Steven walked calmly alongside Lapis while the sea breeze carried the scent of salt and a bit of sand in the air. I was holding a warm box while she observed the path without much interest, as if everything on Earth were just a boring museum.
"This is fish pizza. It's honestly amazing. Once you grow a stomach, I highly recommend it," I said, my voice full of excitement. Amethyst was the only one I could usually talk to like this about the things I liked to see if she'd like them too—though that wasn't much of a mystery, since she liked absolutely everything.
Lapis stared at the pizza with a look so pensive she seemed to be analyzing whether it was a weapon or a culinary insult. "Interesting," she said, "but no." She turned away indifferently, as if she had just rejected a diplomatic proposal, and walked toward an area filled with flashing lights and loud, jarring sounds.
"And what's that?" she asked curiously, pointing her hand.
"Oh, that," I said, stepping up next to her. "Those are arcade games. They're so kids, or people who get bored easily, can have some fun every now and then."
Lapis looked at me, then back at the games. Then she looked at me again, but this time with doubts so massive they seemed to weigh on her brain. "But aren't humans supposed to be fragile?" she asked. "Why would they go up so high?"
"It's easy," I replied. "Just like Gems have their ships to roam through space, we have safety protections."
Lapis stared at me, three imaginary drops of sweat rolling down her temple. "What a great example," she said, her sarcasm so thick you could shovel it.
"Right?!" I responded, placing a hand over my chest, proud of an explanation that even I didn't fully understand.
"Whatever," Lapis muttered, stepping toward the bumper cars. "How does this work?"
"Give me a sec," I said as I paid the attendant, who gestured that we could use two cars. "We always have to pay, don't just barge in," I explained to her as if I were signing an international trade treaty.
"Ok," she replied, completely unbothered.
I just looked around, scanning the area for two free cars. We both climbed in, and as I was explaining how they worked, I instantly felt regret coursing through my veins—a bad feeling, like a premonition of imminent destruction.
An hour passed. A whole damn hour in which my car was brutally rammed, physically and emotionally wrecked by a Lapis who wore a smile so intense it combined pure bliss with a hint of uncontrolled madness. And there I was, tottering inside the little car, wondering who on earth had thought it was a brilliant idea to teach a Gem how to crash vehicles for fun.
I was never getting on that thing again. I said that with utter indignation while glaring at Lapis, who seemed to have unleashed all her frustration on me during the most painful hour of my life. She just let out a calm sigh and then started laughing as if nothing had happened—as if she hadn't just obliterated my spine with constant, savage collisions.
---
After that traumatic experience, we walked around Beach City for a good while. We talked to some people, visited stalls, and observed little human details that seemed to catch her eye. Lapis even met Ronaldo, the self-proclaimed hero of conspiracies, and his brother, whom she considered completely normal—which was an interesting data point coming from her.
Later, we found ourselves flying over the ocean. I was holding onto her back while she, with the most shameless calmness possible, decided to be my personal airplane. I had told her she could use her powers to fly better, but she insisted the skies were her territory and that if there was nothing better to do, she would turn into an improvised propeller plane. Something in her tone sounded like pride mixed with stubbornness.
I just watched the night clouds while the breeze whipped against my face. They looked beautiful, almost as clean as the surface of the water beneath us. Lapis looked back at me with a peaceful expression, agreeing that yes, it was beautiful. I told her not to look at me with that face, and she feigned innocence, acting as if she didn't even know what I meant. I ended up snorting something that didn't even sound like a word, and we both ended up laughing.
Then I rested my mind against the feeling of her shoulder as I watched the coastline slowly recede. I asked her where exactly we were going, because this distance was no longer normal or accidental. She replied that we were going somewhere and that she just wanted to check something, offering no further details.
I accepted with the same calmness a prisoner accepts their fate and went back to looking at the night sky. It was beautiful, that was undeniable. However, I couldn't help but think about the Cluster and everything heading our way. I needed to train more, improve more, be more. If I didn't, that horror beneath the earth would stop being just a fear in my head and become the worst reality imaginable.
I looked at Lapis again. She seemed lost in thought until her expression suddenly shifted upon spotting a tower in the distance. She pointed with restrained excitement and said it was there. Before I could prepare myself or even take a breath, she dove down with the speed of a missile plunging toward Earth.
I screamed at her to warn me, holding on with all my strength to keep from falling like a stone. We hit solid ground with a dull thud, but with zero damage. I recognized the area instantly. It was a place any of us would have identified, and the air felt heavier the moment we touched the ground.
We were in a familiar place, and without a doubt, we hadn't arrived here by accident.
---
The Galaxy Warp stretched out before us like an infinite collection of living mirrors. Lapis lowered me down gently, though she still seemed thrilled as she looked at the warp pads floating around like miracles suspended in the air. She said it was incredible, and I admitted that I had been here before, but yes, it was beautiful. I picked up a small fragment of a warp pad that shined like liquid crystal and tossed it into the sky to watch it fall. Then, on pure impulse, I chucked it into the sea. Right at that moment, a fish jumped, collided with the fragment, and was instantly swallowed whole by a shark. I shrugged, only managing to mutter a sincere "whoops" and feeling a little sorry for the poor animal I had accidentally doomed.
Lapis didn't seem fazed by the fate of the fish or the shark. Instead, she began to manipulate the water as if she had forgotten I was standing right there. The water surged up beneath my feet and I leaped back with a curse to the wind, clapping a hand over my chest. It still stung that I had killed a fish by accident, so I wasn't ready to be drowned without warning. She apologized without a drop of guilt, like she had merely sneezed near me. I decided to use my power to float to avoid getting wet; no way in hell was I going to accidentally submerge myself twice in less than a minute.
I asked her what she wanted to do. She replied that she wanted to remember. Her voice sounded so sincere that the water in the area began to move on its own, molding itself like liquid clay to shape a landscape. I fell silent. I knew a day like this would come, but I didn't think it would be so soon. Lapis looked at me with a soft smile, saying that I had given her something she had never had on Earth: happiness. She said she told me everything about herself—her tastes, what annoyed her—and that I had helped her improve. She sighed. She thanked me for everything I had done for her so she could be a better Gem. Then she looked directly at me and asked if I thought she was a good person.
I replied with absolute certainty that she was. She smiled as if she had expected it, but something in her gaze broke a little as the water revealed an image. It was her, terraforming a planet for Homeworld. She said it with a voice heavy with guilt, as if every word weighed tons. I watched without saying anything, my hands shoved into my jacket, as if silence were the only correct reaction.
Lapis kept speaking. She told me to take a good look at her, that she was the one who had destroyed the very life I now respected and protected. Another watery image appeared, showing a happy, almost radiant Lapis as she destroyed lands, seas, and creatures without thinking about anything other than doing her job. She avoided looking at me directly, though I noticed her trying to glance from the corner of her eye, perhaps fearing my reaction.
She sighed. She said she was no saint. She recalled her time trapped in the mirror and confessed she had felt it as a just punishment, as if she had deserved it. She shared that she had imagined Homeworld would have changed over the millennia, but she was wrong. They were even worse.
Then the water stopped moving. The images faded as if the ocean had closed its eyes. Everything fell silent at the Galaxy Warp, as if the universe had decided to show respect toward Lapis's confession. And for a moment, neither of us said a word, because there are memories that can only be understood in silence.
---
"You know, Lapis?" I said as I floated slowly toward her. My feet barely brushed the air, as if the wind were carrying me straight to her side. "From the beginning, I knew you were a Gem who suffered a lot."
She looked at me, her eyes welling with tears, but she didn't say a single word. I dropped softly to the ground and walked over to her.
"Maybe everything that happened to you was a punishment for what you did before. Maybe, in a way, you deserved it." Lapis lowered her gaze, as if the word *punishment* had pierced right through her. Then I raised an eyebrow and added, "But tell me something... did it do any good?"
She nodded as the memories created by the water drifted around us like ghosts. She saw her past: happy, destroying worlds for the empire—the very same empire that later abandoned her, her own kind locking her away like trash, using her as a tool with no thought or value. She saw how the Diamonds had swept through everything, destroying Gems who had once been her comrades. She saw centuries of pain, punishment, and silent slavery. And then, ironically, she remembered the moment a rebel "rescued" her only to leave her trapped in a mirror. A prison, yes, but at least there she was treated as something more than a machine.
Lapis collapsed to the ground, crying with her hands on the floor. Her illusions blurred because the tears were too many. The ocean responded, churning violently as if sharing her emotion.
"Lapis," I said, looking up at the sky as if searching for my past self, "everything you did, good and bad, built who you are today. Every choice is a brick. Everything you did, even the terrible things, brought you right here, where you are no longer that Gem from the past."
She raised her face slowly, her eyes wide and trembling. "Do you forgive me for everything I've done?" she asked, shedding tears that seemed like entire tides overflowing. The water in the area reacted with a deep roar, as if the entire ocean were also waiting for the answer.
"Of course I do, Lapis," I said, stepping closer with a sincere smile. "You've changed. And if you don't notice it, you should see yourself from the outside. Believe me, I highly recommend it."
I extended my hand to her.
"You're different, Lapis. You can change, and you already did. That's indisputable."
Her hand trembled before touching mine, as if she were learning to believe in herself. And when she held it, the water that had been roaring just moments ago fell perfectly calm.
"You really are someone to admire, Steven Universe," Lapis said through her tears, looking into my eyes as if her entire world were right there.
"Of course I am," I replied as I hugged her. I didn't notice a soft glow beginning to envelop us both; I only felt her body tremble slightly when I wrapped my arms around her.
Steven remained unaware of that light, far too focused on comforting her with the warmth of his embrace. Lapis did notice it, but she didn't care in the slightest. Her gaze locked onto mine, and her tearful smile said more than any words ever could.
*"I don't care if it's with Steven,"* she thought as her tears were no longer bitter but sweet, filled with relief. Without further ado, the light completely consumed the two of us.
---
The new person didn't understand at first what she was; she only knew she was hugging herself while the ocean beneath her feet calmed down as if paying tribute to her presence. The sea didn't bow to her like a king, but like someone beloved, as if it recognized its master and wanted to protect her.
The figure floated up slowly, still holding herself, her eyes closed. From her back, liquid wings emerged, clear as seafoam and firm as crystal. The moment she began to fly over the waves, the water parted in her path, as if celebrating her birth.
She was beautiful. Her hair was reminiscent of Lapis's, but longer, with black tips that shined like wet obsidian. Her skin was fair, like Steven's, giving her a blend of innocence and charm. Her body possessed a strange, human beauty—a perfect balance. His jeans and Lapis's dress had merged into an ocean-blue garment, and from her dark eyes emanated a warmth that was impossible to ignore.
The new fusion opened her eyes bit by bit, not fully understanding, but feeling the salty breeze, the power, the freedom.
She descended toward the Galaxy Warp, and as she touched her face, she noticed tears falling harder with each passing second.
But they weren't out of sadness. Not at all. They were tears of pure joy.
Both voices inside her recognized each other in the exact same heartbeat, the exact same thought.
"Did we fuse?" she said in surprise.
"And what does it matter?" she replied to herself with a soft laugh.
"Do you want to stay like this?" she asked hesitantly.
"Of course... I mean, if you want to, of course."
There was silence—a precious silence, like the sea before a wave breaks.
"Of course," she finally answered with confidence.
And the ocean celebrated.
The seas, the dolphins, every creature and every water current moved in perfect harmony. The fusion turned around in surprise, noticing how she was accidentally shaping the ocean according to her emotions.
"Incredible," she told herself as she watched the water respond to her as if it were a part of her own body. She could move it with an even greater ease than Lapis, as if the sea recognized her as something more than just a twin of the ocean.
"Why did my power increase?" she murmured as she inadvertently summoned water out of thin air, as if creating it rather than just controlling it.
...
...
...
She stared in awe at the liquid sphere floating between her hands, and a smile spread across her face. It was pure water, generated from nothing.
"Looks like we have a new power," she said excitedly. Since they had poured their hearts out—with Steven... or with herself... depending on how you wanted to look at it... she now felt freer. More alive. More her. Or more them. Honestly, it was already confusing to speak in the plural, so the fusion decided to think as a single mind with two ideas. How clever of her.
"But before we experiment, my name," she said with sudden excitement. Steven always named his fusions, so she, being the first Lapis to fuse—or so she believed—had to have hers. She scratched her head in that gesture so characteristic of Steven while looking out at the sea as if searching for inspiration.
"Steven... Lapis... Estela. Yeah, that's it."
"What did you say?" she asked the void, answering herself.
"Estela."
"Mmm... Estela."
"I like Estela. I like that name."
---
And so, the fusion now named Estela spread her liquid wings and began to soar across the sea. She wasn't training, just exploring out of curiosity. If they wanted to train later, they could always form Estela again. For now, it was a moment of discovery.
As they glided in harmony over the waves, Estela saw something in the depths.
"Shall we go?"
"You bet."
A bubble quickly formed around her head and she plunged into the ocean. She moved forward like a weird mix between swimming and flying, darting at full speed past coral reefs, colorful fish, and seaweed... one of which ended up getting stuck in her mouth.
"Gross!" she complained as she spat it out. "Wait! How the hell did something get into our mouth if I have a bubble?!"
"No fucking clue," she answered herself, deciding to ignore that stupidly curious detail. She kept swimming and exploring, enjoying the sea as if it were part of her body.
Sure, she could only see a drop compared to the entire ocean. But it was a start. A beautiful start.
---
As she flew back to the beach, Estela couldn't hide the smile painted on her face. She never imagined that fusing would turn out like this—so liberating, so... perfect. Lapis had long hoped for it, and Steven—well, Steven always found a way to turn the impossible into something beautiful.
She stayed floating in the air, without wings, just suspended as if the breeze were holding her up. The wings were part of Steven's power, yet she felt she could stay up there for hours. She looked up and realized it was practically dawn; the sea shimmered with cool tones and the sky looked like a half-painted canvas.
She descended calmly toward the house, excited, already wanting to tell the girls how it had all gone. She fished for the keys in one of her pockets, still smiling, completely missing the sudden flash of the warp pad activating behind her back.
When she opened the door, her smile vanished. A heavy, almost sorrowful sensation filled the entire living room. It was as if the whole house wasn't even breathing.
"What?" Estela murmured, completely bewildered.
Three Gems stood before her—exhausted, dirty, and wearing a strange expression somewhere between defeat and urgency. They looked at her as if they didn't know whether to be relieved or even more worried.
"Uh... surprise?" she said, not knowing what to do or how to introduce herself.
She didn't get a single smile back. Garnet was watching her with gravity—far too serious, even for Garnet.
"Jasper escaped, and she took Peridot with her," she said, her tone so dry it seemed to freeze the air.
Estela didn't need any further explanation. In an intense flash, her body split into two forms, reverting to Steven and Lapis. The surprise vanished entirely from the boy's face.
"Tell me everything," Steven said, his voice carrying a gravity that completely clashed with his usual sweetness.
Lapis looked at him in silence, but she didn't take her eyes off Garnet. Something in her gaze was burning.
***End of Chapter 46.***