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Lapis laid back on the old worn out pink couch. A small breeze slightly ruffled her hair as her cerulean eyes remained fixed on the sphere of water she held in an outstretched hand.
In the water the gem that housed her former captor Peridot lay suspended and unmoving. The water pressing in on it from all sides ensuring that Peridot was not going to reform until Lapis wanted her to.
A part of her remembered the conversation she’d had with the supposedly reformed gem earlier in the day.
“Lapis I’ve changed. My actions earlier more than proved it.”
Lapis did not even spare a glance backwards as she headed back into the barn. “It proves nothing. Everyone knows Rubies can be some of the thickheaded of gems. You could have easily made a calculated risk based on their earlier behavior and decided that the chances of them being after Jasper and not you were more than acceptable.”
“That’s not true!” Several birds that had been perched above the barn door took flight at the shrill cry from the small gem as she raced ahead and placed herself in front of Lapis with arms spread wide. “You were on that ship more than long enough to know that I kept telling Jasper that this was my mission, and that she was my bodyguard. Not the other way round.”
“And who told you that? Yellow Diamond?” Lapis chuckled dryly as she side stepped Peridot and continued inside. “Obviously she never considered you important. To her you are less important than a Pearl. More than expendable for whatever mission she sent you on.”
Her teeth clenched tightly together even as her hands balled themselves into fists. “I am too important! I always strived to prove myself far superior to all the other Peridots. If it wasn’t for my help and actions then Steven would have never been able to stop the cluster.”
Lapis stopped midstride. She’d heard that term thrown about between Japer and Peridot more than once. She still wasn’t sure what the cluster was, but the few rumors she’d heard while back on Home World before being wrenched away back to this dismal planet was more than enough to worry her.
“What about the cluster?” Lapis asked quietly as she turned finally giving Peridot her full attention.
“Oh yeah.” Peridot exclaimed an annoyingly happy look appearing on her face. “You were still fused with Jasper when that whole mess was being resolved. Then you were unconscious during the aftermath.”
Like a child desperately seeking approval from a parent Peridot told Lapis about everything that occurred after she had chained herself at the bottom of the ocean. Stroking her own ego and leaving almost nothing out Peridot did not notice the look of anger, horror and then disgust that flashed across Lapis’ face as her story progressed. Eventually after almost an hour Peridot finally reached the end of her tale. “So Steven managed to bubble the cluster. I’m still not sure how he did it. Something about communicating with it, though how he could communicate with a few million shattered gems is beyond me.” The slight lilt in Peridot’s voice at the end showed her amusement at the idea as she turned back to face Lapis.
“Um…Lapis you okay?” Self-satisfaction quickly gave way to worry as she automatically took a step back from the other gem.
Dark bluish ichor dripped from a closed hand onto the floor. Several small pools on the floor began to merge together as more blood dripped haphazardly down onto the floor.
“You…may want something to…stem that.” Peridot stuttered as her eyes flicked from the bleeding hand to Lapis’ face. Or at least where her face would be at if she wasn’t staring fixedly at the floor.
“You were perfectly willing to let Steven, me and Jasper die while you saved your own hide!”
“What? No. Not at all. Well maybe when I kidnapped Steven. To be fair I panicked.” Peridot’s voice rose in pitch and speed as she continued to move away from Lapis until her back collided with the barn wall. “Lapis you seem a little upset. Maybe its best if I.” Peridot was unable to finish her sentence as twin walls of water slammed into the barn blocking the open barn doors and the hole Peridot had made weeks earlier with her robot.
“That’s the only reason you even showed your face today, was to save your own sorry hide. You thought Steven and the others would lose against those rubies. Otherwise you would have just stayed in here and hidden.”
The watery walls stayed in place as one rippled and pushed outward becoming a hand and arm that stretched out towards Peridot.
Peridot let out an ‘eep’ as she took off running on all fours. With far more speed and agility than Lapis expected she managed to avoid the hand and sought refuge in the loft on the second floor. Safe just beyond Lapis’ grasp.
Pulling the hand back Lapis maintained the walls of water as she worked on coming up with a new plan.
A/N: Okay this honestly wasn’t the direction I planned on this story taking. Please let me know if this should be continued or not. Comments, criticism and reviews are always welcome.