Cloudy Waters

Chapter One

 Lapis had been flying for days now. Too many times had she looked back, and too many times had she almost left the barn floating in space. Flying was no problem, but the weight of guilt on her was. She'd sworn to herself that she'd never cry, never surrender, and was holding fast.

No planets had been suitable. Most had been riddled with monsters, too close to diamond bases, or... reminded her of earth. She knew she had to stop flying eventually, or the pressure she had put on her mind carrying the barn would strain her too much. She flew on, on to get away from the diamonds and their certain attack, on to get herself away from Earth, and on to escape regret. But regret will always come back, through life and death.

. . .

She came across a smallish planet, about the size of the earth's moon. It seemed habitable, as from up above she could sense an atmosphere. Gems could live anywhere, but Lapis preferred a place where there was water, so she could exercise her powers. She angled herself downwards and began her descent. Nothing was tugging at her ankles, because there was no air in space. It felt weightless, and that felt wrong. She'd spent so many years on Earth, she'd become accustomed to it although she'd only learned to like it recently.

She broke through the atmosphere and immediately felt a light breeze. The ground was covered in a kind of pink grass. It reminded her of Steven and his lion, but they were on earth, so she quickly made herself think of other things. She let a drop of water fall and touch the ground. It didn't sizzle or evaporate, so she alighted on the ground herself. The grass tickled her ankles. There was no warmth of a sun on this planet, and the atmosphere was thin enough to see into the depths of space.

The breeze stirred up the grass, which whispered around her ankles. The planet had a sense of loneliness, which she liked. She flew up again, and this time brought the barn down with her. It creaked and complained as she set it down, but once it was settled down it looked comfortable in the cold place.

The weight on her shoulders had been lifted, but not the guilt. She looked up into the sky. Bright dots of stars and planets littered the deep black. She stared up, admiring it's cold beauty.

A somewhat loud sound came from it. She squinted. It looked like a fighter ship from an Era 2 Emerald was crashing down somewhere. Good. That's one less gem to attack the Earth.

She took some time to explore the planet, which ended up containing a large pool of water near the barn, a few strange-looking crystal formations, and dead trees that were actually made of some kind of dark-brown polished rock.

The planet had no structures nor kindergartens, so Lapis could assume the diamonds hadn't found it yet or had no interest in it. Both would be good for her. There was also no other life she had found. Nobody else had been here. Maybe there was, and they had starved, but there was no sign of a corpse.

She dumped the water from carrying the barn into the pool, and went into the barn. Inside, although jumbled, were all of their Meep-morps. She sifted through them until she found the one she wanted - the collaborative piece of toilet water. She made the water rise, but it wasn't complete without Peridot.

Lapis realized this, and stopped immediately. She flew up onto the platform on the roof. All of the VCR tapes of Camp Pining Hearts were still there, which was important to her. She popped one in, and spent hours watching them and re-watching them to distract herself from her guilt. All the time, there was no change in the cold, unfeeling place with the light breeze. No sun, no day, no night. Just galaxy.

Eventually, watching Camp Pining Hearts reminded Lapis too much of Peridot, so she turned it off and listened to the rustling grass. It was like white noise, and she  spent so long listening, it became like silence. Never stopping, never letting up. Drowning all else out.