Lapis flies in, gently landing on the ground. Everyone stays still, keeping their eyes on Lapis.
"Hey, Ruby!" Lapis greets her with a wave and a smile.
Lapis looks up, noticing someone was with Sapphire. Jasper, of course. The gemstone embedded in her nose annoyed Lapis. She scowled and looked away. Jasper, though, had a terrified look on her face. She looked as if she just saw someone she loved get shattered right in front of her. She taps Sapphire gently.
"We should leave," Jasper insists.
"May we please wait a bit? I need to use my future vision to see if something bad will happen in the future," lied Sapphire. Really, she just wanted to see what was going on with Ruby and Lapis. Jasper sighed heavily and impatiently.
"I heard what has been happening lately, with Sapphire and all. You must be feeling stressed after all that. Why don't we talk about it? You know, just to let it all out. Then after, we'll go have some actual fun," suggests Lapis.
"I'm in!" Ruby exclaims.
"Wait!" Sapphire blurts out, speed walking towards Ruby. She puts a hand on Ruby's arm, preventing her from leaving.
"I know you were supposed to hang out with Lapis two days ago, but is it okay if you stay at the sanctuary? I don't think it is such a good idea you go out without me. You could stay and talk to Amethyst," Sapphire tries to persuade.
Lapis notices what Sapphire is trying to do and smirks, trying not to burst out laughing. Ruby shakes her head.
"Sapphire, Lapis is right. I've been really stressed lately and I want to do something to relieve it. Besides, I've already talked to Amethyst and I have a lot of other times to talk to her. I could really use a break. I'll be back before you even return," Ruby reassures.
Sapphire sighs, hesitantly removing her hand from Ruby's arm. Despite how apprehensive she feels, she nods.
"Yes, you...go have fun. You deserve it," Sapphire smiles.
"This is why you're the best!" Ruby compliments, turning to Lapis. Sapphire turns around, but she keeps her eye on the two gems.
"Let's go!" Ruby starts running towards the warp pad but feels a strong tug on her wrist preventing her from leaving.
"Whoa there, buddy. There's another way to get to places and believe me, it's a lot more fun," Lapis claims.
She kneels down, sitting on the bottom of her feet.
"Get on my back," Lapis commands.
Ruby raises an eyebrow, confused on what she's was trying to do. Lapis smirked before her wings were released from her gem. Ruby looked at her power in awe before smiling. Hesitantly, she did what Lapis told her to.
"Hold on tight, and try not to pinch me," Lapis said, before flying off.
Sapphire watched as the two gems disappeared into the sky. Ruby's cheers were echoing through the air.
Sapphire sneered, "I can fly."
"You mean float?" Jasper pointed out.
Sapphire groaned as she headed for the warp pad.
**********
Lapis lands in the middle of the forest area. Ruby jumps off her back, landing on the soft grass. She let out a breath of relief feeling her body relax. Lapis lies down beside her.
"I don't think Sapphire likes me that well," said Lapis.
"What makes you say that?" Ruby questioned.
Lapis shrugs, "she looks extremely uncomfortable whenever she sees me talking to you."
"She does find you a bit suspicious," Ruby mumbled. "We got into an argument all because she didn't want me talking to you. I brought up Jasper and she got offended so I pointed her out on that. It's really ridiculous now that I think about it," she sighed.
"But the only thing ridiculous is that she doesn't believe you about Jasper," Lapis pointed out.
Ruby tilted her head, "what made you find out that Jasper was bad?"
Lapis turned her head away. "Long story short, we were in an unhealthy relationship. I don't like explaining the details. How'd you find out she was bad?"
Ruby froze. She inhaled and gulped hard. "She...she," Ruby stammered. "She killed someone. Someone important to me," she finished.
"I'm sorry for asking," Lapis mumbled.
"I was the one who asked first," Ruby muttered. "Did she abuse you, or what?"
"I...abused her," Lapis corrected. "Can we please stop talking about it?"
Ruby nodded, understanding how uncomfortable the situation must've been for her. They stayed in silence for a bit. Ruby started thinking about Sapphire, wondering what she was up to.
"I wish Sapphire believed me. The thought of her talking to Jasper scares me. Sapphire is just so...stubborn! It's something I can't stand about her...but at the same time that's what makes her so irresistible. Can I tell you something, Lapis?" Ruby asked, turning to her head to look at her.
"Go ahead."
"I love her," Ruby said with no hesitation. She actually had a smile on her face.
Lapis snickered, "I knew it!"
"No, you don't understand," Ruby sat up. "I adore her. I mean it. I can never get her out of my head. I've only known her for almost three months and I feel like I can tell her anything. It feels like I know nothing about her yet, I know everything about her. It's like...she's my strength yet my weakness! It's so hard to explain, it's torture!"
"Are you sure you aren't in love with her?" Lapis smirked, teasing her a bit.
Ruby blushed, "I...I don't even know. I do know that I have some type of feelings for her!"
Lapis snickered, "you know, you remind me of this boy named Steven. There was this time where he had a crush on this girl named, Connie, and he couldn't stop talking about her."
Ruby snapped her head towards Lapis as her eyes widened.
"You know Steven?!" She yelled out.
"Steven Quartz Universe. The one who has a Rose Quartz gem embedded in his stomach?" Lapis said, pointing to her navel area.
Ruby put a hand on her forehead and started giggling.
"How did Steven not tell me about you," she asked.
Lapis shook her head, not knowing how to respond. "Let's go do something fun. You wanna go mess with the gems at the warp center?"
Ruby shrugged, "why not?"
Ruby hopped on Lapis's back. She spread her water wings and flew away, collecting water on her way as she explained to Ruby what was her plan. Little did Ruby and Lapis know, Sapphire and Jasper were at the warp center.
******
"I can't believe Yellow Diamond asked me, personally, to be her guard? Can you believe it? You probably can since you most likely foresaw the whole thing! Or it could've been unpredictable!" Jasper exclaimed.
Sapphire was staring at the sky, tapping her foot against the floor impatiently.
"Hey! Don't you think it's weird that Ruby didn't want to stay home? If anything, shouldn't she have asked me to stay too?" Sapphire blurted out.
Jasper was caught off guard by this.
"Not...really. Ruby and Lapis are friends. Do we have to talk about this?" Jasper asked, clearly uncomfortable.
Sapphire sighed, "I just haven't been able to get Ruby out of my head at all. I don't know why! It's still weird how she didn't even want to come along with us or anything!"
Jasper let out a breath of frustration. "You never answered my question. Why should I care? It's Ruby. Let her have her freedom," Jasper sneered.
"I know she deserves some freedom. I just find it weird how she only acted as if she missed a little bit. Not even not that I think about it. She was just doing her job in protecting me, making sure I was okay," Sapphire sighed.
"I missed her for sure. Why didn't I just stay home? I could've been having a long, nice conversation with her right now," she mumbled, mostly to herself than to Jasper.
Sapphire started hearing echoing voices. Familiar voices. She gasped looking up at the sky before being bombard by falling water.
******
Lapis flew down in front of Sapphire's sanctuary. Ruby hopped off, teary-eyed from laughing so much.
"Did you see the look on the gem's faces when water was being splashed down on them! We aren't going to get in trouble for this, are we?" Ruby asked.
"Nah. We were up in the sky. They probably couldn't identify us. Plus, I'd just be another random Lazuli," Lapis assumed.
"I had fun, we should do this more often," Ruby suggested.
"We should, and hey!" Ruby looked at Lapis before she walked in.
"Let me talk to Sapphire for a bit," Lapis demanded.