Work Text:
Percy sighed, his piercing green orbs turned downwards towards the ground. ‘You don’t understand. You could never understand.’
Pierre bent down to his level. ‘I might if you told me.’
Percy rose to his feet. “You just don’t GET it! How am I supposed to break up this conflict when I’M the one whose heart is breaking?!’
Lapis finally tossed the tablet aside in disgust. The fic was terrible, even by Camp Pining Hearts standards. If it hadn’t been in a bookmark folder labelled “SUPERIOR FICTION,” she would’ve abandoned it several chapters ago. Why exactly Peridot thought so highly of it was beyond her.
The front door opened and Bismuth entered. She had recently been busy trying to salvage the Diamonds’ ships - there had been something about a watermelon sending for help - but she would check in every few hours or so. It was a little gesture, but one Lapis appreciated.
‘Any changes?’ Bismuth asked.
‘Nope.’ Lapis answered, not looking up. ‘How long did you say this usually takes?’
Bismuth kissed her teeth. ‘Hard to say. That energy Yellow Diamond uses is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I guess she got hit with a more concentrated blast.’
‘Well, thanks anyway.’ Lapis picked up the tablet again and started scrolling.
There was an awkward silence.
Bismuth rubbed the back of her neck. ‘Greg was talking about fixing some food. You interested?’
‘Thanks, but I don’t eat much.’
‘Alright.’ Bismuth patted her on the shoulder. ‘Call if you need me.’
Lapis watched her leave. Now alone again, she continued to read aloud, picking up from where she’d left off. Though she couldn’t help but keep glancing at the coffee table, where a small triangular green gem lay on a pillow.
It was pointless, of course. This sort of process couldn’t be rushed, at least not without the results suffering. Many a competent Gem soldier had been rendered useless by hasty reformations. As for the gem itself, there were no cracks or corruptions that she could find. All she could do now was wait.
When poofed, a Gem’s consciousness existed in a sort of limbo, similar to being on the verge of falling asleep. While in this state they were still vaguely aware of what was going on around them. So theoretically, if someone were to be reading to them - say, a collection of their favourite fanfictions - then they would be able to hear it.
Maybe it was just wishful thinking. But it was a comforting thought regardless.
This was the worst part of it all. The anticipation.
To say their relationship had gotten off to a bad start would be an understatement. After being intercepted en route to Homeworld, Lapis had learned to associate the sight of Peridot with increasingly brutal rounds of interrogation.
So when she had decided to settle down in the barn only to find that she would be living with a certain green Gem, she had started to reconsider the whole “staying on Earth” idea. After all, Mars had always seemed rather attractive.
Except Peridot had immediately seemed different. Something about losing her limb enhancers and being completely cut off from Homeworld for the first time had changed her. She was suddenly warmer, more approachable, treating Lapis as an equal instead of a means to an end. And her efforts, while misguided, seemed to come from a genuine desire to atone for her actions. Ultimately, she was just another Gem left adrift in an unfamiliar world. A far cry from the Homeworld agent who had first captured her.
So little by little, Lapis had started letting her walls down. It had been little things to begin with, like finally watching Camp Pining Hearts with her. That had opened the door to other avenues, like joining in on her wild fangirling and even writing her own fanfiction; awful stuff that would never see the light of day, but which she loved writing nonetheless.
There had been no last-minute betrayal, no showing of true colours once Lapis’ guard was down, nothing.
After one fateful stormy night, they had even started sleeping in the same bed.
More than once she had asked herself if she loved Peridot, in the same way that Ruby loved Sapphire and vice versa. Even now she still wasn’t sure. The lack of physical intimacy wasn’t the problem; she had fused before, a period which she would rather forget. This was different. There was still a certain cautiousness to her and Peridot’s relationship, constantly testing the waters, each seeing what the other was comfortable with. For the first time, Lapis had found someone who she could be truly vulnerable with. It was something she had come to cherish.
Until she had thrown it all away.
Her time on the Moon had been short and wretched, but she couldn’t help but feel that the damage had already been done, even if Peridot had seemed happy to see her again.
With all the chaos around them they hadn’t even had the chance to talk. The next thing she knew she had awoken in the house, with the Diamonds and the other Crystal Gems nowhere to be found. Since then she had kept a constant vigil at Peridot’s side.
She had no idea when Peridot would reform, or even if she’d be willing to forgive her once she did. But whatever happened, this time she would be there for it.