Steven Universe: Beyond The Mirror

Name Game

Steven sits on the couch next to Lapis with a small wooden table placed in front of them. Steven stares at the bowl of macaroni and cheese as he taps his fingers against the spoon lodged in his lunch. Steven sighs with his head resting on the palm of his right hand with the elbow resting on the table next to the bowl.

Lapis has her hands on her knees as she stares down at the table next to a glaring Amethyst standing next to her. "You know Pearl's gonna be very upset if you don't eat your lunch, right?" Steven groans as he grips the spoon. "She already is!"

He thrusts the tip out of the food and he opens his mouth to take in the spoonful. Steven, once starving for food, has lost his appetite from the events of the past few hours. He chews the gooey substance in his mouth very slowly with drooping eyes.

Lapis watches him eat with an eyebrow raising. "What are you doing?" Amethyst snickers next to her as Steven sets the spoon back down on the food with a gulp. "Eating, Lapis. I'm eating...my food."

Steven takes another spoonful of food as Lapis turns to the snickering Amethyst. "What's so funny?" Amethyst quits her snickering with a smirk. "Oh man! You've got a lot of catching up to do, Homegirl!" Lapis' right eye twitches. "What did you just call me?"

Amethyst folds her arms. "Homegirl. You know, because you're from Homeworld?" Lapis whips her body towards Amethyst, countering her smirk. "Really? Well how about this one, Kindergarten Kid!" Amethyst widens her eyes, her smirk dropping in an instant.

She blushes as she clenches her teeth. "Oh! We're playing this game now! Alright then, water witch!" Steven turns to his right to watch Amethyst and Lapis squabble with their name calling as he takes another casual spoonful.

"Quartz soldier!"
"Mirror glass!"
"Deep cut!"
"Shallow cut!"
"Low-life!"
"Fancy pants!"
"Defect!"

Amethyst pauses as her eyes well up. "What?" Lapis chuckles as she hangs her head towards the ceiling, narrowing her eyes. "Defect, you know, because you're small?" Steven raises his eyebrow as Amethyst sniffles. "Excuse me?!" Lapis shuts her eyes for a moment. "You heard me."

Amethyst growls as her gem glows. She pulls out her whip from her gem through clenched teeth. "I mean aren't you supposed to be big and tall just like the other Quartzes?" Amethyst takes a step forward, readying her whip.

Steven gulps down his food and grimaces. "Uh, Lapis?"
"So, what happened with you? Did you stay in the ground for too long? We're you abandoned when you came out of the ground because nobody was there to come get you?"

Steven notices Amethyst's flaring nostrils and furrowing forehead as she heaves. "Lapis!" Lapis snickers with crossing eyebrows. "Did you go insane until the Pearl and Garnet came to take you in?! Were you talking to rocks in your spare time wondering why you even existed to begin with?!"

Amethyst's grip on the handle of the whip tightens as she lashes out at Lapis. "Well now isn't that fun-!" The whip's ends wrap around Lapis, forcing her to cut her insult. Amethyst thrusts Lapis into the closet door. Lapis grunts as she rebounds against it. "Oh that is it!"

Steven gasps as he drops his spoon, allowing it to clatter on the table as he rushes towards Lapis. "I don't care what Garnet says! I'll bubble your wet butt away right now!" Steven stops in front of Lapis, summoning his shield to counter Amethyst's assault.

The ends of the whip rebound off the shield, as a tear slides down Amethyst's left cheek. She growls at the young boy behind the shield. "Dude! How can you defend this monster?!" Her lips quiver as she chokes on her tears.

Steven drops the glare he's been giving her as she turns tail on them and runs away. She pulls the collar of her shirt down, as the door immediately opens for her. The door slams itself shut with a resounding boom. Steven's shield dissipates as he turns around to face Lapis propping her back against the closet door.

"Lapis, why did you do that? You hurt Amethyst's feelings." Lapis shrugs. "What? I had to get her out of here so we can escape. Now that the room is clear, we can take the warp pad and dissapear from this miserable place!" Steven narrows his eyes.

"This is my home, Lapis! I can't believe you would do such a thing just so you could help us escape!" Lapis growls as she gets up. "Steven, sometimes you just have to do the things that you don't want to do to get stuff done! We need to get to Homeworld and this is the only way!"

Steven reproaches her. "Is it?! Or is it the way YOU want to get things done?!" Steven heads up the stairs to his room as the temple door opens. Pearl steps out, gasping. "Where's Amethyst?!"

Lapis slumps back down on the couch folding her arms. "Steven?!" Pearl turns to look up at Steven who is laying down on the bed with his limbs outstretched, questioning the morals of his beach summer not-so-fun buddy.