Chapter Text
Chapter 3
•••••
Ren casually sits at the front of his ship, looking out across the universe ahead of him. The stars and galaxies always looked more interesting when he was in a good mood. Other times, it felt like a prison of emptiness, far from his friends.
He sees a shadow of movement from his peripherals as he continues to look out into the distance.
“Hello False, you can stop creeping at the side of the room, I’m not doing much, as you can see,” the emerald drawls out with a playful, yet sad, smile.
“Aye, Ren, sorry, you looked deep in thought. Didn’t want to interrupt anything. We’re receiving a transmission from Life right now. It seems they require the captain’s presence for this particular discussion,” False says, smirking a bit as Ren’s eyes widen behind his sunglasses.
“My Ruby?” Ren says lightly, trying not to let too much hope and wonder fill his voice.
The Amazonite shakes her head, frowning a bit while awkwardly looking down at the ground. “No, not the Ruby. I believe it’s the pearl you usually call Joel.”
A little bit of excitement leaves Ren’s figure at this, but obviously he was still quite excited to talk to Joel. It was hard to make contact between him traveling so much and the Lifers current situation.
Ren gets up to follow False to the communications room, the anticipation rising in him. This could really mean something. There could be important news, or a mission, or maybe they just missed him and wanted to talk to him. Whatever it was, he would be prepared.
False and Ren walk through the doorway and it quickly slides shut behind them. Ren stares at the projection on the table of the green pearl. Joel looked about the same as always, but Ren still took a long look at him, it having been a few hundred years since contact.
Joel glances at the screen, noticing the projection of Ren approaching, and clears his throat.
“Ah, Ren, just the man I was looking for,” he says with a smirk.
“My dude, Joel, it is surely a pleasure seeing you again,” Ren says, adjusting his sunglasses to look over them.
Joel’s smile widens as he says, “Oh definitely, I wish we could socialize, but we both know we must use our time sparingly here.”
Ren straightens his face and nods as Joel continues.
“I need you and your associates to keep an eye out for Jimmy.”
“Jimmy?!” Ren spits out in surprise, dropping his sunglasses and quickly trying to catch them before they hit the floor. “I’ve always been on the lookout for the lad, but we’ve been on the lookout for years.”
“Yes, yes, of course. But we’ve taken a few steps in the direction of being able to dig him up. Lizzie’s pulled some universal strings you could say,” Joel explains.
Ren chuckles as he says, “Ah, universal strings. Why didn’t you just say that in the first place, my dude, I totally get that. So you want me alerting everyone?”
“Yes, everyone in your comms system. If he’s out there, we will find him. And Lizzie says she can sense him, she thinks. So really he’s got to be out there,” Joel states.
“And how will these universal strings be working?” Ren inquires.
“Ah, that’s the very minor issue we’ve run into. We don’t really know. Lizzie is attaching herself to the feeling of his gem and trying her best to communicate. It’s not really a thing any of us have done before, so there’s no science to it, but there will be something.”
Ren stares blankly at Joel. “My dude, you want us to find him based on there being ‘something’?”
The feed starts to cut out as Joel shouts, “I don’t know man! You’ll know it when it hits you!”
The transmission beeps urgently as the words “SIGNAL LOST” flash across the holographic screen.
Ren swears under his breath and kicks one of the chairs around the meeting table half-heartedly.
“Aye, at least we have a little bit to go off of to find your friend, it’ll be alright,” False says as she approaches Ren, setting her hand on his shoulder.
Ren rolls his shoulder to nudge False’s hand off, not in the mood to be comforted. “It’s barely more than we’ve had the past 3,000 years, False. It doesn’t really feel like we’re getting any closer to finding him.”
“Come on Ren, think on the bright side, it’s not all bad. He said there’ll be signs. Who knows, maybe Jimmy will just find us himself,” False says sympathetically, staring at Ren’s profile as he shakes his head.
“If you say so, False.”
•••••
~~~~~
The creature’s eyes were big, round, and black. It stared at the Lapis blankly.
“Come on Mr. Cow, I’m gonna take you and your buddy home with me,” Jimmy says in a chipper voice, as if the cows could understand anything he was saying.
What’s a cow? Jimmy’s brain quickly fills in the question. How silly of him, cows were one of the most valuable assets on Life, how could he forget that.
“We very well can’t have a ranch with no cows!” He continues as he urges the cows onward, following him through the terrain.
Luckily the lapis had the extra wheat on him when he ran into these cows. No way, no how, did he want anyone else getting their hands on them.
Finally, he reaches the ranch. The cute house was yet to have any actual outdoor ranch space, so Jimmy led the cows into the house, closing the door behind them to make sure they stayed put.
Suddenly, a bruise appears on his arm with a twinge of pain as he hears a loud, “OOPS!” from off in the distance.
“Is that my rancher?!” the lapis drawls, yelling loudly so that the other could hear.
“Jimmy!” he hears as the rustling gets closer, more urgently trying to get to his area. The Carnelian then pops out from the forest and waves both hands at Jimmy in greeting.
“Tango!” Jimmy yelps as he rushes over to Tango. “Hope you didn’t run into any trouble out there,” he says cautiously, looking at the bruising on both their arms.
“Oh no no no, I just tripped and took some fall damage like a clumsy buffoon!” Tango says, laughing half heartedly at himself. “But let me tell you Jimmy, those other soul bounds out there, some of them are such a mess. I mean like Grian and Scar have already worked together so I guess they may be better off, but there’s some weird drama going on with like Martyn, Pearl, and Cleo. Oh and also Scott!” Tango rambles.
“Oh you saw Scott! Hopefully he’s doing alright,” Jimmy comments, thinking back to when he last saw Scott.
“Well, I think he certainly is the one better off between him and his soul bound. He’s decided to hang around with Cleo, even though he found out Pearl was his soul bound. It’s some tasty drama forming for sure,” Tango continues enthusiastically, looking off into the distance as he thinks. They both stand there comfortably in the silence for a second as Tango glances back at Jimmy’s face. “What have you been up to?” he asks.
“Oh, not much. Just figuring out our surroundings, making sure our defenses are solid, that kind of stuff. Oh! I almost forgot to mention, I've got a surprise,” the lapis says with a glimmer in his eyes. He knew Tango would be excited to see their newly acquired cows.
“A surprise?! Sounds exciting,” Tango says with a little hop in his step as Jimmy starts to lead them over to the ranch door. “You should know, the anticipation is going to kill me if you don’t tell me soon enough, Jimmy,” Tango says giddily, his one eye gleaming with delight.
“Oh don’t you worry Tango, it’s right over here,” Jimmy explains. He gestures to the door in front of them. “After you!” the lapis says with a small smirk.
Tango narrows his eye, but opens the door to be greeted with the mooing of two cows. “Oh my gosh, you’re amazing!” he says as he rushes into the ranch, Jimmy following close behind, shutting the door so that the cows couldn’t get out.
Tango has one of the cows wrapped in his arms, petting the top of its head. He wasn’t even as tall as the cow. Jimmy has a small smile creep onto his face, watching his soul bound smother the cows with love.
Tango then turns to look at Jimmy and rushes over to him with a hug. “You're already turning out to be a great soul bound, thank you Jimmy,” Tango says, his voice muffled into Jimmy’s jacket. “I’m sorry I cost us our first life,” he says in a smaller tone.
“It’s water under the bridge, Tango. Honestly I’m quite surprised I wasn’t the first one to lose a life, it’s a very me thing to do,” Jimmy says comfortingly, still hugging Tango.
“Well… you kind of did, thanks to me,” Tango responds, pulling away from the embrace.
Jimmy shakes his head, putting his hand on Tango’s shoulder. “No no no, listen, I don’t blame you Tango. Things happen sometimes. It’s okay!” the lapis says with enthusiasm, trying to convince his soul bound.
Tango’s frown twitches a little, and Jimmy knew he still blamed himself, but he was getting through to him bit by bit.
“Honestly the fact that you aren’t disappointed to be partnered with me is no short of a miracle. ME. The gem who loses his final life first every time!” Jimmy says with a laugh.
Tango makes an offended noise and yelps, “Jimmy, don’t say that about yourself! I bet anyone would be happy to be paired with you! You’re so great!”
Jimmy raises his eyebrow with a smirk, sincerely doubting Tango’s statement. A look crosses Tango’s face as he too realizes that maybe his statement wasn’t entirely accurate.
“Well, I’m happy we’re soul bound. So… that’s what matters. Maybe things will be different this time!” Tango says with a bright smile.
The lapis laughs as the carnelian looks at him with excitement. They had so much in front of them, honestly really anything could happen. It was the start of a brand new season, the opportunities were endless.
Jimmy suddenly grabs Tango’s hand and attempts to spin him, giggling.
“Jimmy! I have two left feet practically, this will not work the way you want it to!” Tango squeaks as he stumbles. Jimmy catches Tango as he almost falls back onto the floor of the ranch.
Tango steadies himself, glancing around, embarrassed. He gives Jimmy an uneasy look and removes his hand from the lapis’s, brushing off the hand on his shirt.
Jimmy feels a moment of hesitation. He usually wasn’t very good at this. With the southlanders it just sort of happened, and around Scott… well Scott usually took the lead. He felt way out of the water for this.
He feels a pained expression cross his face, but as he looks to see Tango gazing at the floor, he feels his resolve strengthen. For both of them.
“Hey, listen, man, I’m just as clumsy as you. You’ve seen how easily I get hurt in past games. It’s really okay,” Jimmy reassures, putting his hand on Tango’s shoulder.
“No, Jimmy, it’s- it’s just, you don’t- ugh!” Tango says in frustration, almost shrugging off Jimmy’s grasp, when Jimmy grabs both his shoulders suddenly.
“I get it. I get nervous too. Just… trust me on this. I’ve got a good feeling. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, no harm done.” Jimmy says with a small smile, his gem surging in an emotion he couldn’t quite explain.
There’s a pause as Tango thinks, his nose scrunching as he debates within himself. His eye returns back to Jimmy and he gives a little nod. “Okay,” he says hesitantly, not adding any more to the statement.
Jimmy’s smile grows, his eyes crinkling. He lets go of Tango’s shoulder once more and grabs his hand. On a whim, he rushes to the door to go outside, dragging Tango with him. Tango barely has time to shut the door behind them before Jimmy quickly heads over to the grassy field in front of them.
Jimmy grabs Tango’s other hand and starts spinning them in small circles, trampling over some of the little flowers in the field.
Tango laughs as they spin, as does Jimmy. Jimmy slows them down a little, not stopping, but slowing down enough to give them space to talk.
“You wanna see something cool?” Jimmy says excitedly.
Tango nods quickly, his eyes wide with intrigue.
Then, Jimmy’s water wings start to flap, giving him some air, his hands still in Tango’s.
Tango lets out a little yelp as they both start to rise into the air. Jimmy grabbed Tango's arms to get a more stable hold as they slowly rose up higher. Jimmy spins them in lazy circles as Tango looks across the horizon.
“Woah,” Tango mutters. Jimmy smiles smugly, hearing this.
Then, it was as if everything around them took a deep breath in. The last thing Jimmy sees is Tango somehow floating up to his level, when everything disappears into a flash of light.
Breathe Out
Breathe In
Breathe Out
Purple Cloud Agate slowly floats down to the ground, the new form feeling comfortable.
They wiggle the fingers on all four of their hands, looking around at everything.
“I told you so,” they say to themself. A giggle bubbles up from inside them at this. They let out a long sigh, one of annoyance but also relief. Of course they had to do the ‘I told you so’ bit.
They shake out their wispy hair, it had taken on a somewhat gaseous yet still solid state. Figures, it made logical sense to be that way, seemingly.
They make their way back to the ranch, opening the door, now having to tuck their head down to get through. They see the two cows looking up at the gem blankly, no change from earlier.
“Now you, Mr. Cow,” they say as they reach down to pat the cow on the head, “you are a very good start to our ranch. You and Mrs. Cow. Before you know it, we’ll have ranchificated this place into something great.” They laugh to themself.
It didn’t matter if they were yellow names now.
The ranch felt safe and warm. It felt like a home.
~~~~~
Lapis hears a throat clear loudly. A prolonged pause follows.
A dizzy feeling takes over him as he shakes his head, trying to get his brain to stop buzzing.
His eyes open and it’s just so bright, his senses feeling assaulted by it all.
In front of him was a long rectangular table. He was sitting at one of the long sides of it.
Every eye was on him.
There were gems of plenty of kinds giving him stairs ranging from slight concern to strong disapproval.
He snaps his head to look at the head of the table. The sharp eyes of an emerald stair back at him.
Uh oh
“You, Lapis. I asked you a question,” the emerald says gruffly.
Lapis sputters in shock, quickly trying to find his words. “Apologies, Madam Emerald. Something must have become of me. May you repeat?” the lapis says quickly.
Emerald’s gaze does not soften. If anything it gets more fierce.
“I’m sure you have done thorough research on the planet we are traveling to, as you were ordered, but considering your lack of preparation to give an answer here at this meeting, I will give you a final warning. Have your full environmental and ecological reports ready to be presented when we board the ship six moons from now. If you do not, there will be further consequences other than your humiliation,” Emerald says curtly.
Ah, right. Off-world mission meeting. That’s where he was.
The tension continues to sustain as the General Emerald looks around the room until she shouts, “Dismissed!”
All the gems scurry out of the room as the general heads back to a different door, presumably to her office.
Breathe In
Breathe Out
Breathe In
Breathe Out
Lapis thinks himself through his breathing… not that it makes any sense to do so. Gems had no need for breathing. So why would he waste the time doing so?
Still, the motions seem somewhat comforting, almost familiar in a way. Not that this made any sense either. Things seemed to be making less sense by the day for Lapis’s very existence.
He finally stands up on his own two feet, steady enough to hold his weight. He shakes out his water wings, though, just in case the air would help him catch uneasy steps.
As he walks through the halls to the exit, he thinks about the concerning events that had just occurred. Something was clearly wrong with him. Not responding to orders from a general emerald? How stupid was he? His mind still felt half gone to who knows where, it was probably another one of those stupid—
“Hi Lapis!” Heaven Beetle shouts as she jumps up from the bench she was sitting on outside the building.
Lapis freezes in surprise. He had seemingly exited the building.
“What are you doing here, Heaven Beetle?” he says cautiously.
“You mentioned you had a meeting,” she mentions as she skips over to him.
Lapis raises one eyebrow at her, the question still being left unanswered. Heaven Beetle huffs in frustration.
“We are going… out today. Remember?” she says nonchalantly.
“Well yes, but we could have met at your place. I thought that was the plan,” the lapis responds, still confused.
Heaven Beetle grabs his hand and starts to drag him away from his frozen spot outside the building. For her size she was pulling quite hard, but Lapis still had to do a majority of the work, getting himself to budge from his spot.
“I had a feeling, knowing your luck, that you might run into a problem,” Heaven Beetle hisses at him as they continue through twisting roads, a bit farther from the building. “And, if I had to guess, the hunch of mine was right. You seem like you just got slapped out of a bad dream.”
Lapis frowns at this. She wasn’t exactly wrong. It was as if he didn’t exist at that moment in time, and then he did. Which got him into a heap of trouble. Not exactly a pleasant thing.
“I think something is wrong with me, Heaven Beetle. If I don’t get this fixed, who knows what could happen to me,” Lapis says in a moment of epiphany. He slows to a stop with a scared look in his eyes.
Heaven Beetle, after realizing her continued dragging was not going to get them anywhere, turns to look at Lapis in the eyes.
“That’s why we are seeing that old gem,” she says in a blunt tone.
“How can some random old gem possibly help me with THIS,” Lapis whines, shaking his head in frustration.
Heaven Beetle taps her small foot on the ground impatiently. “ You never know. He is very old and very wise. He knows lots of things. Now, let’s go,” she spouts.
Lapis lets himself be dragged by Heaven Beetle to who knows where. There was no changing her mind when she was this stubborn about something, so there really was nothing else to do but follow. Meanwhile, his thoughts turn introspective. Is this what cracking feels like? Was he slowly going insane, his gem breaking into tiny shards without him even knowing? What had even caused all this? Why him?
He bumps into Heaven Beetle as she abruptly stops in front of him.
“We’re here,” she breathes out.
Lapis looks around at where exactly ‘here’ was. The buildings around them were old and crumbling, very likely to be an abandoned part of homeworld, built thousands of years ago. The ground had a layer of… something… over it. Not dust, but not dirt, something similar to the two, though. It left the air feeling musty and dry around them.
“Now, he’s quite a large gem, on account of his age, so don’t be shocked. He’s really quite friendly, though, so you don’t have to be worried,” Heaven Beetle tells him kindly, still holding his hand, almost comfortingly.
Well. He was actually doing this. This is… an idea. Whether good or bad is left to be seen. Heaven Beetle continues to look at him expectantly, waiting for the go ahead. Lapis frowns, but slowly nods. If it could help him with whatever the heck was happening to him then… it hopefully would be worth it.
Heaven Beetle squeezes his hand and starts to lead them into a dark alleyway between two crumbling buildings. They walk in complete silence, the only sounds being the tiny pebbles and broken rock under their feet. The darkness seems to consume them as they walk further into the alley. Lapis could feel his wings tense up with nerves.
“Black Opal,” Heaven Beetle calls out in something a bit louder than a whisper. A heavy silence follows as she and Lapis come to a stop. “It’s Heaven Beetle… I brought my friend with me that I’ve been telling you about. He’s safe,” she continues, glancing around the dark. Lapis wonders why he would need to be the one that was safe, since they were literally visiting a gem ‘older than the diamonds’ in a dark alley, when he hears the sound of shuffling.
His eyes widen as he sees the outline of a shadow moving in the darkness ahead of them. The large gem shifts forward just enough for Lapis to see his face peer through the dark, a large visor covering his eyes and grated metal covering his mouth. Lapis then sees a hand stick out and gestures for them to follow him. The gem then disappears back into the darkness.
Heaven Beetle gives a little hop of excitement, more than eager to follow the gem. Lapis, though, felt a bit more than apprehensive about it all. The only thing that stopped him from bolting, though, was the thought of what the old gem could possibly do to him if he thought that lapis were a threat to his safety and security here.
They walk through a hole in the crumbling wall of a building as they go through the darkness, and as they continue a bit farther, there seems to be a small lantern with glow bugs on the floor. It was the only light source in the room. It was a cavernous room, with crumbling walls on every side, partially hiding dozens of other rooms behind and above them.
A dark green and black gem sits just close enough to the lantern for his face to be slightly illuminated. The size of the lantern almost looked a little funny compared to the much larger gem.
“Little Gem, you return, and with a friend. Thrilling if I do say so myself,” the gem says with a thick accent. His voice sounded ancient, but not in an old way, in a… powerful way. Lapis could feel his presence take up the whole room.
“Good to see you too, Black Opal!” Heaven Beetle says cheerily, finally letting go of Lapis’s hand and plopping down a short distance away from the lantern. Lapis cautiously follows behind, but doesn’t sit. Best to keep his guard up until the gem was confirmed by his own logic to be safe. He trusted Heaven Beetle’s judgment to an extent, but that doesn’t mean he won’t assess for himself too.
“You’re the Lapis I’ve heard about, aren’t you,” the black opal says slowly.
Lapis shivers with nerves as he quickly nods and says, “Yes, I am… sir.”
It made Lapis uncomfortable that he couldn’t see any part of the gem’s face, but he thought he heard a light chuckle escape the grated mask.
“No need for formalities. I know nothing of your caste system, and I’d like to say we’re all friends here, hopefully,” the gem says as he tilts his head slightly, awaiting Lapis’s response.
A moment of silence follows, Lapis unsure of how to respond.
“Lapis has been having some… problems. We thought maybe you would know something to help, with all the knowledge you’ve gotten over the years,” Heaven Beetle says, stepping in for Lapis in the silence. Lapis cringes at how quick she was to reveal everything to the strange gem, but there was nothing to be done about it now.
The Black Opal taps his chin thoughtfully, and responds, “Well, it really depends on the problem, to determine how much I can help or not. But I can very much try. Come sit, Lapis, this conversation will be a lot more comfortable for the both of us if you stop standing like something’s about to attack you.” The last part is said light heartedly, but Lapis still takes the suggestion with caution.
As Lapis walks closer to the light to sit by it, though, he hears another shuffling sound. This sound wasn’t near them, but seemingly further into the darkness. Suddenly, the feeling of eyes watching, focused on the Lapis.
Lapis’s wings flared, ready to take flight and leave as quickly as he could, if need be.
“Woah, easy there,” the black opal says to him, his hands gesturing down in front of him, almost as if to soothe the lapis’s tension.
“There is someone else here with us,” Lapis says harshly, looking around anxiously.
Black Opal makes a light click with his mouth as he lets out a breath, a reaction to what Lapis had said. “Ah, quite perceptive of you. Yes, I guess there is,” he says calmly.
“So you knew someone else was here, and just happened to not tell us,” Lapis spits out, his eyes narrowed.
Silence follows as Heaven Beetle taps her feet nervously against the ground, the only thing breaking the eerie feeling until the black opal states a simple, “Yes.”
“So it’s not important that this mystery gem is here? What about the privacy of our conversation? Does that mean nothing? Or just simple courtesy?” Lapis says sourly.
“His presence here changes nothing. He is an old friend of mine, and I am quite sure he will cause no harm to you,” Black Opal explains, his calm demeanor not slipping for one second.
“Then why can we not see him? How can we trust either of you? Did you know about this, Heaven Beetle?!” Lapis shouts, his temper rising quickly.
“First of all, Heaven Beetle has never questioned about any others here, although I believe this to be out of courtesy, so she knew no more than the inklings you had just now,” Black Opal assures quickly. “Second, please don’t shout. We can figure this out without such. Let’s just all take a moment to calm ourselves. I want to help you, Lapis, but I cannot compromise mine or my friend’s safety for that,” he continues, scooting a bit closer to the lantern.
Lapis huffs in frustration and begins to pace.
“I can exchange information with you. For your understanding. I can give you a viable reason why you cannot see him. And in exchange you will sit down and try to not be so tense and flighty during all of this. Really, it’s making me a bit worried,” the Black Opal puts out, a growing concern in his tone.
This causes the lapis to pause in his tracks, his wings swiftly folding themselves inward, the deal sparking his curiosity. He pauses to think for a second, and really he should have paused for longer, but he was here already. He needed to find an answer to his problem, so why not throw all caution to the wind. If this gem was willing to compromise a little, maybe that meant something.
He walks back over and plops down on the ground next to Heaven Beetle, who looks just about to blow with all the tension in the room, but she continues to keep her mouth shut. Lapis sighs and nods, looking at the black opal expectantly.
“Oh, alrighty, I didn’t think it’d be that simple. Not to say that this is a trick, thank you, really. This makes things so much easier,” Black Opal lets out, relief filling his voice. “I’ll hold my side of the deal, of course,” he continues, leaning closer.
He then scoots a bit closer to the light, so much so that Lapis can almost see his entire shape in the light. That’s when Lapis sees it and gasps. Small pricks of deformed spikes across the gem’s right shoulder, along with more on his torso, and a few bigger blotches on his right leg.
“Right then. With age, and time away from civilization, comes the inevitable. Slow corruption. Now, I know it sounds scary, but it’s quite natural sometimes, with all the experiences and all, and honestly I’ve fared quite well. Can hide it mostly with darker lighting around here and such, and it hasn’t really affected me much other than looks. My actions reflect that of a wholly uncorrupted gem, fortified mind of steel and all that. Whatever, that’s not what I’m entirely getting at. That friend of mine, the one you can feel watching, he’s a good bit older than even me, and with that time, along with some… unsavory circumstances… we get… a not fully uncorrupted gem. He’s still quite sane, doesn’t cause any harm to anyone, I wouldn’t keep him ‘round for company anyways if he was too far gone. But a portion of his gem has corrupted, so both of us believe it’s better, for both our safety and your safety, that he stays at a distance, just in case,” Black Opal rambles on as Heaven Beetle and Lapis listen intently.
“Oh…” Lapis murmurs softly. That was really all he could say. Corruption was a thing all gems feared. It was something genuinely scary for them, to lose yourself to something entirely illogical.
Black Opal looks to the two gems, waiting for any more remarks.
“I’m sorry about your friend, Black Opal,” Heaven Beetle says, the sympathy practically leaking from her words.
“Well, he isn’t gone now, is he? There’s no need to be sorry, it happens. I still have him and that’s what counts,” Black Opal states, not letting the emotions get to him.
Lapis nods in agreement, not sure what else to say.
“Alrighty then, so you’ve been having problems, Lapis. What kind of problems, if I may ask,” Black Opal questions after the silence had settled over them, clear that no one had anything else to say on the previous topic.
Ah right, this is why they were here. Lapis hesitates for a second and then steals some courage to speak. “Well, I’ve been having these weird sort of black outs. Like all of a sudden I’m somewhere else for a while, and when I come to I’m all sorts of discombobulated. To make things worse, I don’t even remember what happens to me in that state, it’s like something is going on within me and I have no clue what.”
The black opal hums thoughtfully, seemingly taking his time to think through what the lapis had said.
With the extended silence, Lapis realizes that he hadn’t even had time to try and remember anything from the previous blackout. He had been too preoccupied with everything going on in life to even try to sift through it all. It wasn’t like it would work, trying to remember. It never did. All that he could feel that was discernibly different from before was a weird aching in his gem. It was like he was longing for something he didn’t even know. Oh, and there was… that word.
“Is that all? Is there anything else you can tell me?” Black Opal interrupts Lapis’s thoughts, as though he could see the cogs turning in the blue gem’s head.
Lapis sputters in surprise and tries to speak, but fails. He sits and thinks and then tries to speak again. “Well, I’ve been feeling weird emotions lately I guess. It’s like there’s something going on that my feelings know more about than any actually logically conscious part of me. And there’s…” Lapis trails off, not sure whether he should say more.
The black opal leans forward slightly, showing interest, maybe even trying to prompt Lapis to say more. Lapis wasn’t so sure about that, though. It felt wrong to even tell Heaven Beetle, so it was a million times worse to tell this random gem he barely knew.
Both Heaven Beetle and Black Opal could feel apprehension coming off of Lapis in waves, his eyes growing slightly wider in thought.
“He’s had some… odd thoughts, I guess? Like very odd. It’s not fun for really anyone to talk about, so you can understand why saying it is… hard,” Heaven Beetle pipes up, trying to skirt around the issue while still trying to give some context to Black Opal.
Black Opal sighs and shakes his head. “I know it can be difficult, but come on man, just spit it out. I’ve probably heard anything and everything, so nothing you say would throw me off too much. This is a safe space, no judgment. You’ve got a problem, and I want to help,” he says calmly, trying to get the lapis to let his guard down a bit more.
Lapis grumbles to himself, frustrated at the situation. He didn’t really have a choice though, did he? It was either tell him and get help or just continue to suffer.
“It’s fusion,” Lapis says quickly, almost in a whisper, even though there was no one else around to hear other than the three, or more like four, of them.
Black Opal hums in response, tilting his head in thought. “Now what’s so wrong with that?” he asks, seemingly a bit of a smile reaching his voice.
Lapis narrows his eyes as he says, “I know you don’t exactly live near civilization, but you must know it’s illegal if it’s with someone not of the same gem as you.”
The Black Opal chuckles and looks between Heaven Beetle and Lapis. “Yes, I do know that. But, think about it, what is really that wrong with it, looking from outside the law,” he inquires, trying to prompt Lapis into thinking harder.
“I mean… there’s- and of course… I mean… you know. It’s… just how things are,” Lapis sputters out, trying to find a logical answer to the question. Lapis screws up his face as he thinks, the silence laying heavy.
“I think that’s my point,” Black Opal says, gesturing to the silence.
Lapis frowns. “Wait! Isn’t it unhealthy or something? Makes gems more likely to… well, corrupt. Surely you’d understand the fear, with you experiencing the condition yourself?”
Black Opal rests his hand against his chin in thought. “And who told you that?” he says, his voice filled with a curl of curiosity.
Lapis laughs, rolling his eyes. He smirks with a nod to Heaven Beetle, she of course knew just as well as him. When Heaven Beetle gives him nothing in return, her face remaining blank in thought, he quickly snaps out of his giggles. “I mean, it’s common knowledge, isn’t it?” he squeaks, feeling an odd tension rolling through the room.
“Not so common back in my day, if I’m being honest with you. It was hardly a fear in our minds before it suddenly came to be, with the rise of our cities and governing order,” Black Opal says, his body language remaining neutral, not giving Lapis much to judge off of. Lapis frowns, looking down at his crossed legs in thought. Surely they had just furthered their research on gem fusion and its effects. It’s not like they can just make up laws supported by knowledge for no reason, right?
Heaven Beetle taps his shoulder after a bit, and he looks up at her. Her big eyes peered inquisitively at him. He catches her gaze for a second but then shakes his head, trying to clear his mind. Sitting back up and attentive, he says, “Well, anyways. What I’m really here for is your help. I need these weird blackouts that leave me feeling weird things gone. Do you have anything that could help?”
Black Opal pauses, then replies, “Sadly nothing but advice. I’ve never run into something like this before, but it sounds maybe somewhat similar to when young untrained sapphires start experiencing visions. All I’ve got for that is to just hone your mind. Get good sleep. Stay attentive and alert for any abnormalities.”
Lapis huffs in frustration, standing up, flapping out his water wings. Heaven Beetle is on her feet almost just as fast, as Black Opal gets up at his own leisurely pace, dusting off some particles. “Thanks, I guess. I was hoping for more,” Lapis says.
Black Opal shakes his head and puts his hands on his hips. “My sincerest apologies for that. I would provide more if I knew what to give, dear friend, but I’ve got nothing,” he says carefully, sincerity in his voice.
Turning around and kicking a pebble, Lapis goes to leave the dark and musty space. He faintly hears Heaven Beetle give her goodbyes to the old gem, but he’s too focused on his own mind. He’s frustrated, to say the least. If one of the oldest gems in the world knew nothing, what else was he left with?
Heaven Beetle runs over quickly, taking up her spot in the lead since she knew the way back. She turns around to walk backward, watching Lapis walk. She gives him a small smile, shrugging her shoulders.
“Well that was a bust,” he says, disappointment in his voice. Heaven Beetle gives a hum in response, slowing her walk to match Lapis’s pace. She grabs his hand in hers and gives it a small squeeze. They walk out of the dark area, and through the deserted parts of the city, heading to current-day gem civilization.
“At least we tried. And you got to meet my friend, so you can’t claim I’m going to see a weird stranger anymore,” Heaven Beetle says with her usual chipper tone.
Lapis laughs in response, rolling his eyes, “Yeah, I guess so. He’s still very odd, though, so you can really only take off the ‘stranger’ part.” They both laugh, grinning, the mood lightening a bit from Lapis’s sorrow. Maybe it’d be okay.
•••••
“Hmm, that was very interesting, don’t you think?” Black Opal says as he struts over to a half broken wall, the shadow of darkness laying heavily over it. He climbs over some debris and comes to a halt in front of a big mass of shadow.
“I’d say so. A very interesting lapis in a very interesting situation,” a gruff, rumbling voice says. Out of the shadows steps a large gem, even larger than Black Opal. A Bloodstone, a corrupted one at that, with many legs and curved horns on his head.
Black Opal lightly punches the Bloodstone on the shoulder, giggling a little. Bloodstone growls playfully under his breath in return, his non-gem eye squinting as he grins. “You do know who that is, right?” Black Opal says, a smile in his voice.
Bloodstone huffs back, “Of course I do! I thought your dusty old mind wasn’t recognizing him for a while there, you drew that out so long.”
“Oh, you know, just havin’ a bit of fun. Gathering knowledge, all that, just like we used to. You know, Doc, I think we have some calls that need to be made about our dear friend Jimmy,” Black Opal says, leaning against the larger Bloodstone. The smile was so evident in his voice he almost laughed over it. Finally, something interesting around here was happening.
Doc shoves Black Opal lightly out of his personal space, but he just went right back up to the gem. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Xisuma.”