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The evening was calm and crisp for another infiltration to be ensued against enemy defenses. Or at least in this case, the “Diamond Authority”, one of the most enigmatic, ominous syndicates in the state. It was measured as a ‘toppling mission’ to break inside their division only to gather mere data. Spying on them was as daring and dangerous than having a gunfight with any of their members, and once you get caught, chances are you’re going to receive a summary execution. Not ONE agent would want to accept that fate, but Agents Peridot and Lapis Lazuli have been through so much to even find that threatening. All an infiltration was to them was just breaking and entering and nothing more than that. It was THAT simple…
…… ……. ……
Well, at least it was supposed to be simple anyway…Back in their own headquarters, Peridot was by her desk remembering vividly how alarming that mission went for her and her partner. They achieved sneaking inside the enemy’s base as cautiously as they could. The base was remarkably huge, resembling the interior of a storage warehouse which seemed like the intended manner. The two partners skulked every corner of the base, equipped and conscious, and not being discovered once for the whole hour they were in there for. It was then that both agents felt the atmosphere growing ever more vigorous while they tracked down the area they needed to find.
“I hear someone talking loud. We must be getting close.” Lapis utters as she and Peridot hid in a hallway-like area.
“I hear them too.” The blonde agent replies. “Do you have our bullets?”
An ammo clip for a handgun was brought out of Lapis’ suit and hands it over. “These are your only shells. I suppose you won’t be wasteful with them.” she says. Peridot was swift while she was drawing out her weapon and freshly loads it with the fatal shells. Her partner does the same with her own firearm. Why they had firearms exactly was incase the mission could be tense without prior notice. All missions were never pacifistic. “You got the tape recorder?”
“Never leave home without it.” Peridot replies and exchanges her handgun with a diminutive tape recorder, the item she plans on remaining in her grip for the rest of the mission. When they were assigned to infiltrate a base in the Diamond Authority, ransacking the room they were about to enter and tie up an official to get answers wasn’t there ideal interrogation style. There were people already conversing in the next room, and spilling out important information that was going to be they’re own problem, not the two agents. This was another reason why it was going to be too simple for the agents.
The hall seemed to get darker while they crept to where light was shining out from the wall. That’s where the noises were obviously coming from. The two agents finally stopped lurking and remained sedentary next to a doorway where a tense conversation was now completely perceived. Peridot then pressed the red button on her tape recorder and let it do its thing. Lapis, holding her firearm equipped with a silencer, was vigilant on the end of hall.
The blonde agent managed to peek who was inside the room. As she expected, it was woman in her late-forties, blonde hair like hers but if it was scorched with hair spray, and in the clothes of a fascistic dictator. Everyone back in the two agent’s base nicknamed her “Yellow Diamond”, the most recognizable target in the HQ.
“We have been sedentary for too long…! I can’t be the only one here noticing that!” Yellow Diamond spoke. “…We need to take action. And this plan I proposed to surround the so-called “Crystal Gem Base” and attack it from inside out will be enacted soon enough.”
Lapis and Peridot gasped inaudibly from what they had perceived. “That isn’t possible, is it?” the bluenette whispers.
“We just have to keep listening…”Peridot was peeping slightly inside the room and caught an enemy agent standing up angrily.
Their fist clenched and smacked the table aloud. “N-No. It’s too risky to enact such a ludicrous plan!” the agent yelled. “We don’t know how many other people can be inside their base. F-For all we know, we can all be killed the moment we step inside.”
Yellow Diamond’s expression was growing sternly, not something unfamiliar with Peridot though. The tyrant then brings out a Taser-like weapon under her desk and walks toward the agent who had disagreed with her. “Looks like one of us here has not paid any attention tonight…” she says as she swings her armament. “…The agents of the Crystal Gems have been decreasing thanks to our trained agents, and we will continue to gather more personnel by abducting newer ones if it’s the last thing our organization has to do to take over this state!”
The information became spicier, but it was now worse than what the two agents were expecting. Absolutely no one from the Crystal Gem base has heard of such a terrifying tactic. The Diamond Authority were “abducting” people to join their syndicate? Not only was it terrifying, but it was a matter of crisis! How deep their tactic go from abduction to convincing anyone to be a part of them? Peridot and Lapis agreed to pursuit on stealing more information when they can.
The agent that protested against Yellow Diamond was now face-to-face with her boss, intimidated by her mere presence and hoping for a respite. “So the next time any of us here forgets to listen, consider yourself “shattered”.” The tyrant says. The agent suddenly screams in anguish as her stomach met with a static outburst. Yellow Diamond was staring at one of her fellow accomplices with such cold eyes, not wanting to release the weapon on them for at least ten seconds. The agent then falls to the ground like a tipped over statue…They didn’t…die did they?
“Holy shit…” Peridot utters. Her eyes enlarged and felt her blood rushing rapidly from what she witnessed. Lapis noticed her freeze, tapping on her shoulder and inquiring what was happening. But ineptly, the sense of fear that the blonde agent was in made her unable to grasp her tape recorder anymore. The object used for gathering half the data suddenly fell from her hand and impacted the floor luridly for the room to perceive.
Another agent then stood up from their seat and faced the open doorway. Peridot snapped out of her brief spasm, hiding the tape recorder back in her suit while she silently cursed. A shadow of a large woman inched closer to the point that a Diamond agent exposed the two agents kneeling by the entrance. “What the¬––“
Both of them wanted to scream. But from pure instinct, Lapis pointed her gun at the enemy and did not hesitate to pull the trigger. The bullet met with their head, spilling droplets of blood on both her and Peridot’s suit. That marked the first confirmed kill of the night. And Yellow Diamond and the other accomplices beheld the body blacking out.
“LET’S MOVE!” Lapis orders and flees the scene with her partner.
It would not take long for Yellow Diamond to turn on a building-wide siren to elicit and ordered the capture of the intruders. Lapis and Peridot were outwardly dashing around the entire base in order to find an exit, forgetting about gathering more data at this point. They were then chased by seemingly all the enemy agents, feeling handfuls of bullets fly through their hairs whenever they reached a dead end. The kind of situation now was apparently also not new to the two agents, but it was extremely effortful trying to get out of a building that was, regrettably, unfamiliar to them.
But sometime later, Lapis discovered a door leading to another trifling hallway. She analyses and peers through it hurriedly, and it was by far the safest place to run into next. “Peridot! In here quickly!” she calls out.
Her partner follows and pushes the egress open to pace right through it; Peridot coming in first and Lapis last. In the end of the hall was apparently…a different door. And glancing through the window on it saw that it lead to the outside of the precinct. It was finally the moment of escape for the two partners. Both in their minds, they were confirming this task for a raincheck.
“Okay, no time to lose, Lapis.” Peridot says exhaustedly. “Let’s get out of this dump and back to the HQ…”The blonde agent sprints, adjoining the exit in a split second. Lapis was ready to follow her…but suddenly came to a standstill before moving at all.
The door behind her tried swaying open as adversaries found their presence yet again, and the blue haired agent held the door closed with her body and forces the other agents to stay out. Through the door, she heard voices threatening them to die.
“We know you’re in there!” “You’re dead once we get through!”
“Damn it, there are probably more of them now…” She says frantic.
Peridot retracts herself from opening the way out and glances at her partner. She panics as she saw her fraught with shielding the door they passed. Meanwhile, Lapis was looking back at her with an uneasy expression. “W-What are you doing? Get out already.” she exclaims.
“Wait, what?!” she replies nervously. Peridot would never be a meter or inch away from her partner, especially in circumstances like this. “I can’t do that. You’re in trouble! I can try to help––“
“No, don’t try to do anything. I can hold them off.” Lapis interrupts.
More shouting was heard through the door as it was slowly opening much wider. The petite girl does not listen to her partner’s doubts. And she was ready pull out a handgun from her suit as she had only one solution to aiding her. “I’ll just shoot them through the door to make them stop, and we can get out in one piece!”
“I-It’s not going to work.” she counters. “It’ll be impossible to aim and you have only one ammo.“
The forced gate was opening in terribly alarming rate as Lapis was ever more out-forced by the people over it. These Diamond agents were definitely fast and impatient, and the bluenette was nearly breathless now while she pushed the door with all she had. This was something firsthand for her to face and it was entirely perplexing. All she could do now was just make sure one of them, specifically Peridot, can make it out alive.
“Peridot, please! Just escape now!”
Alas she denies listening again. “…I will not! I can’t just abandon you!” she exclaims. “Lapis, I don’t want to leave without you!” Her face was glowing red and eyes appeared to be tearing up. Peridot was breathing heavily from fear, and this wasn’t the normal scenario that they were faced with. They always got out safely together, and seeing that her partner was willing to risk herself unexpectedly made her disordered and somewhat angry at her.
Lapis’ heart burned hearing her girlfriend’s in distress. She needed to stall the enemies and help Peridot more than herself. And if she made a run for it to the exit, who knows if any of the enemies had a gun loaded and ready to shoot them once they went through? She stops herself from sidetracking and tries to reassure both her and Peridot.
“I’ll be fine. I…promise I will be out with you soon. Trust me!”
Her careworn appearance was just as strong to drive Peridot into equal remorse. She had no choice at this point. “You promise…” Peridot whispers. Her partner perceives her tone and replies with a wink for more reassurance. They HAD to reunite, so that their apprehensive feelings can be forgotten eventually. So finally, Peridot reached for the exit and sprints out while not looking back. But all she could look at while exiting was her last image of Lapis holding off the adversaries.
She ran far enough outside the base and now had to find the transport they took to arrive in the first place. The sound of a girl blaring from terror was heard abruptly from a distance. Peridot was sure she has heard the tone of that scream before, but she tells herself not to worry the slightest bit. She had to remind herself that Lapis was HOPEFULLY okay.
Her eyes shut and breathe heavily until finally fleeing the base. On the way back, reminding herself about Lapis was not stopping. It was too quiet, and felt idiotic for actions a few minutes ago.
“Lapis is going to be fine. Lapis is going to be fine. Lapis is going to fine…”
……. ……. …… ……
The blonde opened her eyes and found herself standing still on the corners of an office room. She glanced at the calendar that was coated with marker ink counting down the days. Peridot recalled when that mission with Lapis was, and it has passed well over a week already.
Her partner has been absent in the work place, in their home, and not even other agents could track down where she was. Peridot could feel bits of herself crumbling the more hours of apprehensions and loneliness went by. “…You said you would be back.” She whispers. The blonde was forgetting to smile, and in time, she was going to forget Lapis’ smile.
But another day of sulking was going to have to wait if she wanted to know what happened to the bluenette agent. Peridot was now running across the HQ to find the current chief of the Crystal Gems and one of her closest friends. “Has anyone seen Garnet?” she asks. “Tell her this is urgent!”
While she ambled, it did not take long for someone to grasp her shoulder and stopped her from searching. She turned around to see a tall and built woman with an afro, wearing glasses that shielded her eyes immensely. “You called…?” she then asks. “And you better not be asking about Lapis again.”
“But that’s EXACTLY why I was trying to call you.” Peridot protests. “It’s been a week now since our last mission with the Diamond Authority, Garnet. Aren’t you supposed to be the slightest bit worried that my girlfriend hasn’t come back yet?”
Garnet hummed while following it with a sigh. “Of course I’m worried, but Lapis has been one of our toughest agents after you and her became one of us.” She replies. “Like you said before during your report, she’s probably still okay, and perhaps she is still finding the sources of the abduction tactic that you managed to share with us.”
Her tone made everything sound like nothing bad had happened at all. “That is so unlikely…” Peridot argues. “…But…Am I a bad partner to Lapis now, after leaving her with the enemy?”
“Don’t think that way, Peridot.” Garnet says. “She was only trying to protect you. The mission would have gone way worse if you stayed and tried to fight off.”
“We didn’t even finish the mission either…..”
Suddenly, a thought came to mind that Peridot barely wanted to contemplate with first. “You know what, fuck this…Garnet, send me back to the Diamond base!”
She was not surprised by such instinct. “You know I can’t do that, it’s too dangerous.” She replies firmly. “Their base is still relatively new, even you and Lapis got lost while navigating it. And we can’t just go ahead and send an agent on a personal side quest.”
“It’s a rescue mission!” Peridot says. “Please Garnet, I just want to see Laz again…”
The chief could not waste time negotiating about giving out tasks, especially when it involves another infiltration. But in many ways, it was deemed adequate that Peridot could handle an intrusion on her own. Previous experience, previous time visiting the base, and her worrying seemed to make her stronger. Garnet knew where the blonde was coming from, having to lost someone out of nowhere was one of the worst feelings out there.
“I’ll tell you what; I’m assigning you to search for Lapis and bringing her back to us, but AS LONG as you promise to bring back more info about the Diamonds plans. You won’t have trouble if Lapis had already found them too.”
Peridot let out a deep sigh. “I accept your task. Thanks…”
…. ….. …… ……. ……
The base of the Diamond Authority was as gloomy and big as ever when dusk finally hit. Peridot took the last entrance she tried last week, and began sneaking through the same trail as she followed the last time. It was a distastefully familiar sense. She needed to get out as soon as she could find out if Lapis was in the base at all.
Suddenly, she recognized an area of the precinct that was now more low-spirited than how it was initially. “This was where we found about the abductions.” She utters. The blonde agent walked through the hall and peeped at the same room where Yellow Diamond was caught. It was vacant and dark, and a lot bigger now that she could freely come in. God knows why it smelled like several people suddenly perished inside.
The blonde agent entered the room and discovered several papers of written manifestos and drafts about attack strategies. It was too vague to make out what they were, but Peridot cared less than to take the papers and stash them in her suit pockets. Hopefully that would count for Garnet’s task given to her…Suddenly, the lights in the room augmented ominously after the notes were stolen. Peridot then pulls out her loaded firearm and turns at every corner, ready for a brief gunfight with the enemy. But when she looked at the doorway, she was inches away from shooting who she had been dying to find.
“……Lapis?”
A tall and bleak figure with course blue hair was upended in front of the agent. Peridot was looking over them even more, and she was right. She was surprised to see her partner in one piece and could not begin to explain how fast her heart was beating. Her gun was lowered and disarmed, and she shone a warm grin as she then approaches her lost partner.
“Lapis! I’m so glad your safe–––“ she expresses with her arms gradually opening, until the bluenette raises her arm with her pistol on her hand.
Peridot halted and lessened her grin out of bewilderedness. On the spur of the moment, a bullet fired out and hovered off next to her ear. She screeched and felt her ears ringing just a little bit while she proceeded to cover it as she flinches. But before she could take a break, Lapis was walking up to her this time, and beats her face with the grip of her gun. Peridot was screaming again up until she was kicked to the ground injured and immovable.
The blonde agent was sustaining pain that she never wished to feel at all. And at the same time, she was so disordered at the moment. What was going on? What did Lapis just do?! She was groaning so much while trying to tolerate both the ringing and the beat-up, until being grabbed by the shoulder and hauled to lie on her back. Once again, Lapis punched her to the point where her glasses were now cracked, feeling absolutely more pain than ever.
The tip of Lapis’ gun was pointing Peridot’s forehead in point-blank range. “You Crystal Gem scum made a huge mistake trying to break inside our facility.” She says while kneeling closer to her target. “Don’t even think about moving or I’ll let my bullet go through your skull…”
“Aughh…Lapis, what are you doing…?” Peridot inquires wearily. “I’m trying to get you back home…”
“That’s nonsense. The Diamond Authority IS my home!”
Peridot’s eyes widened and her anxieties had worsened to this point. She wanted to know if this was all a big joke but everything was so brash to even be one. Lapis’ tie was dangling and had something new stitched on to it. As Peridot focused on it more, she was unable to comprehend such absurdity. An emblem of four diamonds were stitched on and meant that any agent who had it was working for the Diamond Authority. That can’t possibly be it…
“I’m only going to ask this once…Who are you, and why are you in our base?” Lapis asks after forcing her gun more into Peridot’s head. “Answer or you’re going to die right away!”
“…Lapis…you already know me!” she replies, shocking the bluenette as she said her actual name. “It’s me, Peridot…! I’m your girlfriend, remember? I was sent out to look for you.”
“…I never dated anyone.”
Lapis then released her aim on Peridot’s forehead and broke her left shoulder. The blonde cried in agony for the final time. “That’s for weakening you more if you try escaping me.” The rogue agent said.
Peridot’s collar was clenched and pulled upwards on her feet again. She was already feeling frail from her brief damages, but she was even feeling pain equally on the inside. Lapis was like an entirely new person in view of her violent nature. In all seriousness, you don’t just beat up your partner when you reunite after a damn long time. This blue-haired girl can’t possibly be Lapis. But Peridot felt it, it really was her partner.
“We have a new way of dealing with intruders like you.” Lapis says. “I’m taking you to Yellow Diamond right away.”
Oh no, Peridot knew where this was going with. Without a doubt she was about to be abducted and brainwashed like what Yellow Diamond had said long ago. But that was not going to be likely, a risk needed to be taken to escape it.
“Forgive me for this…”
Peridot had enough strength to kick Lapis’ waist and knock away her grip. She ran across the room and took cover by the only desk in order to pull back out her gun.
“Now you’re really going to be killed, Crystal Gem…!” Lapis exclaims.
Multiple shells inflicted the desk and Lapis was swiftly dodging all the ammunition flying through her. Peridot was regretful shooting rounds of bullets near her partner, but all she wanted to do was distract her and not flat out start a gun fight.
Lapis became irritated from being unable to seize the agent. So with sharp precision, she went on to shoot two bullets impacting Peridot’s left arm. Surely the blonde’s left side has not been the luckiest this evening, and aiming with one arm was not one of her strengths. Peridot shouted again from pain and stopped firing altogether. She was now behind some random desk being the most injured and dejected she has ever been in a mission. The firing stopped, and the agent needed to think quickly.
She was about to rise up until finding a peculiar weapon. It was the same thing she saw Yellow Diamond use to shock a fellow Diamond agent and fall to the ground. She picks it up and promptly scrutinizes it features before attempting to turn it on. “I really don’t want to do this…” she utters whiningly.
Lapis was inching near Peridot’s hiding spot while her frown lowered more feverishly. She looked down and reached for the blonde so she could drag her callously to ‘her boss’. But Peridot jumped out of nowhere, equipped with the electric weaponry with her only working arm. She turns it on and shoves it directly onto Lapis’ stomach, causing her to seize and screech loudly. Peridot was counting in her mind how many seconds she had to keep shocking her. “3…4…5!!!” and she anxiously let go of the Taser. The bluenette now lost control of her movement and crashed the ground unconscious. Peridot glanced at her regretfully down partner, and she could not believe how powerful the deterrent was. Lapis was now concealed with dark shades like a burnt mark around her neck. But since she was wearing a suit, who knows how much pain she inflicted then.
Peridot decided to steal it and take it to the Crystal Gems, nicknaming it a “destabilizer”. Before long, she struggled to carry Lapis back to their transport and back to the base. Only little time was grasped to heal from the countless wounds the petite agent had to go through. The one thing she needed to avoid was remembering who assaulted her.
“Lapis, why would you hurt me…?”
….. ……. ……. ……
Peridot gave the news of her incident back in the Diamond’s base and recovered Lapis’ body, and her friends quickly took action and supposedly mended both of their wounds. The blonde took a long rest in the medical clinic as she lay down with bandages stitching her bruised face, arm, and almost anywhere damaged under her worn out suit. All she wanted to do after her rest was get right back up and rush to Lapis. She has never felt so confused and so broken at the time.
She pushes herself to rise and find where in the base Lapis was being kept in. As she limped across the halls nearby the medical room she exited, she bumps into Garnet who glanced at Peridot ominously through her shades. The blonde halts and looks up at her. “What do you want, Garnet…?”
“You’re up early.” The commander says.
“If you’re going to tell me to go back to that nerve-racking room, I’ll be glad to disobey. Nothing is going to stop me from talking to her.” Peridot says frustrated. She didn’t have to worry about getting punished right on the spot. Garnet was one of her friends, and Peridot was already injured in all facets. So both were empathetic to what was going on.
“Actually, I was going to see you so I can tell how Lapis is doing.” Garnet says, taking off her glasses slightly and revealing her dismayed eyes. “Pearl and I found the symptoms of her violent nature towards you. And as we feared, the Diamond Authority transformed her.” She stated. “We did the protocols and interviewed her a little. Pearl finalized that she became one of the alleged abductees by the Diamonds to have her memories erased and replace them with alternative beliefs.”
“…You mean…they brainwashed her?” the blonde asks disbelieved. Her commander nods regretfully.
“We were finding a way to regain her old memories, but we had no luck. She is too convinced that she is one of the enemies.” Garnet continued.
“But she ISN’T one of them. You must have other options in reminding her who she is.”
Garnet placed her hand on Peridot’s shoulder and made them continue to walk through the hall. “We do.” She says. “You’re Lapis’ closest companion. So we believe whatever you tell her can bring her back gradually...”
“I hope so.”
As the commander guided the limping agent through the building, they stopped outside one of the most dangerous rooms in the HQ, the confinement room. There, a large window took up half the wall and showed what was on the other side of it. Peridot gasped gaping through the bulletproof gap. Absurdly dim lights draped the chamber with only a lamp on a table being the strongest light source. An injured, struggling Lapis was sitting down next to that table, chained in both hands and ankles.
“You didn’t even heal her?!” Peridot exclaimed.
“We’re sorry about that, Peridot.” Pearl says. “We tried mending her, but she refused our aid. All we could do was just leave her like this.”
“She does not seem to be calming down either.” Garnet adds.
Peridot inches closer to the window and takes a closer look at Lapis. She once again felt like crumbling to pieces seeing what she has done to her girlfriend, and at the same time what Lapis had done to her. The rogue agent was handcuffed to her seat and struggled to let loose of her trap. But she was just as infirm as her former partner. Gosh, this wasn’t how anyone expected things to turn out in the end. And while Peridot can’t help but smile to the fact that Lapis was back, the feeling of regret and scowling was stronger as to what happened tonight.
“Send me inside, Pearl.” She orders and sighs deeply. “I’m ready to confront her again.”
“Alright then.” Pearl walks to the entrance of the confinement. “We’ll still be here in case something ugly happens, but your conversation with her will be muted for your privacy.”
The door unlocks and Peridot ambles in without hesitation. And when the entrance closed back, everything went to silence. Lapis was across the room staring back at Peridot with vicious intentions, but she did not mind that at all. Inside those malevolent eyes of hers was the true Lapis who was always amused and relieved to have Peridot’s presence nearby. The two agents were now face-to-face with only a table literally in between them.
Peridot took a seat and continued to counter-stare at the equally frail Lapis. “I’m sorry for what I did to you back in the Diamond base.” She starts off.
“Don’t be. You should consider yourself lucky that you brought us back to your own base in one piece.” Lapis says.
“You’re right, I do now that I you’re here.”
The bluenette grunted and went back to struggling her handcuffs off. “It’s true what Yellow Diamond says about you Crystal Gems. All of you act like you care about others, but really you just want to brutalize us like right now.” She points out. “Whatever schemes you have in torturing me, you and your friends will always fail to bring the rest of us down.”
“Lapis, I’m not going hurt you. Not anymore at least.” Peridot assures. “Last week both of us were infiltrating a room together and found out about Yellow Diamond abducting members. And well…I didn’t think you would be one of them. But I don’t care about that anymore! We have been dating for a while now, Lapis, Yellow Diamond couldn’t possibly erase me from your head.”
The rogue agent wanted to cringe if she wasn’t so tired to do so. “…You know, you must be a hell of an agent to know my name and play pretend with me.” Lapis mocks. “I’m a lone agent. Your face nor your voice holds no significance to me what so ever. I can’t even picture myself having a life with you outside the world of the Diamond Authority.”
“Oh come on now, Lapis. You got to remember me somehow.” Peridot says upsettingly. “This isn’t who you are…”
“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lapis replies gloomily. “I was trained to kill gem agents such as yourself. Even if I did know you, I’d still try to shoot you either way.”
Peridot shook her head as she felt so much doubt. “No see, this is EXACTLY what I’m talking about.” She complains. “Lapis, I’m Peridot, your partner!” The brainwashed agent tried making sense of that name. But instead she just glared back at the blonde with confusion and anger. Saying her name was not enough to remind her who she was. Peridot had to be more reminiscent in order to get her girlfriend back.
She chokes on her own words before commencing to say something else. “I-I was the girl you called a dork for two years because of my obsessions with our common interest. I was the girl who cheered you on during all your swimming and baseball tournaments…I was the girl who comforted you after you were assaulted so many times when we were younger. And ever since then, I never left your side because of how much I care for you!”
Suddenly, Lapis squeezes her eyes closed and lowers her expression. “Wait…what…“she vents followed with sore groaning. This must be a sign that she was gradually recollecting her memories at last. The petite agent’s eyes were widening as she slightly clenches her fist with hope. She proceeds to think of more memories and her innermost feelings for Lapis in order to help her.
“You get really annoyed when I’m active and supportive to you but at the same you’re reassured seeing me like that. And before we joined the Gems, we used to be snuggled up in bed and binge-watch this one show we both liked. We wouldn’t leave the house for weeks!”
Whatever style of brainwashing the Diamond Authority did was probably not that strong. Peridot was confident that she could regain Lapis’ memories in an instant. She began grinning softly like the emotional idiot she was, but she did not care. Recalling every instance of their relationship tortured her in a good and burning way. And of course she shouldn’t raise her hopes up too high since Lapis was still willing to murder her. And all she saw in her expression now was a usual grump, only more serious and agitated.
“…A-And one time you broke my first tape recorder right in front of me, just to show how much you hated me.” She continues, ready to tear up. “But then you decided to keep it instead of throwing it out because you couldn’t bring yourself to get rid of something I owned. Lapis, I meant so much to you. And you still mean a lot to me…That’s why I came back to save you tonight.”
The blue haired agent was feeling all these vibrations in both her head and her core when Peridot expressed so heavily. She doesn’t say anything to describe her discomfort. But instead watches the girl in front of her suddenly whimper and spots a tear run down her cheek and fall onto the table.
“It’s been a long week now you know…Our friends miss you, our dog named Pumpkin misses you, a-and I miss you most of all Laz…” Peridot says solemnly. “I can’t stand this anymore. Please, at least just try to remember how much I love you…”
Lapis grunts as the sensations in her head were increasing coarsely. “I…don’t get what’s happening…” she exclaims.
Quickly, Peridot rushes to the agent and takes a light hold of her. “Lapis, what’s wrong?” she asks anxiously. But her only answer was insecure murmuring. The blue haired agent not only felt these weird feelings in her head, but her chest pounded as images in her head came to be. It was déjà vu from her first memory in the Diamond Authority. Only this time, it was penetrating right through her core more than her mind.
In the end, she stops grunting and struggling unnervingly. Lapis then notices her partner’s presence in front of her, but she lost all tendencies to do anything threatening. In its place, she gawks at her for a long period as silence soon augmented the room with unsureness from the two girls.
“…Peridot…” Lapis vents. Hearing her say her partner’s name at last made the blonde tremble. “I’m……so sorry.”
She suddenly gets caught in Peridot’s arms and feels a suffocating warm embrace. “Oh my stars…I thought I lost you.”
….. ….. ….. …… ……
Everything went black. No, more like everything was fading into nothingness before all that was left was dark. Lapis’ head was aching a lot as she wondered what was happening to her vision. She got up and found herself previously laying her back on a bed. The setting was also completely new…Where was she? Why was light expanding more brightly when she tried to clear her vision?
“Ah good, you’ve finally woken up.” A voice could be heard inside the room. “Let’s see here…hmm…ah yes, looks like the results were as perfect as we predicted them to be…Stay where you are, Lapis.”
The bluenette’s eyebrow rose. “I don’t…understand this.”
She was in a confined room with nothing but a bed on the center, a foldable chair by the corner, and the sound of lightbulbs and vents running. Even security cameras were attached in ridiculously vast spaces by the ceiling. Lapis was massaging her head to relax, only to discover something else peculiar. She felt wires or string connecting to parts of her head. Pulling one out, it turned out to be one of those instruments you’d find in hospitals when trying to scan brain activity. This was already beginning to feel creepy.
The entrance to the room suddenly opened and Pearl came inside. Lapis doesn’t acknowledge her presence and simply waits for an explanation from her. The peach-haired girl took a seat on the only chair and analyzed through a series of papers she was holding before she could talk again.
“Well as I said before, the results of this prototype experiment went perfectly well!” she stars off. “Not only were you the first successful patient, but we succeeded in getting your memories back after a painstaking hour of transmitting base data during your coma. We even had to use the mic most of the time, too.”
“Wait, an experiment?” Lapis inquires. “Hold on a second…I was captured by the Diamond Authority last week, wasn’t I?”
“Mhm, that’s correct. You were barely yourself when you were recovered out of their headquarters.”
So being abducted by the enemy was an actual event. But this was slowly becoming too much to take in. “…Where did Peridot go…?” she asks again. “She was with me in a different room a while ago. She had me in her arms after recovering my memories...”
Pearl was no longer in a jubilant mood and shifted into a rather hesitant state of mind. She was unprepared for revealing what happened to the ACTUAL Peridot. “Oh uh…let’s talk about that later…After all, I still need to survey you on your–––“
“No, I want to talk about this now.” Lapis interrupted. “I almost killed her when I was brainwashed but then we made up. Peri was the one who brought me back, not some experiment…!”
Pearl lowered her papers and heaved a sigh. “I guess those series of transmission caused you to have some kind of lucid dream.” Pearl points out. “But I’m afraid you aren’t going to enjoy hearing what I have to say about Peridot…”
The bluenette was feeling her eyes tear from unease. “Just fucking tell me already!” she demands.
“…Lapis, you already killed her.”
Pearl bit her lip as soon as she saw Lapis’ eyes widen and clench her fist gradually. Both of them were at a loss for words, the bluenette being unable to accept the so-called truth and Pearl having no idea how to comfort her. “…N-No, that can’t be.” Lapis utters.
“When you were sent back to our base, Peridot was the one who brought you all the way here. But she collapsed the moment she busted through our doors while carrying you.” Pearl elaborated. “We checked her up and performed medical procedures…But she was bruised badly, and lost an awful lot of blood from the bullets she inflicted. We’re still finding out another way on how she died, but all of the results would lead to you being the cause of them.”
At that point, Lapis herself was collapsing as she kneeled on the ground. Her hands ran through her hair and wanted to pull her locks out. This wasn’t real, this felt like it was her actual coma. Lapis would never want to hurt Peridot or even end her life.
“What have I done, Pearl…? This can’t be real…” she whispers before letting the first teardrop spill.
“We were too late. Everything you must have remembered was fake from your trance…I’m so sorry Lapis.”
The agent did not know what was even real anymore. Pearl’s tone in her voice when she said Peridot was gone was too solemn to be some kind of sick prank. Lapis couldn’t process any information, let her emotions flow properly, or physically contain herself from weeping. All that was traveling through her mind was Peridot, nothing but images of her old partner smiling, sulking, and kissing her. And the fact that she had lost all forthcoming periods of her even receiving those again was suffocating her. “This isn’t fair!”
She could take hints on how she even murdered her, or at least ask Pearl more of the details. But it was the last thing she wanted. She wanted Peridot back to embrace her where she was kneeling. She wanted her hand to nuzzle her abrasive blonde hair and lightly kiss her forehead in which she would be solaced by. Peridot was everything to her, and somehow she couldn’t bring herself to say ‘I love you’ before they could even say goodbye.
“I miss you so much.”