Steven Universe: Beyond The Mirror

Bubble Of Empathy

A pink, vibrant bubble forms around Steven and Lapis just before the water could touch them. Steven and Lapis look around with gaping mouths, blinking a few times to recover from the realization of their discovery. "You're a Rose Quartz?"

The duo turns back to face each other as they sit across from one another in the bubble. "So that explains why you are a Crystal Gem. Because you're mom...is a Rose Quartz...and...wait." Lapis contemplates Steven, placing a hand on her chin with an eyebrow raising.

"What...is a mom?" Steven's eyes widen as a thought occurs to him. Gems, like Lapis, don't have moms. That's a sad thing to think about. However, the idea of that only makes him more curious in finding out who Lapis is and how she came to be.

"Well, a mom is someone who takes care of you. Someone who cares about you. Someone who...brought you into this world. That's what my dad told me anyway." Lapis casts her mirror eyes down on the bubble's surface. "Oh. Gems don't have moms. We only have the Kindergartens."

Steven raises his eyebrow as he sits up straight. "Kindergarten?" Lapis nods. "A Gem doesn't come into existence by a mom. MY mom is a Kindergarten. But the Kindergarten doesn't care about me. It doesn't take care of me either. We just pop out of the ground and then we multiply to create more of them. More of us."

Steven's lips curl down into his frown as his eyebrows drop down. "That's really sad. Does your...Diamond care about you?" Lapis sighs as she hugs her legs, pressing them up to her chest. She rests her head on them as her mirror eyes droop. "Only if you follow orders."

Steven presses his pudgy hands on his own knees as he looks down for a moment. "I never got to know my mom. She gave herself up to create me and...that's why I'm here. I am her, but I'm not her. Since then, the Gems have been my moms." He chuckles. "I guess you can have more than one."

His mood darkens once more as he returns to the conversation. "But after I freed you...and after I left them...they probably don't care about me anymore...because I betrayed them. I was afraid that...I didn't know that...I thought...!" He squints his eyes as he sniffles. A tear slips down his right cheek.

Lapis watches him with somber eyes as they reflect his face. He pouts in silence as tears roll down his cheeks. He sniffles and cries in a low volume as his back presses against the bubble's inner surface. He buries his face in his arms as he rests them on his knees.

Lapis brings her arms back down to her sides as her hands press against the bubble's surface once more. She crawls over to Steven and she stops in front of him. She reaches out to him and she wraps her arms around his body. Steven immediately embraces her back and he sobs into her right shoulder.

Lapis lightly pats his back as her eyes close, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." Steven lifts his head up from her shoulder. "For what?" Lapis blinks her eyes open. "I dragged you into this mess. You broke me out of the mirror and I offered you a trip into the ocean. Now you're stuck here...with me."

Steven sniffles as he attempts to regain his composure. "It's not your fault, Lapis." He sighs. "It's mine. I set you free only to trap us in this bubble. Maybe you would've been better off in the mirror. At least in there, nothing bad could've happened to you."

Lapis' lips curl up as she chuckles. "Are you kidding me? I didn't have anyone to talk to nevertheless be with inside that piece of junk. At least in this bubble, your here." Steven looks over to Lapis by the back of her hair. "Not that I wanted you to be trapped here of course."

Steven smirks. "Listen, Steven, since you don't really have a mom to take care of you, I'll be your mom. I mean, you can have more than one, right?" Steven's teeth emerge into his smile as he gives a low laugh. "You can't be wrong about that!"

The two laugh in their moment of empathy as the bubble pulsates. The bubble bursts, allowing the fresh ocean water to envelop the duo. Steven covers his mouth as Lapis shuts hers. She takes Steven's hand and the two swim to the surface.