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Shattered Realities - 4

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“It was at this point that Jasper finally looked up. Gone was the malice from her face and the murder in her eyes. Emotions flashed across her face all at once; shock, fright…and then a devastating realization.” Nothing will ever be the same for anyone after Jasper is found in Kindergarden and a dark secret is unearthed. But Steven won’t let anyone face pain alone.  Steven, Jasper, and Peridot centered.

--

“Your room looks really cool, Lapis!” Steven wandered around the beach-like setting that Lapis had created a few hours earlier. It was similar to the type of water habitat you’d see in a zoo. She had replicated a few parts of Beach City that she liked. Most of the floor was sand leading into a water sanctuary that spread through-out the room. It reminded Steven of the inside of her gem.

“Despite my loathing for this planet, I will admit that the beach is…pretty,” Lapis said quietly and slightly begrudgingly. “I always feel more at home when I’m in the water.”

“Alright guys, time to go into your new home!” Steven chirped as he emptied the tanks of fish into Lapis’s large pool. The wriggling little creatures splashed around eagerly in this new body of water. Steven giggled. “Heh, Pearl’s pretty mad because she spent hours preparing the tanks for them.”

“They’d be happier here,” Lapis pointed out. She was kneeling next to the water, smiling at a few of the fish that lingered at the surface to see her. She slipped into the water and let her hair down. It tumbled to her shoulders. The gem on her back glowed in content.

Steven spotted a hammock strung to a palm tree over in the sand. “Ou, a hammock!”

“I mostly designed that for you,” Lapis said, wading in the shallow waters. “I knew you’d be visiting me here often and your kind requires sleep.”

“Right you are,” Steven chirped as he swung himself up onto the net and happily settled right in. “You sure know a thing or two about hospitality. I bet Connie will love you as much as I do!”

Lapis’s blue face gave a deep flush and she timidly smiled. “Connie? Oh, is that the human girl you were telling me about?”

“Yeppers! She’s always happy to meet new friends—plus she thinks the gems are super cool, and we are!” He puffed his chest out proudly. “You can even get a taste of human food and how amazing it is. I’ll take you to the Big Donut! Oh, my Dad’s coming over too! He’s gotta help me fix my ukulele. One of the strings broke…”

“What is a Ukulele?”

“Oh it’s a really cool instrument that humans use to make music! I can teach you how to play it!”

“Steven?” Through the door hidden behind a veil of waterfall, Steven could hear his Dad and Connie. “Steven, are you there?”

“They’re here!” the boy blurted excitedly as he grabbed Lapis’s hand and pulled her out of the room. “They’re just going to love you!” They were both soaked as they passed through the small wall of water, but Steven still popped out as excited as ever.

“Connie! Dad!” The boy bolted over to them and ensnared both in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you’re here! I could hear the crying of my ukulele, so neglected, so…abandoned.” He sniffled.

“Yeah,” Greg snickered as he dug around through his case. “How did you break the string anyway?”

The boy flashed a deadpan expression over at a purple gem stuffing her face with fixings for sandwiches. “Somebody decided to use the strings as dental floss.”

“Hey, I was out of shoe laces!”

Connie looked past Steven, to a frozen Lapis Lazuli. Her eyes widened. “Lapis…” The last memories of her was when the gem tried to drown her. The air reeked of tension and downright awkwardness. “…Hey there?”

Lapis rubbed her arms and barely waved. “You…you must be Connie.” She looked over to Greg. “And you’re Steven’s…birth parent, right?” The thought of actual human conception was still so strange to her.

“Uh…yeah.” Greg looked from his son to Lapis. “I’m Greg Universe, Steven’s Dad. You might remember me. You broke my leg and trashed my van. And tried to drown my son.”

“Dad!” Steven groaned. He gave them both a shove to the couch and sat down stiffly in the middle of the three. “Some apologies may be in order here.” He looked over at Lapis.

“I’m…sorry for all the trouble I caused,” the blue gem admitted quietly. “I would never want to hurt Steven or anyone close to him. I just wanted to go home and—I felt trapped.” As she had always been. Greg and Connie nodded with a light smile. It was the best they could do for now. Almost killing everyone was probably a hard thing to forgive someone for.

Thankfully Pearl broke the ice as she brought over a tray of healthy snacks. She eyed the tray with disgust. “Even though I find the thought of ingestion…” She couldn’t even finish that thought as she almost gagged. “I know it’s customary to do when you have guests, especially!”

The children made grabs for the apple slices with peanut butter while Greg chomped down on some crackers with cheese and tomatoes. “Oh man Rose used to make these little snacks for me. But she…had no idea how to cook so at first some of the combinations could be pretty disgusting. Like…the caramel coated pickles.” He shuddered. “Ever had food before, Lapis?”

Lapis looked down at the tidbit offered to her and took it hesitantly. “Food was never a requirement on Homeworld, so I don’t think I ever did. I know that…humans eat it though.”

“Alright, well here’s a tip: don’t try caramel coated pickles.”

The small blue gem gave a slight albeit awkward nod. “Noted.” She bit into the cracker, not sure what to make of the food.

“So are you going to fix your ukulele?” Connie asked the boy. “I’ve been missing our duets! I wrote up a whole list of songs we could sing and play together! Maybe at the Beach City Talent Show in a few weeks?”

“Oomf—I almost forgot!” Steven sputtered through a mouthful of crackers. “Dad, my ukulele!”

“On it, on it.” Greg took the broken instrument into his lap and pulled out a new pouch of strings. “You guys should really keep the dental floss stacked for ol’ purple chomps over there.” He jerked a finger to Amethyst, and she blew a raspberry at him.

The boy bounced up and down in his spot as he watched his Dad fiddle with the strings, until finally he passed it back. “Here you go, music boy.”

“Alright!” Steven pumped his fist. “The musical findings you are about to hear today are brought to you by yours truly!” He strummed over a few chords and looked at Lapis. “See? It makes music! Pretty sounds to listen to! Want to try?”

Lapis flicked one of the chords and blinked at the note that rang through the air. “It’s…interesting.”

“Play something Steven!” Connie urged. “Have you made any new songs recently?” The boy flushed and looked down. “You have, haven’t you? Play it!”

“Um…” He flushed more. “Well it’s…it’s just something I’ve thought up. I haven’t really polished it. It’s kinda stupid-”

“Nothing you do is stupid,” Greg pointed out and Steven looked over at both of his friends’ smiling faces.

“Well okay…” He blushed more and gripped the ukulele tight.

“Oh Jasper, I know you’re out there

Probably alone and full of fear

But if you let me I want to help you

You know I haven’t gotten any chance to know you

And it’s tearing me apart to know our views are far apart

And I just want this war to end

And I want us to finally…be friends…”


There was a small and sad smile on both Greg and Connie’s face but Lapis had darkened instantly.

“Oh Jasper I know you think they’re good

But they do awful things that no one should

You don’t have to be their war machine

Cause there’s more to you then we have seen!



And I just want to help you

I don’t want you to be alone

I bet you might like it here

If I show you our home

Could you take my hand

And I’ll show you all our land

If you bare your heart

I won’t let you fall apart…

No, I won’t let you fall apart…”


He finished the note with a slight tear in his eye, but as Connie and Greg clapped for him, Lapis abruptly slammed her chair into the table and started to storm away. “Wha—Lapis!” She went through the door and he caught up with her. “Lapis! Lapis what’s the matter?!”

“Just go away!” Lapis snarled, turning to him. “Go back and play your stupid ukalenii or whatever it is!”

Steven might have giggled at the pronunciation she used if it wasn’t for the seriousness of this. “But what’s going on? Why are you upset?”

Lapis clenched her fists. “I gave up everything to—to chain that monster and keep her away from you! To protect you! And now you want her back?! After everything she’s done to you? To your family?!”

Steven was taken aback. “Lapis, I know what you did for me! And I really appreciate it! But I just think that…that I can still get through to her! I don’t want to believe that it’s all hopeless! If she just realizes that maybe someone cares-”

“She won’t change, Steven!” Lapis shouted. “She’s evil, inside and out! She doesn’t care about anyone but herself! I wish she had rotted away and died at the bottom of the sea!”

The child’s eyes filled with horror and suddenly, anger sparked within him. “That’s a terrible thing to say! No one deserves that, no matter what they’ve done! She was never given a chance to be free-”

Lapis’s eyes flared with fire. Her anger was so palpable that it caused the water nearby to tremble. “SHE WAS NEVER GIVEN A CHANCE TO BE FREE? WHAT ABOUT ME?!”

“She’s a forced fusion!” Steven shouted back at her. “She was made that way, as a mash of gems stuck together! She didn’t have a choice to be herself! I’m not saying she didn’t have a choice to do the bad things she did, cause she did and that’s bad, but…she was never given a chance from the moment she was made!”

“She tried to kill you and your family!”

“SO DID YOU!” Steven hollered back. “You tried to drown me and my entire family and kill my planet too so how does that make you any different?!”

Lapis stared at him, stricken. Her arms lowered to her sides and her mouth went into a tight line.

“I…” Steven already felt the guilt creeping up on him. “I’m sorry Lapis. I didn’t mean to yell. I just…I want to give her a chance, like I gave you. I just want everyone to be happy.”

The blue gem’s eyes hardened over like ice. “No, I know what you meant. Just go then. Go see Jasper if that’s what will make you happy and you don’t even care about how I feel.”

“Lapis please—it’s not like that!” Steven pleaded, but the gem disappeared under the water. Heartbroken, Steven stood and stared at the still water for a few moments, feeling the tears brim in his eyes. He passed through the waterfall, soaked and tear streaked.

“Steven!” Connie ran over to him. “What’s the matter?”

“The…” He sniffled and wiped his eyes. “I think everything was just too much for her. It’s fine!” He tried to shrug it off. “It’s all fine. She just needs to be alone…”

Greg sensed the pain in his boy’s voice and he drew him close against him, giving his shoulder a fatherly squeeze. “Hey buddy, how about some pizza?”

--

He woke wrapped in blankets, with the flood of light spilling through the windows, the room lit a slight orange hue from a sunrise. He could hear the birds and the trickle of the morning tide.

The boy’s eyes sparkled. “Morning time!” he exclaimed happily. “Peeearl!” The child’s small feet drummed down the steps. “Pearl I want pancakes! And if I can have chocolate syrup I’ll do any chore you ask!” he said in his sweetest-little-boy voice, eyes sparkling angelically as he swayed back and forth.

There was no response, and by the looks of it, no one in the kitchen. Or even the temple. The boy turned and gazed at the large temple door. Was that…dirt, or were there a few added spots under the stars?


Orange…blue…green.

“Steven!” Pearl’s voice came from outside on the beach. Steven ran out, ready to playfully demand his pancakes and other sugary breakfast food, but the words died on his tongue as his heart nearly stopped.

It was sunset, not a sunrise, and his Dad was there as usual on their weekly barbecue night. Connie was there, the rest of the gems were there, but…

“Connie Human!” Peridot hissed as she attempted to ward off the young girl from the screen of a red 3DS. “Back away from the screen, child! You’re compromising my vision and I MUST BEAT THE HAIRY MAN’S HIGH SCORE IN THIS ‘TETRIS!’” Connie giggled and crossed her legs in the sand, peering over the green gem’s shoulder to watch her play.

“What…” Steven slowly walked down the steps, awestruck. Other then the additions, everything was…normal. Nothing seemed to behave in the way his dreams usually did. It felt so realistic that Steven couldn’t believe it was a dream. The wind beat down on him. He could smell the burgers. Laughter and squabbling rang clear in his ears.

“Hmmph. Bout time you woke up!” The child tilted his head up and he nearly fainted. There stood Jasper. She towered over him, eyes narrowed and expression annoyed. A large hand reached down to him and he yelped and braced himself. She mussed his hair with the force of a giant and he fell on his back, stunned. He touched his now frizzy locks.

“What…?” He couldn’t believe it, but the larger gem kept looking down at him. Her arms were crossed but she was smirking. It wasn’t an evil one either. It was…playful. “What are you doing here?”

Jasper raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you talking about? It’s barbecue night. Someone’s gotta make sure that Pearl doesn’t somehow screw up the salad by putting in stinging nettles instead of lettuce.”

“That was one time, you brute! What about when you were playing with a piñata and you took out a window and a wall?!” The slimmer gem snapped back from where she was disdainfully preparing the greens for dinner. She turned to Steven and her expression became friendlier. “Hello Steven! Did you have a nice nap?”

The child looked from her to Jasper, and then over at Lapis and Amethyst who were running around on the beach with water guns, occasionally squirting at Peridot, who shouted at them and shook her fist.

“How…” He looked around in a daze. “How long…was I asleep for?” And what universe did he wake up in?

“About an hour.” Jasper shrugged and Steven squealed as she suddenly grabbed him by his feet and threw him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The child scrambled up to sit on her shoulder as she walked over to where Peridot and Connie were sitting.

“Hey Steven!” his best friend chirped. “You’re finally awake! Peridot thinks she can actually beat your Dad’s score on Tetris—even though she’s more then half a million points behind!”

“You are distracting me!” the green gem shrieked. “And now so is the orange warthog and the child sitting on her like a parrot!” Connie giggled, but Jasper’s eyes narrowed into small slits of wrath.

“What’d you call me, Geek?” Peridot realized her mistake far too late as she dropped the console into the sand and tried to back up and put some distance between them.

“No-nothing!” the triangular gem squealed. “Nothing at all!” She screamed when Jasper reached down and effortlessly grabbed her by the waist. “Noooo!” The small gem flailed in her grip as she was hoisted over her shoulder, pounding on her back. “Nooo! Jasper pleeeease! The water is cold! And there are swimming little invertebrae there! Jasperrr!”

“Yeah I know, I was imprisoned at the bottom of the sea, remember?” the larger gem grunted, a smirk on her face as she tossed Peridot into the water as if she was a small stone. Water splashed Steven and Connie, and the girl giggled as she wrung out her dress.

“I just love coming here, Steven!” Connie laughed. “Hanging with your family is always such an adventure.”

“Family…?” The word rolled off his tongue and the strangest feeling coursed through him. A mixture of feelings; shock, warmth, wonderment… This was all a dream. He knew it was a dream, but yet… Nothing had ever fit so perfectly, or felt so real.

“Eek!” Lapis suddenly squealed as a squirt of water hit her back. She spun around to glare at a snickering purple gem who had transformed herself into a living water pistol. “Oh so magic is allowed in this duel? Well…” She smirked. Raising her hand, a torrent of water shot up into the air at her command.

Jasper just snorted. “Come on, that’s how gemlings fight, Water Princess.” She grinned. “How about we fuse together and give these wimps a real war?”

“Oh no!” Greg growled. “No weird gem magic stuff around these hamburgers! I just got them right!” He flattened himself against the barbecue, as if trying to protect the hamburgers.

“Fusion is not a tactic to play with!” Pearl chastised. “We don’t fuse when we’re playing games, we fuse for serious situations!”

“And dinner parties…” Garnet muttered as she flipped a patty.

Lapis and Jasper ignored the warnings of course, falling into the dance Steven remembered them using. Rather then the maniacal and menacing intent before, Steven saw a playful mischief in their eyes. The dance…had a whole new motive this time.

Steven gasped as the gems glowed with a bright light and towered over him, forming the dreaded Malachite. Her cyan eyes lit with playfulness and her large limbs lifted into the air. “Raaaawwwr!”

Connie and Amethyst shrieked and took off running as Malachite summoned up a tidal wave. It was small, like the type of wave a surfer would skim through. She unleashed it on the beach, and it washed out the small gems, and sadly, the burgers.

“MY PATTIES!” Greg wailed as he watched their slow deaths to the water below.

“Run now, little gems! Just try it!” Screams echoed around as water washed over them all and small water bombs were tossed their way. Laughter, annoyed curses, high pitched shrieks, (Greg crying). It was something that Steven couldn’t believe even seeing it with his own eyes. Four large eyes pierced his and the child squealed as he suddenly found one of the fusion’s large hands gently pinning him.

“Hey!” Steven yelped. The large claw curled, the nails digging slightly into his belly and Steven giggled, squirming under the hold. The nails digging into his belly made him shriek out a laugh. It clawed at his stomach like a tickly rake and he couldn’t tell if it was Lapis or Jasper controlling the movement—or both of them. Either way, it was horrible! “Stop! Stop, that tickles!”

The fusion raised its hand with a smirk, beckoning another wave to rise. “Who wins the water war now, you little wimps?” It was Jasper that gave a maniacal cackle and Lapis’s own giggle echoed as well. They sent the water hurtling at Steven and the child shrieked as he was swept away in its force, and washed back up onto the beach.

The water receded as Steven giggled, and climbed to his feet. He realized quickly that the air had changed, and the family atmosphere had diminished. Wind ruffled his hair, and when he opened his eyes he saw the jagged cliffs around him. Kindergarden, and he was on top of it again.

“Hey.”

The child’s eyes snapped open to the familiar voice. “Jasper!” he exclaimed, staring bug eyed up the woman standing by his feet. “Jasper, what are…what are we doing here?”

“It’s my thinking place,” the orange gem grunted. “The only time I get away from green Geeky over there.” She jerked a thumb back to their headquarters. “And get to be by myself.”

“But…why aren’t we at the barbecue?” the child asked, tilting his head. Jasper stared at him scowling in confusion.

“What the hell is a barbecue?”

Oh…that dream was over, and now he was actually with Jasper and talking to her in Kindergarden. He sat down on the gravel and looked up at her. “What are you thinking about? Since…you said this was your thinking spot…” He rocked back and forth in a small ball.

“I’m thinking…” She raised her head, looking off into the canyons of Kindergarden. “How you might be right, about this whole fusion thing, and about Homeworld. I was bred as nothing more then a war machine.” She shut her eyes, willed the pang in her heart to go away. She had to focus! “How can I trust a planet that kept the truth about my own creation from me?” This part of the masquerade she didn’t even need to try and fabricate her anger and pain.

“I don’t know what my purpose is.” All of a sudden soft and tiny fingers slipped into her large, heavy hand. The gentle contact was so surprising that it almost made Jasper jump. Her hand jerked and she stared down at the boy.

“It’s okay,” Steven said gently. “'Cause I’m still trying to find my place in the world too. Being half gem and half human…I got a lot to think about sometimes.” He smiled at her. “But if you want we can figure things out together?” he asked hopefully.

Jasper was quiet for a long moment. She kept looking down at him and the innocent soulful eyes stared back at her. Full of hope. Jasper’s lips tilted up a little.

“Yeah, sure. Maybe I’d like that.” She reached down and Steven winced, bracing himself. Then he felt her large hand roughly messing his curls, the force nearly making him fall over. All the while, the child had stars in his eyes.
Just like in the dream…

“Well there’s not much we can really do here,” Jasper said, motioning around them. “In this weird…hologram state. You’d have to come to Kindergarden. Maybe from there, we can figure out a way to save the other forced fusions.”

Steven’s starry eyes teared up in joy, painfully oblivious. “Yeah, okay! I can come see you right now! All the gems are in their rooms so the warp pad is free! I just gotta wake up first! I’ll be right there!”


--

Jasper’s golden eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the darkness around her. Electrodes were attached to her head, modifying her dream, which projected on the large screen in the lab. “Sleep is weird.”

“Yes, I don’t understand why humans require this strange stasis to simply function. Weak creatures,” Peridot scoffed. “He seemed eager to trust you. It was an even easier task then I expected.” She tilted her head at her companion, as if wanting to question why that was, but she didn’t know what to say. “It was also a better idea then simply trying to approach him at the temple, since you could have been spotted.”

Jasper scoffed. “Of course it was a brilliant idea. I’m capable of being smart too, you know.” She pushed a hand against Peridot’s face, smirking as it caused the visor to become crooked. “Well he’s gonna be here soon. Are we ready for him?”

Peridot nodded and looked over at the pod they had reserved for Steven. “Yes, I designed this one to be able to contain him since he’s half human. He shouldn’t be able to free himself of this one.”

“Good,” Jasper grunted, but she didn’t sound completely confident. “Let’s just do this then.”
(A/N: NOOOO! DON’T HURT THE CINNAMON ROLL! I realize that poor Connie and Greg needed some focus on them too, especially since the next two chapters are all about Steven, Jasper, and Peridot. I hope you’re all prepared, because shit is really going to go down next chapter. Prepare your heart for the feels and pain, as Steven, Jasper, and Peridot need to do as well.)
© 2015 - 2024 gembutterfly
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xxSactaviaxx's avatar
Excuse me may i turn this into a comic?
if you'd like we could put our ocs in the comic like an extra scene^^ hope you dont mind