Crystal Lite AU

[panspermia]

In the years since the Crystal Gems were last seen, things have gotten... interesting, in the Universe family. Monsters don't stop attacking the temple simply because its inhabitants are gone, and dangerous artifacts don't stop threatening humanity. The last remaining remnant of the Crystal Gems is one little boy, without any proper magical guidance or teachers of his heritage to show the way. What he has left to him is a handful of abandoned relics to piece together hints, and the secondhand experience of his very ordinary, very overwhelmed father.

They get by. His powers are growing, slowly but steadily. With each new ally or ability they uncover, things get a little better. It's never easy, but it's not as hard. And they've always got each other to count on, no matter what. So long as they've got that, there's nothing in the universe that can stop them.... though it does try.

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[panspermia]

Greg stares down at the warp, panic creeping around the edges of his stomach. It was working last night--if it's not working now, did the other Gem sabotage it? Could she do that without coming here? Did her little robot thing break it, or...?

Looking up at Lapis, he's struck by her expression. He's seen that face before. Steven, every time he fails to get his powers to work, every time he doubts if he's really a Gem and if he's able to live up to all the pressures put on him... he always makes a face just like that one.

Concern for her overwrites Greg's personal fears. He reaches out, just brushing an arm with his fingertips. He's dealt with this before, and he'll help her do the same. "Hey. Don't worry. We'll figure this out. You just take it easy for now, and it'll come to you before long. 'Kay? We'll find another way for now."

[oceantier]

The touch is unexpected, non-utilitarian, and it startles her; she jolts a little, the movement pulling her away from his fingers. Unfortunately before she realizes that small bit of reassuring contact, that little bit of warmth . . . feels good.

And then there's no way to go back, even with only a bare inch of space between them. She finds herself wanting him to reach out again . . . but also knows he won't.

Maybe it's because of that touch, though, and the quieting concern in his voice that allows her to open.

"My gem is cracked." She draws her arms close, tucks them against her. "It has to be that. I can't . . . I'm missing powers. Things I should be able to do."

And there's no real way to fix a cracked gem, is there? Not here on Earth. How she can fulfill this part of this bargain may be limited at best.

Maybe she can't at all.

[panspermia]

The recognition on his face is easy to read; Greg knows enough to know this is a Problem.

"Oh...kay. Ahhh... hmm." His brow furrows, thinking furiously. Not only is Steven in danger, but Lapis could be in serious trouble too. As terrified as he is for his son, Greg can't ignore the gravity of this, either.

"What... what would you normally do for a cracked gem?" He's sure Rose has mentioned it at some point, long ago. There's got to be a solution.

[oceantier]

"At home certain Gems can heal." She pulls her arms tighter; she doesn't need the reminder that they're not at home, without any other Gems on the planet besides the one they're pursuing or that have reformed into monsters. She's not going to be able to fulfill her part of the bargain, she's not going to be able to get home, and she's going to be stuck here on Earth . . . Forever, when she was never supposed to be here in the first place.

[panspermia]

"Rose could." He says it softly, suddenly. "I saw her. Heck, she used it on me, a couple times." Never anything too dire or big, but she'd startled him the first time she'd cried on a twisted ankle. "It hurt her to see things suffer."

He hadn't realized it was such a rare ability, but if that was the case... if Rose left her friends behind, only able to hope Steven would eventually learn the same...

"She must have left a reserve somewhere. We can heal you if we find it."

[oceantier]

Hurt her to see things suffer, but not enough to avoid war.

It's a quick thought, but just as quickly buried in a flicker of hope. She doesn't dare hope too much; it still sounds pretty theoretical from him -- not even like a sure thing. At the moment, though, she'll cling even to that . . . and in spite of her impressions of Rose Quartz, she won't be too proud to let the residuals of the Gem's magic heal her if they can.

". . . You don't sound sure it exists," she points out. "What makes you think she would have?"

[panspermia]

In a way, that's what caused the war. It's a matter of whose suffering hurt her more.

"I know she's got reserves and sanctums all over Earth. Steven went to one, and I know she's got more. She left things scattered around, in case of emergency or something." Call it paranoia, call it coldness, call it secrecy, but Rose had always spread out her plans and resources.

"She wouldn't leave her friends without a way to heal after she's gone. Not after all they went through. All we gotta do is figure out where." He rubs at his head. "Lion can probably help us out with that."

[oceantier]

Irony in all of this -- that now she actually has to rely on something from Rose Quartz to heal her. It's not appealing, but . . . what choice does she have? She can't deny that her gem shouldn't remain as it is; if it cracks through, she's done.

The lion, though . . . that she looks a lot more doubtful on. That's the big, pink animal . . . right?

"Lion?" The skepticism is clear.

still me, just may switch between accounts

[fragileandsoft]

"Yeah! You've seen him, right? Helps me and Steven out, sometimes. When he feels like it. He's usually got a pretty good handle on Rose's stuff."

He steps back off the warp, gesturing for her to follow again.

"He's not usually too eager to let people ride on him without Steven around... but this is an emergency, maybe he'll make an exception. He did just save me from starving."

Okay!

[oceantier]

She remembers Lion. Mostly as an enormous nose whuffling at the surface of the mirror, fogging up the glass with his great gouts of animal breath.

Not the greatest first impression. Her skepticism remains firmly in place as she gives another short nod and trails after him.

"Why does he know about Rose Quartz?"

She's not going to shorten it to "Rose" like he does.

[fragileandsoft]

"Well, I haven't really asked. I don't speak Lion."

A rumbling noise answers the comment. The feline in question stands at the bottom of the stairs, watching them with faintly glowing eyes.

"Speak of the devil--glad you didn't go far, pal!"

Greg rushes down the stairs, but Lion keeps his gaze fixed firmly on Lapis. His teeth aren't bared, and he doesn't growl again, but he stands tense, waiting, watching.

"Uhhhh--right. You left earlier, you didn't get to meet her. This is Lapis Lazuli! She's--she's gonna help us find Steven. Right? She's a friend!" Lion still doesn't move, and Greg waves Lapis closer. "We're aaaaaall on the same side here. Working together. Yeah?"

[oceantier]

Yeeeah. Sure. All on the same side.

Lapis has frozen where she is, feet braced on the stairs, staring back at the enormous, pink feline below. She doesn't trust it. She knows it doesn't trust her. They have a standoff between them, Gem and lion, with Greg in between. It's not an angry standoff, but it is a standoff all the same.

[fragileandsoft]

Or, everyone could just stare at each other. Greg looks between the two parties, waiting for someone to... smile, or come closer, or maybe blink, but each seems to be waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, he groans softly.

"Oookay. Lion, we need to find something that belonged to Rose. Someplace she kept... I dunno, some bottles of tears, or something? Lapis is hurt."

For another moment, Lion doesn't move. Then, his eyes flicker over to Greg.

"She's going to help us, Lion. But we need to help her first."

The cat huffs out a breath through his nose, and shakes out his mane. Whether it's the promise of help finding Steven or the notion that she's weakened, Lion seems placated for the moment.

[oceantier]

The latter is more what Lapis is worried about. The lion is an unknown here; while she knows humans don't have powers, lions are a question mark. And considering that this one has glowing eyes . . .

Yeeeah. Going to stay wary around this one.

With it seemingly placated for the moment, Lapis edges forward, down a few (though not all) of the remaining stairs, keeping some distance between herself and the feline.

"Are you sure he knows where to go?"

[fragileandsoft]

"I'm not sure of anything."

It's not a joke, it's a grim fact. Greg is flying completely blind, here, and is grasping at whatever straws he can find.

He climbs up onto Lion's back. As Greg holds out a hand to help Lapis up, the cat eyes her; not glaring, not anxious, not evidently anything but looking.

[oceantier]

The quick flick of her eyes in his direction tells him that's not really comforting.

On a slow, arching path to Lion's flank, she comes, a corner of her attention always focused on the fact that the pink feline is watching. (It might not be ominous intent at the moment, but the fact that he watches so carefully is a form of ominous in itself.)

Hand slipping into Greg's, she allows him to help her up onto the great cat, settling as best she can behind him.

No teeth nipping for her leg yet, but she's not fully counting on anything.

[fragileandsoft]

If Lapis wanted confidence, experience, and thorough planning, she made allies with the exact wrong being.

The moment Lapis has perched on Lion's back, the cat's eyes turn bright, glowing white, and he starts running without any input from Greg.

"O--Okay, buddy, uhh, I guess you know where to--aaahlapisholdontight!"

Lion lets out a roar, the rippling effect carrying down the beach. Several feet ahead, it congeals into a portal, and the three of them plunge through.

[oceantier]

Really could have warned her earlier on this, Greg. There's a yelp from the Gem behind him, and he may suddenly find himself squeezed way too tightly around the belly as she seizes hold.

(Secretly she finds she likes it; it's like plunging into a unexpected downdraft while flying.)

She doesn't relinquish her (rather tight) grip, opening an eye to stare in admiration at the portal around them, brief as it is.

[fragileandsoft]

Lion's warp space whooshes around them, all bright and alien motion, for an unending yet brief stretch of seconds.

Then, just as quickly as they dove in, they plunge out the other side. Greg's gotten to ride Lion enough to brace himself against whiplash, but the sudden stop does get him a faceful of mane. "Guh... sorry there, buddy--woah, woah!"

Before Greg can recover, Lion's already making an effort to shake the two riders off; the cat's suddenly deeply irritated, and has no patience for human banter. Greg has to make an effort not to fall into any of the thorny patches poking from the cracked earth. In fact, there seems to be more thorny vines than stone in a lot of places, and Lion lacked the luck to make a clean arrival.