Found

~Chapter 16~

Peri closed her eyes and and tried to find something that would calm her down. But the only thing that ran through her mind was the events of just a few moments ago. The words I love you, the scared look on Lapis's face. The fear and anger in her voice. The terrible feeling in her stomach. She peeked and noticed her hands had drifted to Lapis's. She relaxed alittle, comforted knowing that Lapis was still there. She tried to do what she wanted, so she did her best to clear her mind. When Peri noticed it wasn't working, she decided to try a different tactic. She imagined the town on fire. The sound of structures breaking from the flames, more of them sprouting and becoming more violent as more fuel aided them on to the next. Peri stood on a crumbled building, the fire already gone and moved on, yet small embers lingered in small and large splotches around it. She let her green eyes graze over the landscape, seeing the fire and destruction everywhere. In the distance more buildings feel victim the raging flames. The sky a redish orange color, slowly blacking from the amount of smoke rising upwards. She coughed, feeling the air choke her. More and more smoke began to rise, and it seemed like far in into the distance, the fires began to get smaller. The longer she looked, she soon knew for sure the the fires were dying out, and inbetween the rubble of the collapsed buildings, water was the cause of the amount of smoke. Peri had been to focused on everything around her, that she had yet to notice the water had risen to her knees. A splash from the small forming waves made her look around. That's when she noticed she wasn't wearing her normal hoodie and jeans, but a yellow dress that she had never seen before. She watched as the waves raised above her knees to her waist and eventually engulfed her completely. She floated upwards with the water, the ruined city becoming less and less visible. Soon there was nothing more then the deep expansion of blue all around her. The farther she tried to look out, the darker the blue became. Peri tried to upright herself from her position, and noticed she couldn't. But for once she didn't freak out. She was content, floating a a sea of nothingness. She closed her eyes momentarily, only to open them to a light shining above her. As her eyes adjusted, she could tell it was the sun. She instinctively raised her hand to block it, noticing she was able to. She started to turn and twist in the water, and gasped at what she saw. Below was the sea bed, the sand flowing and seemingly moving as the current of the water went about its way. Coral of different hues and colors slowly came out of the sand, dotting the sand bed with an array of magnificent shades. Each color shining in the sun light, the hues bouncing off each other and dancing wildly across the bed. Algae sprouted in betten the coral, some clumping up and waving softly. Plant life started to spread as well, following the algaes lead. A dark shadow suddenly darkened the scenery that was unfolding under her, and she looked up to see a broken ship slowly descending down towards her. She did not panic, but moved out of the way, the ship bigger than what it looked like a second ago. The ship floated down to a spot right in the middle of the ocean floor. It landed with a muffled thud, and with a lot of creaking, leaned to its side. By now Peri had started to float down the ship, the closer she got the more damage of the ship she could see. The hull of the ship broken, huge holes on the side of it. The guard railing broken off in some places. The flags ripped and torn. She stayed right above the ship, looking over it with calm mystery. The broken ship laid there, Peri expecting something ominous to come out from it. She felt the temperature around her settle again after the giant disturbance went by. There was something calming about the way the vessel sat there, at the bottom of the ocean. Peri looked over it softly, watching as the sun hit the coral reef and the colors returned, moving spastically across the the ship. Dancing into the rooms, and holes of the ship, lighting up new parts that she could not see before. She breathed in at the sight, closing her eyes and opening them again to see Lapis looking at her patiently. Peri noted that she looked calm, and figured that what ever this method was that Lapis had them try, worked.

" How do you feel now?" Lapis asked, touching the down volume button twice. Peri looked around the room, her mind still thinking of her new found happy place.

" Alot.. calmer now. I feel.. ok for once, like nothing negative matters anymore. I don't feel a weight on my shoulders anymore. Like I actually don't feel stressed out anymore. This is like how I felt our first night that we.." Peri cut off there, thinking about it and blushing. Lapis smiled and gave Peri's hands a squeeze before leaning back and laying on the bed.

" Well that's the purpose of a happy place. The more into it you get, the more relaxed you becoming. I mean, it won't heal or help you if you won't truely try it." Lapis stated. Peri could tell that Lapis probably did this, and other calming methods, since she was so well versed in just this small thing. Peri laid back as well, and stretched. She turned away from Lapis, and closed her eyes, envisioning the scene again.

" Lapis? Is it possible to have more than one happy place?" 

" It is yes, but that may not always be the best thing to do."

"Why?"

" Because the more you have, the less likely it is to help you. The brain will have to many places that all have the same feeling, and eventually the places will lose their value. So its best to keep the one place that makes you feel the most comfortable." Peri said nothing, but Lapis knew she had heard her. Lapis inched closer to her, and laid her arm around Peri's waist, and snuggled, her. Peri backed up, and pushed her self against Lapis, still staying silent. The open window blew in a nice warm breeze, and for Lapis at least, the mixture of the song playing and the city noises from the outside world were nice. Peri, on the other hand, had lost herself to the happy place again, the music she used as a focus point and created the scene from the melody of the song. The melody carrying a smooth transition between each high and low point, reminding Peri of the soft waves. Lapis felt her become more and more relaxed, her body soon enough becoming limp. Lapis kissed Peri's head, and closed her eyes as well, letting her have her moment. 

" Tomorrow we visit Garnet, and everyone else. There are things that need to be discussed, and I need to know more about you that I feel won't come from your mouth yet. I can't lose you, so I'll arm myself with everything I can to prevent it from happening." Lapis whispered to herself out loud. She was worried, and begin to over think things. Worried that they would not be able to handle a fight, or that maybe they rushed things and jumped in too fast. She thought for a brief moment that maybe they should break up, and try starting as friends. As that thought came to pass, a pit opened in Lapis's stomach, and she felt her eyes water. 'No, that's not an option what's so ever.' Lapis thought to herself. ' We will be fine, I know it.' 

She opened her eyes and looked to the sky, Peri's steady breathing helping to calm her nerves. she watched the clouds go by slowly. The song eventually drowning out the cities background noise. ' Seems I'll be the one needing the most help.. Especially since that day still rings so clearly in my head, and that stupid sentence haunts me..' Lapis squeezed her eyes shut, and pulled Peri even closer to her, the mental images of shadowed figures and sunken faces flooding her mind, the hill losing its colors and beauty to the darkness that grew from the corners of her mind.