. “Not as long as I’m around to help her.”

Jasper let out a loud, infuriated shout at this, her helmet forming over her head as she easily reformed her missing hand. “Then I guess that means it’s time to get rid of you ONCE AND FOR ALL!” she yelled, raising her head to bring down a vicious attack. Yet it was one that never landed, even though Dipper was brazely ready to face. For instead, at that very moment, Lapis reacted to rush to his rescue instead, throwing her hand up swiftly into the air. Along with the movement, a massive, powerful fist of water also burst through the boat itself, breaking through the boards just under the orange Gem’s feet before striking her hard. The incredible force of the blow was more than enough to send Jasper flying, not just off of the boat, but away from the lake entirely as she was helplessly flung far away into the surrounding forest. Her threatening presence gone for now, but hardly forgotten.

In the immediate, newfound peace that followed, Dipper let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding in as he lowered his sword and turned to Lapis with a small, relieved smile. “Lapis, that was-”

She immediately cut him off as she swiftly pulled him into a tight, protective embrace, her form still trembling with remnant terror as she rushed to check over him. “Are you ok? Did she hurt you?” she asked him frantically, holding his face in her hands so she could inspect it for any sort of injuries.

“N-no, I… I’m fine,” he assured her, placing a comforting hand against her arm. Lapis responded by loosening her grip on him, letting out a small, tired sigh though she hardly returned his allayed smile.

“Dipper!” Almost out of nowhere, the pair was caught off guard as Mabel suddenly crashed into Dipper, wrapping him up in a tight, elated hug. “What you just did was totally awesome! I mean, cutting off Jasper’s hand? That was like the most metal thing I think you’ve ever done, bro-bro!”

“Heh, thanks,” Dipper chuckled somewhat bashfully.

“And Lapis, you were amazing too!” Steven chimed in brightly, beaming at the blue Gem. “The way you stood up to Jasper was so brave! Not to mention how you sent her packing at the end there.”

“Yeah…” Lapis frowned, glancing away in shame. “Brave…”

“I-is everyone all right?!” Greg called as he and Stan turned the corner to arrive on the main deck. They were quickly met with a surprising sight, however, as they noticed the gaping hole in the center of the vessel, one that was quickly causing it to sink lower and lower into the water with each passing second.

“Geez, I probably could have fixed the engine in like, an hour or two,” Stan remarked, hands on his hips. “You kids didn’t have to go and just trash the thing like this.”

“W-wha… what happened?” Greg asked, aptly distraught by the irreparable damage.

“Uh… It’s… kind of a long story,” Steven said, leading the way to the highest edge of the boat. Lapis was quick to create another large hand of solid water, one that most everyone was easily able to fit on for the ride back to shore. The blue Gem stopped Dipper short of hopping on it however, as she instead silently offered him a different mode of transportation as she summoned her aquatic wings instead. He took the hint and climbed on her back, holding on as she took flight and guided the watery hand she’d made for the others across the lake, leaving the now abandoned, defunct vessel behind as it sunk into the water entirely.

“I guess I bought a boat after all,” Greg sighed as he watched the boat disappear below the depths.

“Yeah, one you can’t even use,” Stan remarked. “What a ripoff! Oh well, at least I managed to snag the treasure chest-shaped cooler on our way out.” He grinned, holding up said cooler for everyone to see.

“Ooo, well that’s better than nothing, right, Dad?” Steven said with a small grin.

“Yeah… I guess it is,” Greg agreed, fondly ruffling his son’s hair.

It didn’t take long for Lapis to get everyone safely back to the dock they’d started from, though instead of landing upon it herself, she instead took flight once more with Dipper in tow. “Huh, I wonder where they’re going,” Mabel said as she watched them take to the skies. “Maybe we should follow them? Just to make sure they’re ok?”

“...I think they’ll be fine,” Steven assured, keeping his sights set on the pair as well. “Looks like they just need some time to themselves.”

At the same time, Dipper couldn’t help but glance back at the dock they were leaving behind from his spot on Lapis’ back. Instead, she seemed to be taking him up toward the falls above the lake, something that couldn’t help but confuse him given her relative silence since the boat had sunk. “Lapis, what’s going on? Where are we going?” he finally asked her a moment later.

“...We need to talk,” was all the blue Gem said as she kept going, not even bothering to so much as even look back at him. The rest of the flight was steeped in silence on both sides, even as they arrived at the top of the waterfall cliff. Yet almost as soon as Lapis set Dipper down on solid ground, that silence swiftly, suddenly came to an end.

The moment Lapis landed, she was quick to turn to face him, her manner and tone quite severe, even though the underlying hints of fear and worry were clear in both as she spoke adamantly. “What in the world were you thinking, Dipper?” she asked. “What you did back there… Standing up to Jasper like that… you could have gotten yourself killed!”

“W-what was I thinking?” Dipper countered in disbelief at such a question. “I was thinking about how I was willing to do whatever I had to to keep you from fusing with her again! You’d already told her no, but then, when she threatened me, it was like suddenly none of that even mattered anymore!”

“It didn’t matter!” Lapis shot back fiercely. “Why don’t you understand that all that matters to me is keeping you safe?! Why else do you think I even fused with her in the first place?!”

“Oh, so what Jasper said is true, then?” he countered angrily. “The only reason you became Malachite to begin with was because of me, right?!”

“Ye--no!” she quickly corrected herself. “No, of course that’s not true! I… I just…” she sighed, bitterly. “I fused with Jasper because I thought it was the only way I could keep her as far away from you as possible. That’s why I was ready to do the same thing again today. I… I don’t want you to get hurt; I never wanted that…”

“Well, it’s way too late for that,” he scoffed coldly, crossing his arms as he turned away from. “When you fused with her, when you trapped yourself at the bottom of the lake, it did hurt me…” He paused, shaking his head remorsefully as he tried his hardest to fight back tears. “It hurt me so, so much because I knew, right from the very beginning, that it was all my fault. You were gone, a-and I missed you, and you were just down there suffering non-stop and… and I couldn’t do anything to help you. A-and every time I tried… I… things always just got even worse…”

For what seemed like ages, Lapis was silent as she watched Dipper take a solemn seat on the edge of the cliff. Not knowing what else to do, she joined him, waiting an hesitant moment or two before posing a question she knew she shouldn’t even ask. “W-what actually happened?” she began slowly. “W-with that Bill guy, I mean. Steven and Mabel told me a little, a-about how he tricked you into making a deal to help me, but… I don’t know much else outside of that.”

Dipper let out a long, weary sigh, placing his face in his hands as he finally decided to come clean. “It was stupid…” he muttered crossly. “I was stupid. He promised he’d help me figure out a way to save you in exchange for a puppet. But what he didn’t tell me was that I was actually the puppet he had in mind. So he stole my body, took it for a joy ride, intentionally hurt it--practically killed it, and nearly did the same to Mabel and Steven too until they barely managed to kick him out of it so I could take it back. But even then, i-it’s taken me a really long time to recover, both inside and out. Sometimes I wonder if I ever really will at all”

Lapis didn’t initially say a word in response to this tale of incredible woe as she let it sink in, along with the heavy wave of guilt that came along with it. “Y-you… went through all of that… because of me…” she said, her voice barely a whisper, though it was heavy with shame all the same.

“N-no, Lapis, I… I shouldn’t have said that earlier,” Dipper quickly countered. “I-I didn’t mean it, I was just upset-”

“And you have every right to be!” Lapis interrupted sharply. “You were right, Dipper; you did so much to try and help me, a-and what did I do? I nearly went and fused with Jasper all over again like it was nothing!”

“But you were going to do it for me,” he retorted firmly. “And that’s not nothing.” Unsure of what else to say, he sighed once more, lying back to lay in the grass as his feet dangled over the edge of the cliff. It didn’t take Lapis to join him, and for a long, quiet, almost peaceful moment, the pair rested in silence, watching as the stormy clouds above began to clear out for sunny skies once more. “Isn’t that messed up?” Dipper finally said with a small, yet bittersweet laugh. “How we both put ourselves through something so terrible just so we could try to help each other?”

“Yeah…” Lapis muttered fretfully. “It is…”

“Maybe… maybe that’s not how this is supposed to be,” Dipper continued, his tone sincere. “There’s gotta be better ways to protect your friends out there than losing your body to a psychotic demon or trapping yourself in an unstable fusion deep below a lake.”

“Well, if there is, I’d love to hear it,” the blue Gem remarked as she rested her hands behind her head.

“...Sword fighting was what helped me,” Dipper said as he sat up once more. “It gave me a better way to keep the people I care about safe, a-and best of all, it finally helped me feel safe again when I wasn’t sure if I ever world. So… maybe we just need to find something like that for you too.”

“We could always start with fishing,” Lapis joked, eliciting a small, warm laugh from Dipper that she couldn’t help but join in on. Once the beat of much-needed levity passed, however, there were still hints of worry lingering in the air between them.

“Lapis…” Dipper began earnestly. “Are you alright after… well, everything?”

“Yeah,” the blue Gem nodded as she properly sat up herself. “I think I’ll be ok. What about you? Steven and Mabel mentioned something about you having… ‘nightmares’?”

“Oh, those…” Dipper frowned, wishing that the pair hadn’t been so presumptive, even if they were correct. “They’re just… I-I… I don’t know where they’re coming from. I mean, Bill is a dream demon so I guess it makes sense that he keeps showing up in my dreams, but, it’s not like he can really do anything since Grunkle Ford and I put that barrier up to keep him from getting into the shack. Still, I-I don’t know, it’s just… weird. Nobody’s even heard anything from Bill in a really long time and now suddenly, right out of nowhere, he keeps popping up in my nightmares again when he hasn’t in weeks? I know I’m probably wrong‒I hope I’m wrong, but… I can’t help but feel like something really… bad is about to happen soon…”

“Well, if this ‘Bill Cipher’ does show up trying to hurt you again,” Lapis began with a hint of firm resolve in her tone. “Then you better believe I’ll make sure he never gets the chance to again. He won’t mess with you again, not as long as I’m around.”

Dipper couldn’t help but smile upon hearing this, knowing that this comforting promise essentially echoed his own to the blue Gem. And perhaps, if the need ever arose again, then they could both find better ways to keep those promises than they had before, in the hopes that they would never need to be so cruelly separated as they’d been before ever again.

A beat of gentle, contented silence passed between the pair just as the late afternoon sun started to set beyond the distant cliffs. It cast a bright, almost golden glow upon the waters of the lake far below them, a lake that had once been a place of such strife for them both, but now, only seemed to radiate peace and tranquility instead. “You know,” Dipper said with a soft, easy smile as he enjoyed the view. “The lake really is beautiful from up here.”

“Yeah,” Lapis earnestly agreed as she gently, affectionately ruffled his hair. She had no doubts she’d always treasure moments like these, because even if they’d been so hard fought for by sacrifices and guilt and grief on both of their ends, they were moments they’d finally managed to somehow win at long, long last. “It is.”

#again pelase read this on ao3 or ff.net instead dumblr is blueh #jen writes #universe falls #steven universe #gravity falls #steven universe gravity falls crossover #crossover fanfic #au #alone on the lake #lapis #dipper #mabel #steven #jasper #greg #stan #alone at sea #keyword is fishing

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kingdeku-queentoga · 3 years

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"Wow" bismuth said as she listened to steven and everything he told her "I always knew Yellow Diamond was a bit rough around the edges" she told steven making him chuckle a bit

"Heh you have no idea... But she is treating me a bit nicer now" Steven grinned.

"Though why are you here and not on earth? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you again after all this time but I'm confused as to why you are here seeing me" bismuth explained.

"I am also confused my Diamond?" Pearl announced

"Heh I came here because I need a weapon but not for me, for spinel" Steven explained making bismuth nod but also confusing and shocking pearl

"W-what, why?" Pearl said making steven look at her

"because spinel shouldn't go without a weapon" Steven said before looking at bismuth "so tell me, do you think you up for the task" he grinned.

"Of course I am!" Bismuth smiled "what kind of weapon do you think would fit her? Sword, axe, spear, I mean the list goes on; just look around here" she said as there was countless of weapons line up on the wall

"I don't know, though I trust in your judgement" Steven said making bismuth smile and nod "spinel come here, you are getting a weapon" he called out making spinel run to them.

"A weapon!?" Spinel gasp "what's that" she asked making steven rub the back of his head as he started to explain.

Hours slowly passed as bismuth tested spinel to see what she was good with before it was finally decided, bismuth smiled as she gave spinel her weapon "heh so steven, what do you think" she asked Steven who grinned.

"Heh amazing work as always bismuth" Steven told her making her smile bigger "now with this done, we should be going" he said as he started to head towards the stairs with Pearl and spinel behind him.

"Don't forget to visit me every once in awhile" bismuth called out.

"Heh I'll try to visit when I can, see ya" Steven told her while spinel was waving at her.

"My Diamond, what now" Pearl asked steven as they walked out of the building.

Steven wiped his forehead free of sweat "now I going to take care of some business with a certain gem" he told her as he made his way to an warp-pad, heading towards one of his colonies that had no meaning but his soldiers was there currently because of orders; steven, spinel, and pearl stood on an warp-pad and headed towards the planet

The three gems warp to the lifeless planet where they saw his soldiers was currently working and making new gems, the sound of the warp-pad made his soldiers looked up, their eyes widening at the sight of their Diamond and they immediately saluted "My Diamond" they announced.

Steven walked towards them as he looked around and saw a few of his soldiers with their gems cracked, probably from the ambush with the fusion but he would have to deal with them later, in the meantime he stopped once he was in good spot so everyone could hear him "Jasper, come out here. Now!" he called out.

There was a moment of silence before Jasper walked out into the open "what do you want weakling" she demanded.

Steven stared at her as he slowly pulled off his jacket from around his waist and started to pop his knuckles "Jasper... You are a true force to be reckon with..." He said making Jasper glare at him "that is why we going to finished our match. Right here, right now" he told her as he gotten ready.

Jasper looked at him and smiled wickedly as she didn't bother to question him, she ran to him and immediately started to attack him, everyone watched as two started their fight.

"Are you going to fight or just run away like the weakling you are!" Jasper yelled since for the last 13 minutes Steven had just been dodging her as well as getting a few sucker punches in all while smiling and laughing at her.

"What the matter Jasper? Can't touch me" Steven laughed as he quickly dodged an attack but also quickly counterattack with a quick punch to Jasper face, catching her off guard.

Jasper growled and formed her weapon before charging at him, he looked at her and formed his bubble around himself while he watched her tried to break his bubble.

"Come out and fight me you coward!" Jasper yelled as she kept attacking Steven bubble "you are nothing but a weakling that the original Pink Diamond spat out and you'll never compare to her!" She growled making Pearl and the other soldiers eyes widened in shock.

Steven glared at Jasper as he saw her pull her fist punch to ready to punch his bubble as hard as she could but before she could hit it he deactivated his bubble, resulting in Jasper punching nothing but air and before Jasper could react Steven had punched her in the face, hard enough to send her rolling a couple of feet away.

Jasper was quick to get up on her feet as she looked at Steven who had an scowl across his face, making her smirk "what the matter, did I hurt your feelings" she laughed just before she want to attack again but inside of dodging completely steven started to counter her by hitting her blind spots, which threw her off guard that gave Steven an opening of fully attack

Everyone watched as Steven had easily started to overpowered Jasper while Jasper was able to hit Steven a few times but ultimately she was out match, Steven grabbed Jasper wrist and lifted her up in the air before slamming her on the ground, filling the area with smoke.

The smoke slowly cleared letting everyone see jasper on her hands and knees, glaring up at steven while Steven was looking down at her, he shook his head and turn around "Jasper... You are one of the strongest soldiers I got... But you can never beat me because you to weak" he said shocking everyone while he started to walk away.

"W-what do you just call me" Jasper growled at him.

"Jasper... you are blinded by your own pride which is why you won't ever be able to beat me. It true that you are strong but look at the situation you are in now... You down on the floor while I still on my feet" Steven explained as he came to the realization that he needed to put Jasper in her place before he could even think about going to earth, cause what kind of leader would he be if his own soldiers didn't listen to him "at this rate even the weakest soldier will become stronger than you ever could... Anyway this fight is over" he said making Jasper eyes wide as he started to walk away from her

Jasper growled as she got up and ran to him, ready to attack "as if I would ever let a weak human like you look down on me!" She yelled, while steven stopped walked but didn't look back as Jasper had attacked him.

In a pink flash pearl stopped Jasper attack with her sword while glaring daggers into her "what do you think you are doing" she hissed making Jasper eyes widened before jumping back but as soon as she did she was stab into the back, causing her to gasp and slowly look back seeing that it was spinel "y-you" was all she was able to say before she was poof, her gem falling to the ground.

"My Diamond are you okay" Pearl asked steven as she put away her sword.

"Yeah, I'm fine. good job you two" Steven said as him and Pearl turned and looked towards spinel, seeing her put away her spear within her gem before looking back at the two and smiled happily

Pearl looked at Jasper gem on the flood before looking at steven "what are you going to do with Jasper, my Diamond" she asked him making steven sigh and shake his head.

Steven walked to Jasper gem and bubbled it, deciding what to do with her later but for now he needed to think, he looked around at the other soldiers "you all are on standby, you can do whatever you want. I don't really care, if there is a problem then report to Pearl" he called out as he went to go grab his jacket before walking to the warp-pad "Pearl, spinel. Let's go" steven said as the two gems followed Steven to the warp-pad

#steven universe #su diamonds #diamond steven au #diamond steven #pink diamond steven universe #steven universe fanfic #fanfic #steven is a diamond #jasper #bismuth #pink pearl #rejuvenated spinel

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minijenn · 5 years

Text

Universe Falls, Chapter 71

Yay! Arc 8 has at long, LONG last finally arrived! And with a pretty good chapter too (half of which I cracked down on and wrote over the course of today alone I swear to god). Anyway, I still really like it all the same and I hope ya’ll will too! Enjoy!

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/187831200634/universe-falls-chapter-70-part-2

***

Chapter 71: Same Old World

UHV JAREH'K UHV FMMX SJ TO ZG EEXQK QEIUMPL MLT JLFF AG MEQOJFUBEI VSERZ ALW ZAMLRVZS EYJL, DRASEK EOBIKF M CAEFHE CVQS TLWBD RG FHX IFE OW NDC 8

With both Malachite and the Cluster finally subdued in different, albeit satisfying ways, the Gems and the Pines finally took the much-needed opportunity to relax and regroup. No longer needing to work toward a strict deadline to get the drill done, they all gathered out on the barn’s yard, casually sitting around and intently listening to Peridot zealously recount her, Steven, Ford, and Mabel’s recent, daring, underground adventure to the others.

“It was so intense down there. We were already a few layers into the Earth’s crust when suddenly—WA-PAMO! KA-POWIE!” the green Gem recounted with extensive dramatic flair. “All these gross Cluster limbs started clawing at the drill! So I whipped out my old photon blaster and PEW PEW! CHOW CHOW! Take that Cluster!”

“The sound effects are totally spot on by the way,” Mabel whispered to the others, completely enthralled by Peridot’s tale. “I should know, I was there!”

“A-and I guess the destabilizing hyperfield Ford added onto the drill also… ‘helped’,” Peridot remarked rather dryly. Even so, the author paid her no mind, only barely listening in as he instead casted very frequent glances towards the nearby barn. And he wasn’t the only one doing so either. “B-but anyway, then Steven was all ‘my feelings’ and then up and passes out on us! And then Mabel starts getting all bossy and serious-”

“Hey!” Mabel protested with a pout. “I was just doing what I had to. Besides, you know something’s not a big deal until I have to break Serious Mabel out. Which I don’t like doing; she’s scary.”

While this elicited an amused chuckle from the other Gems, Peridot simply looked to her, confused. “She’s you,” the green Gem pointed out, raising an eyebrow. “But you’re not wrong about the scary part. Speaking of scary, after that, everything started glowing and… well… wait.” Peridot took pause, unfamiliar with the specifics of what happened after that. Specifics that only Steven had really been apart of, given that herself, Mabel, and Ford had only really been spectators on the final leg of their mission at best. “I’m sure Steven can fill you in on the rest since he’s the one who saved us. You should’ve seen it, right Steven? Tell ‘em what happened here!”

Oddly however, the young Gem didn’t comply, his focused instead on the barn and his expression awash with muted concern. Mabel was quick to adopt that concern as she also looked over in that direction, knowing just as well as Steven did who had split off from the group quite some time ago to take up shop inside the barn with a very obvious reason as to why. A reason that, by all accounts, they both genuinely shared.

“Steven?” Peridot pressed again, urging him to pick up where she had left off.

“Huh?” Steven blinked, finally brought out of his distracted train of thought. “Oh, uh, sorry, Peridot. Hold on just a sec, I’ll be right back.”

At this, the young Gem excused himself, making a clear beeline for the barn, only to be stopped just shy of entering it by none other than Mabel. “Steven,” she whispered, grabbing his hand and pulling him back just a bit. “Do you… do you think he’s ok? That they’re both ok?”

Steven frowned at this, sparing another glance back at the barn. By all accounts, shortly after arriving back to the barn with Lapis in tow, Dipper had seemed to be in immensely high spirits, absolutely relieved to finally have his close friend back from the grasp of the toxic prison of a fusion she had trapped herself within. However, it wasn’t very long after the young Gem had healed his battle wounds, that he had quietly retreated to the barn, no doubt intent on staying by the still-unconscious blue Gem until the moment she awakened. And it was a vigil he maintained even hours still, one that rung far too familiar with both Steven and Mabel to another, much more miring attempt Dipper had made only hours after Lapis had first locked herself away in the lake in the first place.

However, things were different now. Lapis was free, returned to them once more from the unforgiving depths of her and Jasper’s once-shared mind. The thought alone that the blue Gem was finally back was incredible enough for Steven and Mabel, but they could only imagine just how much more momentous it all must have been for someone as close to Lapis as Dipper was.

“Well,” Steven said somewhat diffidently, taking the initiative towards the barn once more. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Mabel nodded, opting to remain quiet as her and Steven slowly peered into the barn. They largely lingered in the door frame, taking in the silent, yet surprisingly calming scene that lay before them. Lapis was still completely out of it, softly resting on a pile of hay the kids had prepared for her as she continued seemingly sleeping. Dipper, however, was wide awake and alert, his back turned to the barn entrance as he sat just a few feet away from the blue Gem, carefully watching and waiting and most of all thinking, though about what was really anyone’s guess. Unsure of what to say or do, Steven and Mabel exchanged a brief glance, though ultimately, the latter was the one who worked up the most nerve to finally speak up first.

“Uh… h-hey, bro-bro,” she called with a gentle smile. “How are you and uh, Lapis, doing in here?”

Dipper flinched, letting out a small, startled gasp as he glanced over his shoulder at them. The briefest hint of a tear was in the middle of rolling down his cheek, though he quickly wiped it away in the hopes that neither of them would notice. Even though they both easily had. “Oh! Uh, I—w-we’re fine,” he said, looking back towards Lapis once more. “We’re fine,” he said once more, this time a bit distantly, not really addressing the pair at all as he repeated himself a third time. “She’s fine…”

The small, frail sob he let out at this was more than enough to prompt both Steven and Mabel into action. Without a second thought, they both rushed over to his side, comforting hands on his shoulders as they prepared themselves to console him, only to find an absolutely elated smile on his face instead, even amidst the still steadily-flowing tears.

“D-Dipper?” Steven asked, equally concerned and confused.

“She’s back, you guys…” Dipper said, unable to hold back a small, joyous chuckle. “After all this time, after everything that’s happened, I-I finally—we finally have her back. It’s kind of hard to believe it, but this is real. It’s not just some dream or wish or something; it’s actually happening. Somehow, through some crazy twist of fate or something, I-I guess I really did keep my promise to her after all…”

“Are… are you gonna be ok, bro-bro?” Mabel asked softly, still gripping her brother’s shoulder supportively.

“Are you kidding? Of course I’m ok,” Dipper shook his head with yet another incredulous laugh. “I mean, this is all I’ve wanted for so long now and I finally got it. It’s just…” His smile finally faded as he trained his sights on Lapis’ listless form once more. “I’m worried that Lapis might not be so ok once she wakes up.”

“What do you mean?” Steven asked.

Dipper sighed, shaking his head sadly. “Lapis was trapped down there with Jasper for so long… I may not know everything about fusions, but that’s gotta have some kind of an impact on a Gem, and probably not a very good one at that. Especially since Malachite wasn’t the most… stable fusion in the world…”

Mabel and Steven exchanged a fretful glance at this, both of them taking on the same sort of concerns for Lapis’ wellbeing in light of this fact. While the blue Gem seemed fine physically, there was essentially no telling what her mental or emotional state would be like upon awakening. What she had gone through as Malachite truly was traumatic, and chances were the mere act of freeing her from that twisted fusion in and of itself wouldn’t completely heal all the anguish she had been through. After all, that was a fact the kids knew far too well when it came to the varied trauma they had been through all their own.

“I see you’re all worried about your friend.” The kids all turned, surprised, to see Garnet, standing in the barn’s entryway and surveying the anxious group calmly.

“Y-yeah…” Steven nodded truthfully. “When I saw her in my dreams, it looked like she was fighting so hard to keep Malachite from escaping.”

“And even back on the island, Jasper just kept pushing her back down into Malachite’s mind over and over again,” Dipper added, his tone making his disdain for the orange Gem quite clear. “It was like she was trapped, unable to even control her own body at all. I know way too well just what that’s like…”

“Its true; Lapis spent an unbearable amount of time fused with Jasper,” Garnet said, adjusting her shades. “The emotional and physical strain of that type of fusion… I can’t even imagine. She’s gonna need a lot of time to recover. So it’s a good thing she has friends like you to help her do just that.”

Upon this reassurance, Steven and Mabel were both quick to perk up in the hopes that they really could help Lapis heal in some way, even if it was only a small one. “Right,” they both nodded, determined to do whatever they could for the blue Gem once she awakened.

“Now, come on,” Garnet encouraged with a small grin as she beckoned them out of the barn. “I’m dying to hear more about what happened underground.”

While Mabel and Steven easily complied at this request and began to follow after the Gem leader, Dipper opted to stay behind instead, something that the young Gem in particular noticed as he stopped short briefly. “Uh… Dipper? Are you coming?”

“No, I think I’ll hang out here,” Dipper said, waving the young Gem off as he turned back to face Lapis. “Just in case she wakes up anytime soon, you know?”

“…Yeah,” Steven nodded, completely understanding Dipper’s reasons for doing so. After all, he had been so long without the blue Gem that it only made sense that he’d want to linger by her side as much as he was able now that she had returned.

“But just a heads up, you’re gonna be missing out on one pretty epic story!” Mabel called as her and Steven left the barn, followed by Garnet soon after. The Gem leader did stop short, however, upon noticing another figure standing just shy of the barn’s entrance, largely remaining scarce so the kids wouldn’t notice he had been eavesdropping the entire time. Yet even so, Garnet, of course, hard.

“Ford,” she spoke up, only briefly glancing over her shoulder at the author.

“G-Garnet!” Ford exclaimed, startled and flustered and quite hard-pressed to explain himself. “I was just-”

“You don’t worry,” Garnet assured with a small, knowing smile. “I have a feeling she’ll be glad to see you again.”

The author said nothing to this, his eyes wide with alarm as he glanced between the barn door and the Gem leader before accepting her foresight with a terse nod and heading off. After all, his reunion with the blue Gem would come soon enough; far be it from him to take that first, much more important reunion with her from his much more deserving nephew instead.

***

True to his word, Dipper never left Lapis’ side, even as the hours wore on into the early evening and the blue Gem still showed no signs of waking any time soon. While he easily accepted the sandwich Mabel brought him for dinner as well as her and Steven’s company in watching over Lapis for awhile, he still remained in his spot, largely afraid that if he so much as even looked away, she might wake up without him knowing. In fact, he was fully prepared to stay up all night if he had to, a resolve that quickly fell through when the exhaustion caused by the immense physical strain and heavy flow of emotions he had been under largely all day finally hit him in full force. He wasn’t sure exactly when he had ended up laying back on the barn floor and eventually nodding off, but he had, largely content to have his first truly good night’s rest since the day Malachite had first been formed. Yet, soon enough a quiet sort of shuffling sound slowly roused him from his slumber. And as soon as he opened his eyes to see exactly where that sound was coming from, he was instantly wide awake.

“…L-Lapis?” he whispered, his voice barely even audible as he sat up, but she’d heard him all the same. From her spot near the hole in the barn’s side, she spun around, her wings summoned and her eyes wide as she looked to him, her own amazement seeming to equal his.

“Dipper…” she said, her shoulders dropping with what almost sounded like a sigh of relief. For what felt like ages, neither of them said anything, the nighttime silence echoing through the barn speaking volumes enough already. After all, what was there to really say anyway, when both of them had been waiting, dreaming of this moment that had always seemed so out of reach for so very long now?

In the end though, Dipper was the first to respond, saying nothing as he instead rushed towards the blue Gem, tears welling up in his eyes as he caught her off guard with a sudden tight, almost desperate hug. Lapis jolted, looking down at him with surprise, especially as he glanced up at her with a wide, tearful smile.

“I-I missed you,” he said, letting out a small, sobbing laugh in spite of himself. “So, so much. I just—s-sorry.” Embarrassed, he rushed to wipe his tears away as he maintained his embrace, one that the blue Gem herself never returned. “I’ve imagined how this moment would go so many times in my head, but now that its actually happening, I… I don’t even know what to really say. I-I’m just so glad you’re finally back.”

Upon hearing this, Lapis sighed once more, her expression sad as she finally, gently placed a comforting hand on top of the boy’s head. “Dipper…” she began, her voice still quiet as she subtly glanced away from him. “I-I…”

“You won’t believe all of the things I have to tell you!” Dipper continued brightly, hardly catching onto the blue Gem’s apparent melancholy. “So much has happened since you’ve been gone, b-but its ok if you need more time to recover and don’t wanna hear it all now. Either way, I-I just want you to know that I… I understand just how much you’ve been through, a-and I’m going to be here for you in any way I can, no matter what, I promise-”

“Dipper,” Lapis said again, much more firmly this time as she finally pulled out of his embrace to take a step back. Her aquatic wings still hovered behind her, glistening in the dull light of the moon outside just behind her. “T-thank you, but… I don’t think that’s a promise you’ll really be able to keep.”

“What are you talking about?” Dipper asked, aptly confused. “Of course, I-” He stopped short, finally taking stock of the blue Gem’s wings for himself, especially as she cast a small, longing glance out at the night sky instead of keeping her focus on him. “Y-you… you still want to leave… don’t you?” he asked, the bitter realization hitting him hard. All at once, the same sort of grief he had felt when she had nearly made this very same attempt before filled just about every inch of him, practically driving him to tears once more, though hardly ones of joy this time.

“I-I’m sorry…” Lapis muttered, rubbing her arm and averting his glance all the while. “But I can’t stay, you know why I can’t…”

“Y-yeah…” Dipper nodded and it was true. He did know exactly why the blue Gem wouldn’t want to stay on Earth any longer, especially after the torturous ordeal she had just been released from, all of which had taken place upon it. Yet even though he understood it, that didn’t mean he was anywhere near remotely ok with it. “B-but… I thought…”

A loud, tired yawn of all things, suddenly interupted the conversation, preceding Steven as he peered into the barn, wiping the sleep out of his eyes all the while. “I heard voices in here; is everything oka-” The young Gem stopped short, letting out a soft gasp as he fully opened his eyes to take in the sight before him. “Lapis! You’re ok!”

“S-Steven!” Lapis exclaimed, even more startled to be caught by the young Gem than she had with Dipper.

“Don’t get too excited, Steven,” Dipper said, his tone hardly bitter. If anything, it was forlorn as he finally looked away from the blue Gem. “She was just leaving…”

“What?” Steven looked to Lapis, bewildered. “Leaving?”

“It’s like I told Dipper, Steven…” Lapis shook her head, turning away from both boys. “I don’t belong on Earth, not with the Crystal Gems. I never have…”

“It’s ok,” Steven assured gently. “I understand. I just… wish we would have hung out more. I feel like we only get to see you when something horrible’s going on.”

Despite catching a critical look from Dipper over this remark, Lapis simply smirked at it, both amused and relieved to hear it. “That’s just how it is with me.” At this, the blue Gem stepped forward, readying her wings for takeoff though not before Dipper anxiously spoke up to forestall her flight. “Lapis, wait, I-” he stopped short as she turned to him, hints of guilt and fear both clear in her expression. Both reasons why Dipper ended up hesitating, even letting go of what he wanted to tell her altogether. After all, she had already been trapped for so long in so many different ways; how could he possibly try to trap her here again just because it was what he wanted? By all accounts, this was something he should have expected all along, but in the end, had never seen coming after months of toiling towards freeing her: the idea, or rather, the fact that he’d ultimately have to let her leave. “N-never mind.”

“Dipper?” Lapis asked, frowning.

“I-I just… wanted to say…” he trailed off, knowing that this was likely his last chance to say much of anything to her really. And yet, as much as he wanted to say to her in that moment, what he actually ended up saying was practically nothing at all. “I-I hope you find what you’re looking for out there.”

“…Thank you,” the blue Gem nodded with a small, sad smile. “Both of you.” And just like that, she was off, her wide wings sending her skyward into the vast dark expanse of stars above as she flew away, not looking back even once. Both boys watched her graceful ascent with shared amazement and sadness, stepping a bit out of the barn so they could keep an eye on her as she inevitably disappeared into the night. Never to be seen by either of them every again.

“Bye…” Steven whispered after her solemnly, though Dipper offered no such farewell. Instead, he continued watching Lapis, tears brimming in his eyes but never falling, until she was nothing more than another countless, distant, sparkling spec in the sky. Finally herself and finally free… and finally leaving him behind all over again.

“…H-hey,” the young Gem spoke up quietly, placing a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Are… are you ok?”

“Y-yeah…” Dipper muttered, even if he really wasn’t. But for Lapis’ sake, for his own sake, he resolved himself to be, no matter how much it really hurt. “I… I just need a minute…”

Steven nodded, offering him a small, comforting smile as he quietly departed to let him grieve in his own way. By all accounts, his grief was silent, awash in longing for all the time he thought they would have spent together, time that he had fought so hard and worked so steadily towards achieving, but now would never get to see it. Which was why, as a few of his sparse tears finally did start to fall, he pulled something small out of his vest, the one and only picture of himself and Lapis he had been able to fully piece back together after weeks of patient work. And, with a sense of mourning acceptance, he released it, letting it fly off into the open breeze of the night to wherever it might land next, just as the blue Gem herself had.

He let it go… and in the same way, he let her go.

***

With no reason left for any of them to linger at the barn anymore, both Pines and Gems alike packed their things up the following morning to make their return to the shack and the temple respectively. Much like the boys, Mabel was also quite upset to hear that Lapis had left, especially without bidding her any sort of goodbye, though her disappointment quickly changed tune when Peridot informed the group about her intentions to stay at the barn instead of returning to town with them.

“Oh, Peri!” Mabel gushed, eagerly climbing up onto the tractor parked inside the barn alongside the green Gem. “That’s so cool! Just think, you could start your own little farm out here! You could grow potatoes, and, uh… apples, and corn-”

“No thanks,” Peridot interupted. “I’ve had more than my fair share of dealing with corns since I’ve been on this planet. I don’t think I need to see anymore, especially not the uni- or -lepre- varieties.”

“…Huh?”

“Are you sure you wanna stay?” Steven asked the green Gem. “You could always head back with us and live in the shack’s bathroom again.”

“Again, no thanks,” Peridot crossed her arms. “I’ve seen what goes on in there, and simply put, I’m not interested. Besides, I’ve grown accustomed to this place. And… I should probably fix the hole I made with my giant robot.”

“Oh! Then lemme help you, Peri!” Mabel readily volunteered. “I’m the queen of redecorating; between you ‘n me, we’ll have this dusty ol’ barn looking spiffier than spiffy in no time!”

“Hm… yes, I like ‘spiffy’,” Peridot grinned, nodding in agreement with this plan. “Oh, can we utilize some of those ‘stickers’ you were telling me about? They’d add an undeniable layer of class to the place. Please?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely… sure!” Mabel quipped, already pulling her sticker book out so they could begin picking some out.

Steven couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle at this as he turned to leave the pair to their work. “Well, have fun you two!” he called, grabbing his things before heading back over to his father’s van to join everyone else.

“Well, that’s everything,” Greg announced after the young Gem handed his luggage off to him. “And then some. Steven, you ready to go home?”

“All seat belts are fastened,” Garnet added, poking her head out of the van.

“Peridot said she’s staying,” Steven pointed out to the Gems. “And Mabel’s gonna hang out with her for awhile.”

“Aw, yeesh, her too?” Stan asked, pulling his car around with Amethyst riding shotgun. “That’s it! If both of those kids wanna hang around here so badly, then they can just find their own rides home. I’m officially done being everyone’s taxi! Unless someone wants to pay me for it, that is.”

“Heh, yeah, I’ll pay ya!” Amethyst goaded playfully. “Pay ya my respects for your speakers I’m about to blast to bits!”

“Hey!” Stan protested as the purple Gem suddenly turned his car’s stereo up all the way to a booming rock station. “Amethyst! Turn that racket down! Think about my hearing aid!”

As the conman recklessly drove off with the laughing purple Gem in tow, Ford briefly peeked his head out of Greg’s van, shaking it disapprovingly all the while. “Am I ever glad I decided not to ride with them…”

“You comin’, kiddo?” Greg asked Steven with a smile. “I’m pretty sure there’s a little room for at least… one more in here… maybe…”

“You guys go on ahead,” Steven assured, largely out of curiosity to see why Dipper had also apparently decided to hang back as well. “I’ll catch up with you on Lion later.”

“Whatever you say,” the former rock star nodded as he strapped himself in. “See you in a bit!”

Steven stood by, waving the group off with a smile that faded not long after they were gone. He was prepared to search the barn up and down for Dipper, still concerned with how he might be faring after Lapis’ unexpected departure the previous night. Fortunately, however, he didn’t have to look far before spotting him leaning up against the barn just a few feet behind him, apparently distracted by keeping his sights set on the sky.

“Dipper!” Steven called, hurrying over to him. “Are you… i-is everything all right?”

“Huh?” Dipper blinked, apparently caught off guard as he looked to the young Gem. “Um… yeah, I just… didn’t feel like heading back to the shack yet.”

“Oh,” Steven said shortly. “Are you… feeling ok after… what happened last night?”

“Yeah,” Dipper retorted just as tersely, crossing his arms tighter as he looked away.

“Do you… wanna talk about it?”

“Not really…”

“Oh, well, uh… do you wanna… help me look for Lion instead?” the young Gem offered with a small smile.

Of course, it took Dipper practically no time at all to see what Steven was trying to do here, and despite his rather low spirits, he couldn’t turn the young Gem’s kind, genuine attempts at cheering him up down so easily. “Sure,” he chuckled somewhat. “Why not?”

Steven’s grin widened at this, glad to accept his help in exchange for providing Dipper with what would no doubt be a welcome distraction. And so the pair began their search for the pink beast, scoping out the vast rolling hills of farmland stretching out before them for any signs of the telltale pastel mane. “Lion! Hey, Liiiiiiiiion!” Steven called as loudly as he could. “Leeeee-on! I have a big juicy steak right here in my hand for you! Whoops!” the young Gem exclaimed dramatically. “I dropped it and it fell out of existence!”

“Hm…” Dipper mused much more quietly as he looked around. “Maybe he’s out near the silooooooooh my gosh! Steven, look!”

The young Gem did so, instantly letting out a shocked gasp upon noticing the very familiar figure sitting high atop the barn’s silo. “No way…. Lapis?” Steven stopped, staring up at the distant blue Gem to the point that he didn’t even realize Dipper had already started running on ahead without him. When he did, though, it didn’t take him long to follow suit right along after him to catch up with her.

Once again, Dipper found himself having to fight back tears as he quickly scaled the ladder leading up to the top of the silo. Though unlike the tears he’d shed last night, these were filled with joy just as much as his elated smile was as he finally made it to the top to find that, sure enough, Lapis herself was there. The blue Gem sat, her legs pulled to her chest as she stared out at the open land before her, expression downcast, even as Dipper hurried over to join her.

“I-I can’t believe it,” he began, genuinely incredulous. “You… you actually stayed? I thought… all you wanted to do was leave…”

“I was leaving…” Lapis muttered dejectedly. “Then I realized, I’ve got nowhere to go. Who knows what they’d do to me back home after what I did to Jasper? I guess its finally time to stop kidding myself; I can’t go back to Homeworld… and I can’t stay here.”

“Sure you can!” Steven chimed in, finally making it to the top of the silo himself.

“What?” Lapis looked to him, confused. Dipper was more than prepared to protest the young Gem’s earnest, but innocent attempts at convincing the blue Gem to stay, attempts that he had made himself on more than one occasion. But even so, he didn’t get much of a chance as Steven continued.

“You can totally stay here,” the young Gem said, sitting down next to the blue Gem with a smile. “It doesn’t have to be here here. You can live anywhere! You don’t have to stay here in Gravity Falls if you don’t want to.”

“Steven…” Dipper cut in with something of an anxious whisper, knowing that he was largely wasting his time. And yet, oddly enough, Lapis herself seemed to be listening to him intently as he went on.

“You could live in Relativity Creek, or Lake Trajectory, Acceleration Heights, Momentum Point, and that’s just the places I know of off the top of my head! Maybe me and Dipper could show you around so you could find a place that’s right for you!”

“Steven,” Dipper shook his head, doubtful of this plan. “I-I don’t think that’s-”

“Really?” Lapis suddenly interjected, intrigued as she looked between the boys. “You both would do that for me?”

“W-well, of course!” Dipper quickly changed his tune, amazed that the young Gem’s suggestion actually seemed to be working where his hadn’t before. “B-but I thought… didn’t you want to-”

“Yeah!” Steven chimed in preemptively. “It’ll be fun! We could find you an all-new place to live here on Earth! Somewhere where we’d be able to come visit you anytime we wanted!”

“Well… that part sounds… nice…” Lapis admitted, offering both of them a small, genuine smile as she stood.

“You… you mean you really might stay this time?” Dipper asked, trying his best to hide just how much he wanted to hear her say that she would.

“…Maybe…” the blue Gem, rubbed her arm, somewhat apprehensive about being so certain on the matter so soon. “Let’s just… go look first and we’ll go from there.”

Despite his previous reservations, Dipper couldn’t help but smile brightly upon hearing this, knowing that Lapis being the least bit open to the very idea of staying on Earth was more than enough to allay him. “Right. Then let’s get looking.”

“Ready Freddy?” Steven asked just as warmly.

“My name’s Lapis,” the blue Gem pointed out with a small smirk as she bent down to offer both boys a spot on her back.

“Um… Lapis? Are you sure we’ll both be able to fit?” Dipper asked, somewhat concerned.

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” Lapis shrugged, more than prepared to carry them both. “Hop on.”

After exchanging a brief glance, both Steven and Dipper did so, the latter mounting first before the young Gem pressed up close behind him. “You both ok like this?” Lapis asked, adjusting their shared weight a bit to make things more comfortable. While it was a bit of a tight fight, the boys both nodded all the same, and no sooner after they did than the blue Gem took off into the skies with both of them in tow.

Her rapid ascent caught Steven off guard in particular, to the point that he clung tightly onto Dipper just so he wouldn’t fall off. Dipper, on the other hand, was helpless to hold back a bright laugh as they took off, one that Lapis soon joined in on not long after she heard it.

“This is pretty familiar,” the blue Gem called up to him with a warm grin, perhaps the first genuine one she’d shown since being freed. “Isn’t it, Dipper?”

“Yeah,” Dipper said, still laughing as he glanced down at her, reveling in the treasured memory of that sweet, starry night that finally felt like it hadn’t been so long ago anymore. “It is.”

“Whoo!” Steven cheered, replacing his initial fear with excitement as they soared high above radiant acres of lush farmland. “Hey, Lapis! How about this? You could live out here in the country. There’s no noise, no rules, it’d just be you becoming one with nature.”

“Why would I wanna do that?” Lapis asked, curious as she flew a bit lower into the small forest ahead.

“It’s fun!” Steven grinned as the blue Gem continued navigating just under the canopy of the woods. “If you live with these trees, you could have a giant bird nest and have squirrels for pets. You guys could eat acorn pies every night!”

“Or, a bit more realistically,” Dipper interjected. “If you lived here, you’d only be a short flight away from me—I mean, from us. Plus, whenever it gets hot or rains, you’d have a pretty decent cover under all these leaves.”

Intrigued, Lapis looked across the far stretch of trees they were practically lost among, or rather, their leaves, watching curiously as each of them seemed to rustle on their own accord in response to the gentle breeze swaying them along. “Leaves…” she repeated quietly, having never seen anything quite like them before.

Wanting to get a higher view, Lapis glided above the tree line once more, leaving both boys on her back a bit disheveled from the leaves they had just broken through. Steven gasped as he plucked one such leaf he spotted out of Dipper’s hair, handing it over to him so he could present it to the blue Gem herself. “Lapis, look at this!” Steven exclaimed. “This leaf turned orange! This means the seasons are starting to change from summer to fall; soon, its gonna happen to all the leaves on the trees!”

“…Wow…” Lapis said, genuinely impressed that these simple ‘leaves’ could accomplish such a special feat.

“Oh man, summer really is winding down fast, isn’t it?” Dipper said, baffled by the realization. “Its hard to believe that in just a few weeks, me and Mabel will have to be heading back to Piedmont…”

“Piedmont?” Lapis asked. “What’s that?”

“Its where we’re from,” Dipper explained. “Mabel and I are only visiting Gravity Falls for the summer. Once it’s over, we’ll have to go back home. B-but don’t worry! Its only a few hours away, probably even less for you since you can fly, Lapis.”

“Hm, well, in that case… why don’t I just live there with you?” the blue Gem suggested with a small, if not somewhat innocent smile.

“W-what?!” Dipper balked, caught off guard by the idea.

“Oh, yeah!” Steven exclaimed, all for it. “I’ve never been to Piedmont before, but I bet its really nice! And you’d get to be roommates with both Dipper and Mabel! I wish I could do that! How much more lucky could you get?”

“Uh, yeah sounds great,” Dipper said, with a rather awkward chuckle. “Though I’m not sure our parents would feel the same way. I mean, Mabel already promised them she wasn’t gonna bring any new pets home, so what would they say if I brought an entire person, or Gem, I guess, home with me?”

“Oh yeah…” Steven deflated at this while Lapis raised a confused eyebrow, clearly not understanding Dipper’s concerns. “Eh, we’ll chalk it down as a ‘plan b’. But for now, there’s plenty of places we haven’t been yet. C’mon!”

The young Gem pointed Lapis’ way to the north, prompting her to fly onward and upward, out of the boarders of Gravity Falls altogether just as night began to fall. Their higher elevation made their travel time much shorter, and soon enough, they’d broken out of the dense Oregonian forests Gravity Falls was nestled within, exchanging them for much more urban sprawls until they happened across one of the state’s most well-known.

“Hey, what’s that shadowy place over there?” Lapis asked, nodding to the smoggy city they were flying above.

“Ugh… that’s gotta be Portland…” Dipper remarked with something if a begrudging sneer.

“Is it populated by all those tiny machines?” the blue Gem asked as she stopped so they could hover over the city.

“No, but it is populated by hipsters and way too many coffee shops for comfort,” Dipper deadpanned, his tone still quite dry.

“Those are bikes, Lapis,” Steven explained, pointing down to the many cyclists below. “They’re a really fun way of getting around and if you lived here, you could ride one just about everywhere!”

“But why would I do that when I could just fly?”

“…Good question,” Steven noted. “Anyway, you’d like Portland; the people here seem to hate authority figures too.”

“Hey! Get out of our skies, ya right-wings!” someone called from the ground, tossing a shoe up at the trio in anger. They retaliated however, with a teasing, unified raspberry, an all-too appropriate and unified callback to the blue Gem’s camaraderie she had formed with the kids while still in the mirror. Their shared laughter over this continued as they took off once more, seeing no reason to linger in a place like Portland any longer.

Their next stop however, was yet another city, though one that was much more impressive than the last. This one rested near the sea, pristine and glistening in the night as the trio glided in towards it. “What’s that?” Lapis asked, intrigued.

“That’s Emerald City!” Steven grinned. “Isn’t it cool?”

“…So its controlled by Emeralds then?” the blue Gem wondered, a hint of dread in her tone.

“Uh, no, Lapis, that’s just what it’s called,” Dipper corrected. “Still, I was never sure why they called this place that, I mean, its not like its even green or anything.”

“Its very bright,” Lapis pointed out.

“Yeah, that’s why they say ‘what happens in Emerald City never sleeps’,” Steven said boldly.

“I’m pretty sure no one says that, Steven,” Dipper remarked dryly.

“So what does happen in Emerald City then?” Lapis inquired.

“Well, let’s see…” the young Gem mused. “If you lived here, you could get a cool apartment, and be a single Gem taking on the big city. You could be a freelance artist with your own studio, and come home to a wacky roommate-”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lapis cut in flatly.

“Uh… why don’t we try something else, then?” Dipper suggested.

“Heh, I’m up for it if you guys are,” the blue Gem said, smirking back at her passengers.

“Of course we are!” Steven exclaimed cheerfully.

“Anything for you, Lapis,” Dipper said with an equally confident nod.

“Alright then,” Lapis’ smile widened a bit at this as she flew the boys up higher. “Then let’s go!” Both Steven and Dipper were surprised at the blue Gem’s sudden take off, but they knew well to hold on tight as she took up past the clouds, out into the starry open skies above them. The night air was crisp and rich up here, the dark colors of late nighttime creating a beautiful sense of serenity that captivated both boys alike as they took it all in.

“Wow! Lapis, its so beautiful up here!” Steven exclaimed, stars in his eyes as he looked over the ones surrounding them.

“Eh, its alright,” Lapis remarked with a coy, wry smile. “I guess I can see why you like it. Hey, speaking of which, can you still spot the Big Dipper, Dipper?”

“Are you kidding?” Dipper chuckled, immediately pointing out the constellation he was nicknamed for. “After the front row seat you gave me of it last time, how could I not?”

Lapis herself let out a bright laugh at this, one that grew daring as her wings drooped low in anticipation. “Speaking of last time… hold on tight!” With this warning alone, the blue Gem sped forward, darting across the skies with incredible grace and ease. Both of her passengers heeded her instructions and held onto her as she confidently soared upward, her wings wide and her laughter free and easy as she sailed towards the starts. The boys both joined in on her levity, even as she preformed a daring loop, essentially tossing both of them off her back in the process. This was intentional, however, as she caught them both, one with each hand, joining in on their exhilarated cheers as she let them dangle, lose, yet secure in her grip as she carried them high above the clouds, all three of them reveling in what felt like another world entirely, even if it was still very much the same.

That was a fact that Lapis in particular was reminded of all too soon as the clouds began to part somewhat underneath them, revealing the vast dark sea below it. “Whoa, when did we get out over the ocean?” Dipper asked, amazed as he stared down below.

“We must be out super far!” Steven exclaimed, pointing out the only sole feature that could be seen amongst the seemingly endless water for miles. “Oh, cool! The Galaxy Warp!”

“Huh, so that’s where it is,” Dipper noted, impressed. “Now I can see why we always warp out here. Its way faster than flying, though I gotta admit, nowhere near as exciting.”

Both boys shared a small laugh over this bout of humor, though it was one Lapis didn’t join in on. Instead, her gaze was fixated on the Galaxy Warp far below as they slowly flew over it, everything else seeming to fade away entirely, even the pair of boys she was holding onto. In fact, she was so distracted that her once-tight grip on them soon began to loosen, something that they both notice almost as soon as it did.

“Um… Lapis?” Steven asked, glancing up at the blue Gem, concerned. “W-we’re sorta slipping a little here…”

“L-Lapis?” Dipper tried again when he noticed she wasn’t responding, essentially gripping onto Lapis’ wrist to avoid falling. “We’re slipping! We’re gonna-”

“Sorry!” Lapis gasped, tightening her grip on both of them immediately just before the boys could fall out of it entirely. “I-I… I’m sorry…”

The blue Gem looked away, ashamed as she took them all in low. It was clear she was shaken, even as they landed on the silent, glistening warp hub, allowing Lapis to approach the broken warp at its center. “Lapis…?” Dipper ventured, worried when he noticed the distance the blue Gem was putting between them. A sort of distance that, for him in particular, was far too familiar.

“This is where I was abandoned…” Lapis wrapped her arms tightly around herself, the sea winds lightly tussling her hair as she kept her back to the boys. Steven and Dipper exchanged a wondering glance at this, but ultimately approached her, curious to know more.

“W-what happened?” Steven asked gently, not wanting to push the blue Gem into such bitter memories if she didn’t want to revisit them.

And yet, she did so anyway, raising her arm as the ocean itself surrounded them, creating an all too fitting backdrop upon which Lapis could finally tell her woeful story. “It was thousands of years ago,” she began, the aquatic screen depicting the blue Gem arriving on a lush, beautiful spot of Earth. One that was all too quickly ruined by devastation and war.

“I was only meant to visit for a short time, but I got caught up in the middle of the war. I-it was awful! I tried to run, but…” She trailed off as an unknown Gem struck her from behind amidst the unfolding chaos, the heavy blow destroying her form almost instantly, leaving only her gemstone behind. “I was picked up by a Homeworld soldier and confused for a Crystal Gem and used as a tool.” From there, the blue Gem’s stone was carefully placed into the back of a familiar mirror, the very one she had been trapped in when the boys first met her. “They’d ask me, ‘show us your base!’, ‘where is your leader’? I didn’t know, and I couldn’t say I wasn’t one of them!”

“It soon became clear there was no hope of stopping the rebellion…” A mass exodus of fearful Gems unfolded at this, all of them racing for the warp that would take them away from the war-torn Earth and back to the safety of Homeworld, one of them dropping the mirror Lapis was stuck within in the process. “All of the Homeworld Gems fled, and in all of the panic of escaping Earth… I was left behind.” Just as the last rush of Gems hurried by, one of them thoughtlessly, carelessly happened to step squarely on Lapis’ gemstone, creating a deep, marring crack in its mirror-bound surface.

And just as Homeworld’s forces left, a bright, blinding flash lit up the sky, leaving a stark, empty silence behind in its place. “And there I stayed… Freedom in my sight, but out of reach for ages, until I was found…” By none other than Pearl first, who picked up the mirror from its longtime spot on the Galaxy Warp. Eventually however, the mirror exchanged hands, though apparently Lapis had never gotten a good look as to who she had been passed along to, for eventually, she ended up buried at the bottom of a dark, lonely box. That is, until the day she had at long last been found once again just a few short months ago… by Dipper.

At this, Lapis’ literal flood of memories finally came to an end, exhaustion weighing upon her as she collapsed against the Homeworld warp, the waves she had raised up crashing down along with her. While Steven instantly rushed to her side, Dipper hesitated, completely floored by everything he’d just witnessed and just how much insight it finally gave him concerning the blue Gem’s history. “L-Lapis, I…” he trailed off, wanting to say so much more than what he ultimately ended up asking her. “A-are you ok?”

“I-I’ll be fine,” the blue Gem shook her head to clear it, offering both boys a small, reassuring smile. “Let me take you both back.”

“You sure you don’t wanna take a minute?” Steven asked, concerned.

“It’s fine,” Lapis said, standing. “I just… wanna get out of here.”

Understanding the blue Gem’s reasoning behind this perfectly, both boys agreed, letting her carry them both away as they took off into the night sky once again. Things were quiet between all three of them for quite some time as Lapis flew back towards the direction of Gravity Falls, their shared manner solemn as none of them could really think of anything to really say. However, when this silence finally was broken, surprisingly enough, Lapis herself was the one to do it.

“For a moment,” she began, hope conflicting with grief in her tone as she kept her sights straight ahead. “I really felt like things could be different this time. I-I… I guess I started to think that even when I came back here the last time too, thanks to you, Dipper…”

Needless to say, Dipper was quite surprised to hear this, largely because he knew that his several earnest attempts at convincing Lapis that she could have a future on Earth never really amounted to much. And yet now, hearing Lapis admit that he had at least brought her to consider the idea made him realize. Perhaps all of the time and effort he had put towards the blue Gem in so many different ways really had mattered in the grand scheme of things after all.

“But things aren’t different,” Lapis inevitably crashed his hopes yet again, however as her tone turned bitter. “No matter where I go, I’m trapped…”

“No,” Dipper found himself interjecting largely without thinking, his tone firm and resolved as he refused to let the blue Gem drown herself in such suffocating thoughts any longer. “No, you’re not. You’re not in a mirror anymore, or in some lake, you’re finally free! You can do whatever you want now, no matter what-” He stopped short, his resolve faltering a bit as he looked down in shame. “No matter what anyone else might want you to do…”

“B-but I’m still on Earth!” Lapis protested tensely.

“Yeah, but nothing is still on Earth,” Steven cut in with a thoughtful smile. “Everything’s always changing: leaves, cities, even Portland changes; my dad said the coffee shops used to be pretty boring, but now they serve really good donuts!”

“The point is,” Dipper said, getting things back on track as he looked to the blue Gem, earnest. “Neither of us are trying to get you to stay here if you don’t want to. That’s your choice to make, Lapis. But what you should know is that… this isn’t the same world that held you prisoner, not anymore. A-and… even if it doesn’t feel like home for you now, well… if you give it a chance, maybe that could change too.”

Lapis didn’t respond to this as they finally landed right outside the barn just as dawn was beginning to break over the distant hills. “We know you can’t go back to Homeworld now,” Steven continued, handing Lapis the leaf they had shown her earlier. “But this time, if you stay here, it’ll be your choice to stay here.”

“And nobody else’s,” Dipper smiled, ready to accept that choice, whatever it might be.

The blue Gem remained quiet, focusing on the leaf in her hand as if it was the most incredible thing in all the world. And for what it was worth and all it represented to her at that moment, it might as well have been. “You know, its funny… For all this time I spent on Earth, I barely saw any of it…”

“That’s not funny!” Steven frowned sympathetically. “That’s super sad.”

“But you know…” Dipper said somewhat leadingly. “If you did decide to stay, then we’d have all the time in the world to show you everything you missed out on.”

Lapis finally smiled in full upon hearing this, her warm, beaming grin setting both boys’ hearts at ease as she looked out towards the rising sun with a renewed sense of hope. Hope that maybe, just maybe, things could be better this time. “I… I wanna see it.”

“R-really?” Dipper asked, awed by disbelief upon finally, finally hearing this admission.

“Really,” Lapis confirmed with a solid nod and a fond smile. “I wanna stay here!”

Once again, Dipper found his emotions getting the better of him as he let out an elated laugh at this, one that prompted him to rush to embrace her. A hug that she finally returned this time as they both knew it would at long last go without either of them having to say goodbye. Steven readily joined in on it, all three of them more than happy to celebrate the blue Gem finally deciding on her brand new home. “So, you’re gonna stay here here?” Steven asked, referring to the barn.

“Yeah,” Lapis grinned as the hug disbanded. “Here here!”

“Yes, ‘here-here’, everybody!” The levity was almost immediately, starkly interupted by Peridot and Mabel’s arrival, the latter clearly excited to see Lapis awake as she waved to her enthusiastically. Of course, what neither of them noticed was the absolutely baffled look Lapis was sending the green Gem all the while as they made their approach. “What are we talking about?” Peridot asked, completely oblivious.

“Y-You?!” Lapis exclaimed, aghast to see the green Gem again.

“Lazuli,” Peridot nodded cordially. “Nice to see you up and about.”

“Yeah! I’m so glad you came back, Lapis!” Mabel chimed in brightly. “Though it looks like somebody decided to go off on some sorta super-fun night flight without me.” She sent a pointed look to Steven and Dipper, though neither of them noticed as they were far too engrossed in watching the obvious tension build between the two newly-reunited Gems.

“W-what are you doing here?!” Lapis demanded, not hesitating to send Peridot a fierce, distrustful glare.

“This is my new home away from Homeworld!” Peridot proclaimed proudly.

“No, its not, its mine!” Lapis countered defiantly. “Steven, Dipper, tell her!”

Needless to say that, as caught up in the sudden awkward encounter as they were, both boys were hard pressed to say or do much of anything at all, other than exchange a terse, uncomfortable glance over the conflict they’d now no doubt have to resolve. “Oh boy…” Steven muttered, capturing just how difficult this situation would likely be to solve perfectly.

“Yeah…” Dipper admitted just as apprehensively, Mabel likewise realizing just how at odds both Lapis and Peridot would likely be with each other, given their history with one another. “We… really didn’t think this part through…”

***

“And then I’ll say ‘Hey, as one refugee to another, it isn’t so bad we can’t go back to Homeworld, am I right? Why don’t we watch the sun come up and figure out what we’re going to do with all this time, eh Lazuli?’” Peridot listed off the many, many points of her plan to her tablet, recording them for posterity and paying little mind to the audience she had as she did. “And then she’ll say ‘Yes, Peridot, as impressed as I was by you back on Homeworld, I am even more impressed with your new compact look and your capacity for friendship! I’m so glad we’re going to live together!’ Peridot, facet 5, out.”

Satisfied, the green Gem brought her recording to an end before she turned to face the others. “Ooo! Good plan, Peri!” Mabel chimed brightly. “You really thought this whole thing through!”

“Precisely,” Peridot smirked before addressing Lapis in particular. “So… let’s begin.”

“This isn’t going to work,” Lapis immediately stopped the green Gem in her tracks, her expression dry and bitter as she shook her head.

“Wait… what?” Peridot asked, caught of guard.

The blue Gem largely ignored her, instead anxiously turning to the trio of kids beside her instead. “I really thought I was going to be living alone here…”

“Yeah… but this is even better!” Steven professed as he came up with a sudden idea to make things work. “Oh! How about this? I saw this on an episode of a TV show once. I didn’t see how it ended, but I’m sure it worked out all right.” The young Gem took out a marker, drawing a clean, distinct line separating the barn clean in half between Lapis and Peridot. “If we split the place in half, then you can both have your own space! High ceilings, real wood floors, convenient location in the heart of the country… It’s perfect for you two!”

“Yeah, perfect outside of the fact that they’re still gonna have to see each other every day…” Dipper muttered, already knowing that Lapis wouldn’t be fond of the idea for a number of reasons. Either way, both Peridot and Mabel were fully on board with it.

“Ohhh! Looks like everyone’s full of great ideas today!” Mabel quipped excitedly, if not a bit obliviously.

“Yes, this will work fine,” Peridot grinned. “I like the cut of your gem, Steven Quartz!”

Lapis, however, was far from pacified with such a simple, thoughtless solution. “No. No way!” she protested hotly.

“What’s the problem?” Peridot asked, confused. “You’re the one getting all the good stuff! You’ve got the propeller and the cans on your side! You can do tons with those! Ohh—actually, I want the paint cans. You wanna trade something?”

“I don’t care about paint cans,” Lapis glowered dismissively. “That’s not the problem.”

“Eh…?” the green Gem raised an eyebrow, still not getting the point.

“What’s wrong, Lapis?” Steven asked, concerned.

“It’s her,” the blue Gem hissed, glaring piercingly at the green Gem. “She’s the problem. I can’t stand the thought of looking at her every day. She’s the reason why I had to run back here to Earth!”

“Hey, that wasn’t my fault!” Peridot exclaimed defensively. “I was headed to Earth anyway and I needed an informant. It should have been a simple mission. Things didn’t exactly work out for ether of us…”

“You interrogated me!” Lapis snapped, furious. “You used me like everyone else did!”

“But its not like that now!” the green Gem countered. “It’s different now. I’m different.”

“Yeah, that’s right!” Mabel cut in earnestly. “Peridot’s not only super cute and short now-”

“Hey!” Peridot interupted, disgruntled.

“-But she’s also really good and fun to hang around with! She doesn’t even wanna destroy us or the Earth anymore, isn’t that cool?”

“Its true, Lapis,” Steven agreed. “Peridot’s really come into her own since she’s been living on Earth.”

“Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it…” Dipper began with a small smile. “Peridot really isn’t that bad, at least not anymore.”

“I’m not bad at all now!” the green Gem assured firmly. “I sabotaged by own mission! I helped save the Earth! I even yelled at Yellow Diamond! She’s probably sending a whole fleet here to find me and shatter me right now. So as you can see, I’m kind of a big deal; a big anti-Homeworld deal!”

Despite this lengthy list of proud accomplishments, Lapis simply scoffed at them, rolling her eyes as she stepped over to the kids. “Sorry, you guys,” she said, her tone much more gentle as she addressed them. “But I really don’t think this is gonna work.”

“Aw, but, Lapis!” Mabel protested with a pout. “You and Peri would make the cutest pair of roomies ever!”

“Uh… maybe we could put up a curtain…?” Steven suggested, trying to come up with really anything at this point. Even so, Lapis simply gave the pair an apologetic smile as she shook her head, stepping out of the barn before summoning her wings to fly towards her former perch on top of the silo.

“Ohh man…” Dipper sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “Maybe I should go talk to her. I can’t make any promises, but maybe I might be able to smooth things out here?”

“Hey, no one knows Lapis better than you do, bro-bro,” Mabel grinned in support of this plan.

“Ugh, I’m up for anything if it gets her to understand…” Peridot muttered, crossing her arms.

“Well then… here does nothing,” Dipper said, venturing off to follow after the blue Gem once again. At the same time, Steven let out a disappointed sigh all his own as he looked away from the equally dejected green Gem.

“Er, sorry, Peridot…” he said. “I thought this was gonna be ok. I guess we all forgot that the last time you two saw each other… wasn’t so ok…”

“That was in the past!” Peridot growled, annoyed. “Its not like that now!”

“Aw, Peri,” Mabel began sympathetically. “You’ve changed so much since you’ve been here on Earth with us! We all know that.”

“But obviously she doesn’t!” the green Gem motioned towards Lapis, still afar off atop the silo. “She’s the one who needs to know! I want her to see that I’ve changed just like all of you have!”

“Oh, Peridot! That’s really sweet!” Steven smiled, endeared by Peridot’s honesty and effort. “That’s the you you need to show her!”

“Show her my sweet…?” Peridot asked, confused.

“Yeah, sorta,” Mabel chuckled. “You just gotta show her how much you care!”

“…How am I supposed to do that?”

“Don’t worry,” Steven grinned, throwing an arm around the green Gem’s shoulder as Mabel did the same. “We got you.”

***

“So even though most people just naturally like me because of my magnetic personality,” Mabel explained proudly as her, Peridot, and Steven congregated on the barn floor. “I still consider myself to be something of an expert in getting people to other people to like each other, especially when it comes to getting creative!” At this, she whipped out a large bag of various craft supplies of all sorts, from crayons to paint to of course, glitter of every single color there was.

“Oh… I see…” Peridot nodded in understanding. “We’re going to decorate Lazuli, just like we did to the barn!” At this, the green Gem pointed out the small corner of the barn her and Mabel had been working on, which was laden with stickers and paint and glitter to create a colorful, eye-catching nook.

“Um… no,” Steven frowned, pulling out a large sheet of paper and folding it in half. “We’re gonna use this instead. Cards are a great way to tell someone something if you can’t be face to face with them! Or… if they don’t wanna see your face. But this is a perfect way for you to give her a taste of that sweet version of Peridot! Here, look!” The young Gem held the card up as he finished scribbling on it. “Its you and Lapis holding hands!”

“…Where are our noses?” Peridot asked, not quite taken with Steven’s unique interpretation.

“Oh, that’s kind of part of my style lately.”

“Is not having fingers also part of your style?”

“No, I-I’m just bad at drawing hands.”

“Tsk, I appreciate the effort, Steven, but I think ya might just be a bit out of your element here,” Mabel shook her head. “Move over and let a real pro take a crack at it.”

The young Gem did so, allowing Mabel to make a fresh start on a new card. Both Steven and Peridot watched her curiously as she worked rapidly, but precisely, crafting out a ‘masterpiece’ in not just markers, but also in pastels, paint, and everything in between. Then, once her work was complete, she topped it all off with a healthy dose of glitter for good measure before stepping back to appreciate it. “There! If that doesn’t get Lapis to like you, Peri, then I don’t know what will?”

“Ohh! That looks way better than my card!” Steven exclaimed, impressed. “You’re such a great artist, Mabel!”

“Aw, shucks…” Mabel grinned, blushing deeply at such a warm compliment. “I-I’m not that great…”

“Uh… why are there so many hearts surrounding me and Lazuli?” Peridot asked, bewildered.

“Oh, never mind those right now,” Mabel grinned with a knowing wink. “I have a feeling that if you two take off, you’ll get the point of them sooner than you think.”

“So here’s your part,” Steven handed off a marker to Peridot herself. “Write an apology inside to Lapis so she knows how sorry you are about before and that everything is ok now. If you write from the heart, your feelings will reach her!” This advice was completely lost on the green Gem however, as she looked to him, utterly confused until Steven clarified. “Just… try to be sincere.”

“Hm…” Peridot mused, taking a moment or two to mull such an apology over. Soon enough, though, she began writing it out, allowing herself to be as sincere as she knew how to be, all in the hopes that it would finally let Lapis get a glimpse of who she truly was. Of how she’d truly changed for the better.

***

Even if Lapis had gone up to sit on top of the silo to more or less get a peaceful moment alone, she absolutely didn’t protest at all when she noticed Dipper climbing up to join her. Instead, she sat up, welcoming him with a small smile as he came to sit next to her.

“Hey,” she greeted him casually, fondly.

“Hey,” he returned, a bit less warmly and a bit more worriedly as he looked over at her. “How are you feeling?”

“Ok, I guess…” the blue Gem shrugged. “I’ll feel much better once she leaves, though…”

“Lapis, I…” Dipper began apprehensively. “I don’t think Peridot’s going to leave.”

“Why not?” Lapis asked, disgruntled. “She can’t stay here with me. I won’t let her. Not after… what she did…”

“But… that’s just it,” Dipper said, still making sure to tread carefully as not to upset the blue Gem anymore. “Even if she was pretty awful back on Homeworld, she really is different now. Believe me, I used to hate her just as much as you do, but… she’s not the same Gem who interrogated you. She’s actually pretty ok once you get past that massive ego of hers.”

While Dipper let out a small chuckle at this, it was one Lapis didn’t join in on as her tone grew even more bitter. “But how do you know that’s not just some act she’s putting on?” she asked coldly. “How can you just… trust her, even after everything she’s done?”

“Because she’s changed, Lapis,” Dipper rationalized evenly. “She may not be perfect, but she’s proved to me, Steven, and Mabel that she wants to be better.”

“So what if she has?” Lapis asked, crossing her arms. “Even if she has changed, that doesn’t change what she did. I can’t just… forgive her for that like it never even happened! And to be honest, I don’t see how you can either…”

Dipper faltered at this, wanting to explain to Lapis just how truly bitter he had once felt towards Peridot, how he had largely blamed her, almost as much as himself, for the events that had led up to her lengthy, miserable stint as Malachite. But at the same time, he wanted to explain everything that Peridot had done to shatter his original perception of her entirely, how she had evolved, grown, even gained his respect and perhaps even friendship through it all. And yet, despite all of that, it largely seemed as though Lapis had already made up her mind about the green Gem. And that there would be no changing it any time soon.

“Hey! Lazuli!” As if on cue, Peridot’s shout sounded out from the base of the silo, eliciting another aggravated groan from Lapis as she turned her nose up, ignoring her completely as she continued to call out for her. “Laaaazuli! HEY! Ugh, why isn’t she responding?” Peridot asked Steven and Mabel, frustrated.

“I’m not sure… I thought both her and Dipper were up there…” Steven frowned before making an attempt at getting the blue Gem’s attention himself. “Hey! Lapis! You up there?!”

“Huh?” Lapis turned, much more concerned with the young Gem’s call than she had been with Peridot’s. She didn’t waste a moment in gathering Dipper before she flew them both down to the ground to meet Steven and Mabel. “Yes, Steven? Mabel?” she looked between the pair curiously, still intentionally not paying Peridot any mind whatsoever.

“Well… go on…” Mabel urged the green Gem with a wide smile, pushing her forward a bit.

Peridot stepped up to Lapis, awkwardly clenching the card in her hands before stiffly presenting it to her with a tight, forced grin. “Mabel did the outside, and I did the inside!” she proclaimed, proud of their handywork. However, the moment Lapis opened up said card, a large pile of glitter sprinkled out of it, accumulating at the blue Gem’s feet.

“I also supplied the glitter!” Mabel quipped, though she retracted upon catching a disapproving glance from her brother. “N-not that it matters…”

Lapis’ expression was dour and hard as she glanced over the card, ultimately opting to read what Peridot had written inside of it aloud. “‘Sorry I interrogated you. You were just so full of useful information. That’s a sincere compliment. Peridot.’”

The blue Gem made no further comment on the card, instead sending the green Gem a dry, critical glance over its contents. A sign that, despite her best efforts, this first attempt clearly hadn’t worked at all.

***

“The glitter!” Peridot huffed as she paced around the barn moments later, still quite perturbed over her recent failure. Steven and Mabel stood by, watching her worriedly as she ranted off her theories as to why the card hadn’t amounted to anything whatsoever. “One can only conclude it was the excessive amount of glitter! It seems illogical to me that it would be any of the writing elements! It took me over an hour to compose it, and I was the most sincere as per Steven’s instructions!”

“It could be… she’s just not much of a reader?” Steven ventured, uncertain.

“Oh! I got it!” Mabel raised her hand enthusiastically. “Why don’t you try giving her a gift!?”

“Another approach, yes!” Peridot exclaimed daringly. “But what…?”

“Hm… think of something that she likes?” Steven suggested with a shrug.

“Oh! I know something!” Mabel raised her hand once more. “She likes Dipper!” She pointed out to her brother, leaning up against the fence outside as he continued chatting with the blue Gem. “But it’s not like we can just wrap him up in a pretty box and give him to Lapis… can we?”

“Hm…” Peridot continued thinking. “Well, Lapis Lazulis are typically partial to water and flying, so… aha!” Both Steven and Mabel gasped in excited anticipation for whatever the green Gem was about to purpose, though in the end, she backtracked on whatever idea she’d had in mind. “No…”

“No?” Steven frowned.

“Nu-uh,” the green Gem shook her head. “But WHAT IF-”

“Yeah?” Mabel asked, curious.

“…Nah…”

“Oh, yeah, totally no.”

“Yeah, that’d probably be overdoing it…”

“Ugh…” the trio let out a unified exasperated groan, none of them able to really come up with much of anything. Until…

“Water…” Steven mused, looking outside of the barn to the large hole the drill had dug into the soil there and seeing a prime opportunity within it. “You know… I think you might just have something there.”

***

As soon as Steven and Mabel had finished relaying their latest plan to Dipper, he complied with his part of guiding Lapis towards it. He did so rather carefully though, since he had somehow managed to convince the blue Gem to shield her eyes with her own wings so that Peridot’s ‘gift’ would remain a surprise.

“We’re almost there,” he assured. “By the way, you can’t actually see through those, right?”

“Actually yes,” Lapis admitted with a small smile. “But its very blurry.”

“Good to know,” Dipper returned her grin as they both came to a stop. “Ok, here we are.”

Lapis unfolded her wings at this, though her smile was quick to disappear completely when she took in the sight before her. Mabel and Steven stood by, tossing celebratory confetti in front of Peridot, who was casually floating on an inner tube atop the newly created pool of water the trio had just filled in. “H-2-Oh my gosh!” Peridot exclaimed proudly, pulling down the sunglasses Mabel had given her. “It’s a smaller-than-average lake!”

“Uh… don’t you mean ‘pool’?” Dipper pointed out.

“…What?” Peridot asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“It’s from the hole we drilled,” Steven explained. “Peridot, Mabel, and I sealed it and filled it with water.”

“And we even found some fun pool toys in the barn you guys can use in it!” Mabel grinned as she presented a pair of floaties to Lapis. “Ta da! Water wings to go with your real water wings! They’re even blue, just like you are, so you’ll be perfectly matching and totally styling, if I do say so myself.”

“Heh,” Lapis was unable to hold back a small chuckle at this as she accepted the floaties. “Thanks, Mabel, but…” her expression turned bitter once more as she looked back to the pool. “What’s the point of this?”

“It’s a gift, for you!” Peridot quipped cheerfully. “You know, cause water’s your thing. Pretty good, right? The barn’s out here in the country, but now you can get your moisture fix whenever. So you can do… all that water stuff you do!”

The blue Gem narrowed her eyes at this, her tone incredulous as she looked over the pool once again. “…Water? Seriously?”

“Yeah!” Peridot chimed enthusiastically.

“You do realize that I spent the last few weeks trapped in a lake, right?”

“S-sure,” the green Gem’s smile turned awkward at this. “B-but I thought-”

“It was an endless, crushing darkness,” Lapis said, her voice low and dark as she relentlessly described the barrage of horrors she had been through. “Wet and bleak and suffocating. Water was the tomb I lived in for those weeks.”

Unsure of what to say to this, Peridot sunk a bit into her inner tube, embarrassed as she realized all of the many places she had gone wrong with her earnest gift for the blue Gem. “T-tomb, you say?”

“Yeah,” Lapis remarked, her tone flat and cross once more. “So I’m kind of taking a break from water right now. But thanks… for the ‘lake’.”

By now, Peridot was beyond mortified as she finally ended up flipping over in her tube, falling right into the lake to add insult to injury. At the same time, the kids exchanged a frantic glance, none of them having expected for Lapis to take their latest approach with such a harsh reception.

“Don’t worry, you three,” she quickly assured them warmly before shooting another disdainful glance back at Peridot. “It’s not your fault.”

With that, the blue Gem simply summoned her wings and flew off once more, leaving them, and especially the green Gem behind, awash what remained of yet another idea that had gotten her absolutely nowhere.

***

“A pool?!” Peridot huffed, recording into her tablet as Steven and Mabel sat by once again, empathetically listening to her. “What a cloddy idea! Of course she wouldn’t like that! There’s nothing, nothing, NOTHING that will get her to like me!”

“Aw, Peri, you can’t give up just yet!” Mabel urged.

“Yeah, there’s gotta be something, something, something….” Steven mused, deep in thought for any sort of other angle they could go with. Quite a challenge indeed, since it was clear they were all too quickly starting to run out of viable ideas. “Maybe… instead of something she likes… give her something you like! A piece of you!”

“Um… ok?” Peridot looked around, unsure of what that piece should be. “How about… one of my Camp Pining Hearts DVDs?”

“Which season?” Mabel asked dubiously.

“5…?”

“Trash,” both Steven and Mabel refuted, crossing their arms judgmentally.

“I know,” Peridot groaned, letting herself fall backward onto the floor as she continued groaning all the while, even as she began recording yet another log on her tablet. “Log date—whatever, facet—WHATEVER! Clearly there’s nothing important enough for me to give to Lazuli! Ugh… at least I still have you, tablet…” she sighed, patting the device affectionately. Only a beat later, however, she gasped as she looked to it once again, realizing that perhaps the perfect gift for Lapis wasn’t so far out of reach after all.

***

“Ta-da!” Peridot smiled as brightly as she possibly could as she presented her next gift to Lapis. Steven and Mabel had helped her carefully box and wrap it, so of course, both of them, along with Dipper, were present to watch as she delivered it, knowing that there wasn’t a chance this plan could fail, not this time.

Expectedly, Lapis said nothing, instead continuing to glower down at the green Gem, even as she took another small step closer to her, still holding her gift up in offering towards her. “See, even the ribbon is even blue,” Peridot pointed out with a coy grin. “I got yo number!”

Still, Lapis said nothing, not making any attempts at moving to accept the gift as she instead maintained her cold, monotonous manner. Peridot grew somewhat nervous at this, but, upon a pair of encouraging nodes from both Steven and Mabel, she pressed on all the same. “Uh, h-here! I’ll unwrap it for you!” the green Gem did so, explaining the meaning behind the box’s contents as she did. “When I was stuck here, Steven and Mabel a ‘cell phone’ as a gift and after that was… unfortunately broken, one of Dipper’s friends gave me this as a replacement. I didn’t really get it at first-” Peridot finally unboxed the gift to reveal her own treasured tablet, which she selflessly offered to the blue Gem once more. “But it made me feel better just to talk about the weird stuff that was happening. A-and maybe… it’ll help you too!”

Of course, while the kids were all unanimously warmed by Peridot’s kind sentiments, Lapis didn’t really react to them other than finally taking the tablet with both hands, looking down at it dubiously. “You, um… press that button at the bottom, tap the microphone app, and then just hit record a-and then you talk to it,” Peridot explained, offering the blue Gem an expectant smile.

Lapis followed these instructions with surprising ease, her expression still harsh as she pressed record to leave a single icy, bitter message. “I don’t want your garbage.”

And with that, she gripped both sides of the tablet, bending it until it inevitably snapped clean in two, its glass screen shattering as it immediately powered off for the last time. Peridot, Steven, Mabel, and Dipper alike all watched in horrified shock as she dropped both halves of the ruined tablet, not even flinching as they fell to the ground at her feet, absolutely broken beyond repair.

Of course, Peridot was by far the most alarmed and upset to see her heartfelt gift not just be rejected, but completely destroyed altogether without so much as a second thought at all. “Augh!” she cried in heated frustration, glaring back up at the unshaken blue Gem. “What, were you trapped in a tablet too?!” Lapis finally flinched at this, clearly taken aback by such a bold remark, but even so, Peridot continued, letting out a long sigh as she tried her best to calm down. “Look, I get it, you know?” the green Gem said, her tone both sincere and frustrated. “You’re confused, you can never go back to Homeworld! This place doesn’t exactly feel like home yet. You’re alone, no one could possibly know what that feels like. Oh wait! I do! Heck, I even know what its like to be in a terrible fusion, just like you do, no thanks to one certain Pyrite…” Peridot shuddered at this, not catching the look of confused disbelief Lapis sent her way upon hearing this as she continued her emotional outburst. “Don’t you see? We’re the same, except… you don’t have to be alone…” The green Gem looked up to her, sad and hopeful, even as the blue Gem looked away angrily, just as she always seemed to do. “So tell me then… what you want from me! And whatever that is… I’ll do it.”

Lapis maintained her scowl, still refusing to let go of her animosity as she gave the green Gem the truth that she wanted, as hostile and hurtful as it was. “I want you… to LEAVE!”

Peridot gasped at this, as did the trio of kids behind her, but even so, the green Gem accepted this demand as graciously as anyone could have been expected to. “O-ok…” she closed her eyes, saying nothing else as she turned and walked off. Leaving the barn, the kids, her brand new home behind, all in a final, meager attempt to appease the blue Gem, one that she knew, just like all her other tries, would ultimately mean nothing in the end.

A long stretch of silence followed as the kids watched Peridot go, all of them floored by what they had just seen. Before, they had all understood, at least on some level, why Lapis had bore such ill will towards the green Gem from the start. But now, even after all the attempts Peridot had made at trying to prove to her she had changed, Lapis rebuffed and rejected her every single time without so much as budging from her bitter stance even once. And now, there was no question that in her stewing stubbornness, she had gone too far.

“Lapis… what the heck?!” Dipper, surprisingly enough, was the first to call the blue Gem out on her deplorable behavior, unable to look past it, even despite the significant trauma she had just been through. “I’m sorry, but, that… that was awful! Why would you do that?!”

“Why wouldn’t I do that?” Lapis asked with a flippant scoff. “I already told you, I don’t want her around here!”

“B-but you didn’t have to be so mean to her!” Mabel protested just as devoutly as her brother had. “She really is trying to get you to like her! And she’s serious about all of it!”

Unable to show anywhere near the same sort of hostility towards the kids as she had with Peridot, Lapis’ expression finally softened somewhat at this, taking on what almost appeared to be guilt for a moment before skepticism took its place instead. “W-why… why do you three care so much about her?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why does it matter so much to you that she sticks around? Why don’t you want her gone just as much as I do?!”

“Because we know her!” Steven scolded firmly, sharing the twins’ clear disappointment in the blue Gem. “Lapis, you’re not even giving her a single chance and that’s not fair! You should have at least gotten to know her before you decided that you didn’t like her! But now…” He sighed sadly, looking down at the broken remains of Peridot’s former tablet, something that Lapis mirrored with the slightest tinge of regret in her expression as she realized that maybe… just maybe, the kids were right about the green Gem after all. “Its too late. And she’s never coming back again…”

“AHHH!!!!” Peridot’s terrified cry suddenly echoed over the hills she had just disappeared behind, heralding her arrival even before she scrambled over them hurriedly.

“Oh, hey! She’s coming back again!” Mabel smiled, though it quickly faded as they all noticed the green Gem’s frantic manner.

“They’re here!” she shouted warningly, rushing past the group to retreat towards the barn. Everyone was unanimously confused at this, that is, until the overcast skies above were suddenly broken by a large, ominous, crimson pod, looming menacingly as it hovered down from above. The others were startled stiff as they saw it, or rather as it saw them, casting down a stark, bright yellow ray of light on all three of them.

“W-what is that?!” Dipper asked, both dumbfounded and terrified by the sinister-looking craft.

“Who cares? Run!” Mabel cried, grabbing both Dipper and Steven by the arms as they hurried off, Lapis following not too far behind. They quickly joined Peridot in hiding out in the barn, hoping that the ship, whatever it was or whatever it had come for, wouldn’t be able to spot them there.

“P-Peridot! What’s going on?” Steven asked, out of breath from such a short, hectic dash.

“I-it’s a Roaming Eye!” Peridot explained, trying to keep her anxious voice down. “A Homeworld tracking vessel! There’s no doubt Yellow Diamond sent it here to find me! I told you, I’m public enemy #1!”

Despite the group’s best efforts to slip away from the Roaming Eye, it all too quickly found them, its golden spotlight flooding in through the barns’ wooden ceiling. Everyone collectively held their breaths as it passed overhead, and for a moment, it seemed as though they were in the clear as the vessel apparently hovered right past the barn. That is, until it flashed directly through the large hole in the building’s side, easily finding the terrified group gathered within it once more.

Panicked, they tried fleeing from it again, collectively rushing out of the barn in the hopes of escaping from the Roaming Eye somewhere else. They didn’t get too far before the ship overtook them, however, coming to float directly ahead of them, its sinister spotlight bearing down on them all the while.

“N-no!” Peridot cried, cowering fearfully behind Steven, Mabel, and Dipper. The kids themselves, however, were also quite terrified, especially as the Roaming Eye’s light took on a much harsher pallor, turning bright red as its reticle focused in on all of them directly, no doubt in anticipation of a deadly attack.

“T-this is it!” Peridot exclaimed mournfully as she continued to tremble in terror behind the kids. “They’re going to wipe my precious grin off the face of this planet!”

“Not if we have anything to about it, Peri!” Mabel assured as confidently as she could.

“Just stay behind us!” Steven ordered, ready to summon his shield. “We’ll protect you!”

Ultimately, however, the young Gem didn’t need to call upon his shield, for right before he could, Lapis, of all people or Gems, happened to step forward instead. Her manner was calm and unshaken as she stepped towards the Roaming Eye, its crimson glow shading her red as the gale it created rustled her hair lightly all the while. Briefly, she paused, casting a brief glance back at the kids, or rather Peridot, her expression still cold and unyielding as she spoke not a single word. Instead, she turned back to the vessel before her, raising her hand silently as she called upon the water in the nearby pool to do the same, forming it into a hand to match her own. And then, in a single, simple move, she flicked the Roaming Eye with her aquatic hand, immediately halting its descent before she slammed it down, sending it plummeting, hard and defeated, to the ground.

As the now defunct Roaming Eye grew still and silent, the others were all left in stunned silence, absolutely baffled as they looked back to the triumphant blue Gem as she released her control over the water once more. “Holy smokes…” Peridot muttered to herself, beyond impressed and amazed at just how powerful Lapis really was. But what surprised her even more was when the blue Gem looked back to her once again, addressing her directly this time, her tone no longer bearing the same bitterness as it had before.

“Peridot,” she began, turning to face the green Gem fully. “…You ok?”

Peridot didn’t say anything, instead opting to reply with a wide, elated, beaming grin, knowing that even if they weren’t exactly friends or roommates or anything of the sort quite yet, this was a start. And a start was all she had really wanted from the get-go.

Upon catching such a warm grin, Lapis quickly grew flustered, her cheeks deepening in a dark blue blush that she quickly tried to hide away. Both Steven and Dipper laughed lightly at this, glad to see at least some form of civility between the pair, though Mabel by far was the most excited about it among the three.

“Yeesssss!” she cheered in a starry-eyed whisper. “Looks like pretty soon I’ll have another pair to add to my ‘Cutest Gem Couples’ list! Which is good cause so far all I have on there is Ruby and Sapphire, I really gotta buff that list up.”

“Kids!” A loud, concerned cry from none other than Pearl sounded out as Stan’s car pulled up to the barn, all three of the Gems, as well as the conman and the author piling out. “Are you all alright? We saw the ship and came out as fast as we could!”

“Yeah, chalk it up to yet another drive I had to make all the way out here,” Stan remarked crossly. “I swear, I’m starting to get really sick of this place…”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Steven replied to Pearl’s worries. “Lapis saved us, but… it looks like Homeworld really has it out for Peridot.” He nodded over to the dormant Roaming Eye lying several feet away.

“I guess Lapis will just have to keep slam-dunking their ships until they get the message they’re not wanted here,” Dipper remarked with a small chuckle, one that Lapis returned with a bit of a laugh of her own. However, what neither of them initially noticed was the awestruck look Ford in particular was sending Lapis’ way, though the blue Gem caught onto it soon enough as she just so happened to look over towards him as well.

“N-no way…” Lapis gasped, her eyes wide with disbelief as she stepped over to meet the author. “Its… its you! It’s really you!”

Ford started at this, every bit as shocked as the blue Gem herself was as they approached one another. “I—you… you actually remember me?”

“Are you kidding, of course I do!” Lapis exclaimed, though her incredulous smile soon faded into guilt as she looked away. “A-and… I’m sorry… for leaving you behind.”

Against all odds, the author caught the blue Gem off guard again, this time with a small, simple, accepting smirk. “If anyone should be sorry, it should be me. It was my botched plans that cost both of us a clean get away. But in the end, I suppose it all worked out; after all, we both still made it back here all the same.”

Lapis’ remorse was quickly set to ease at this as she returned his confident smile, glad to know that her own selfish escape hadn’t cost him his life after all. “Yeah. I guess we did.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Mabel suddenly interjected, absolutely confused. “What in the actual hey is goin’ on here?”

“Yeah, seriously,” Dipper added, just as bewildered. “Do you guys know each other or something?”

“Oh! Dipper!” Lapis exclaimed, her smile widening in excitement. “This is him! He’s the human I was telling you about! The one who helped me when I was locked up on Homeworld!”

“What?!” Dipper exclaimed, completely shocked to discover the answer to a question he had largely, admittedly forgotten he’d once had. “Great Uncle Ford, you’ve been to Homeworld?!”

“Ah, yes, I… I have…” Ford glanced down apprehensively, not catching the stunned glances he was catching from the Crystal Gems in particular as he admitted this. “But that’s a story for another time. For now, it looks as though we have other, far more pressing things to worry about…”

The author nodded over at the crashed Roaming Eye, smoke starting to emit from it as soft, thumping noises began to pound from somewhere inside its interior. Clearly, something was happening with the supposedly defunct vessel, and whatever it was, everyone was instantly on edge as they watched it closely. And it was a good thing that they did, for no sooner than a moment later, its hatch burst open, and emerging from its cockpit was a single Gem, its stone resting in the place where one its eyes should have been as it glared out across its new surroundings fiercely.

And that Gem was none other… than a Ruby.

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