Lapis Lazuli: the Lost Mermaid 2 Save the Oceans

Chapter 23: Broken Hearts

"Ugh!" Jasper gagged, interrupting the tender moment. "If I have to endure any more human sentimentalism, I'm going to be sick."

"No wonder you're so pathetic, princess." Aquamarine taunted Lapis. "These humans are as sappy as you."

"How dare you speak ill of my human family." the young princess scowled. "They've taught me love, kindness, and friendship; things they have more in the tips of their noses than you have in your whole bodies."

"Well, it'll take more than love and kindness to beat us." Emerald shot back.

"Yeah, you may have numbers on your side, but we have more than enough dark magic to suppress you all!" Squaridot added in a snarky tone.

"Enough!" a familiar regal chimed.

"Mom! Auntie Pink!" Lapis cried out happily.

"Jasper!" the blue mermaid queen spoke firmly. "You and the Black Scale Clan have reeked havoc and terrorized my daughter for the last time!"

"Haven't you forgotten something, queenie?" Emerald mouthed off. "You're one sister short."

"Are you sure about that?" another regal voice rang.

Low and behold, Queen Hope and Princess Pink Diamond's long-lost sister had come to join their side. The two royal mermaids couldn't be more surprised.

"Yellow?" Queen Hope gasped, her eyes welling up. "I don't believe my eyes. Is that really you?"

"It's been a long time, sisters." the queen of Opalescensia said.

"Aunt Yellow, you came." Lapis said. "What are you doing here? I thought you said you could never face your sisters again."

"Well after you came to my palace, I thought a lot about what you said." the yellow mermaid explained. "And I decided that you were right. I never felt complete without my family. Thank you for helping me come to my senses."

The blue princess gave a small smile of satisfaction.

"Okay, we are dangerously outnumbered." Hessonite commented.

"You think I don't know that?" Squaridot shot back. "That was obviously before the royal reinforcements arrived."

"It's up to you." Lapis hoped to reason. "Stand down now and we can avoid a brutal fight."

"You'd rather make a negotiation instead of fighting for the fate of the ocean?" Holly Blue Agate questioned. "Why?"

"I don't think any of you wanted to be the enemy." the heroine explained. "I think that you once felt like you were unappreciated and unequal, so you did something in order to get attention, even if it would endanger the natural order."

"Lapis, what are you-" Steven tried to intervene.

"Shh." Connie shushed him.

"We don't have to be enemies and you certainly don't have to be the bad guys." the young princess continued. "I mean, we're all mermaids; right? Look around. What difference do you see? We all live on the same planet and every ocean is connected to each other. What you do here affects the other oceans all over the world. We all swim around in the same water, we all live amongst the same creatures, and we can all do good things because together; we are all a family."

"No, don't listen to her." Jasper urged. "She's just trying to trick you."

"I think the princess might be right." Emerald decided, her expression softening. "Our motives were a little... drastic."

"We did used to be good mermaids." Hessonite agreed. "Who says it's too late to go back to being that?"

The other Black Scale Clan members nodded to the idea of changing for the better. Well, with one exception.

"Oh, come on!" Aquamarine's voice blurted out, cutting through the moment of redemption. "I can't believe how soft you've all become."

"Well, it's good that one of you hasn't turned traitor." the sea witch said in satisfaction.

"Seriously, Aquamarine?" Lapis attempted to persuade. "You're not going to abandon your hunger for power? Please don't side with Jasper. It's not too late for you to turn back from going down a path of darkness."

"I've been down that path my whole life." the bratty blue mermaid sneered. "And I like being bad. It makes me happy."

"Wait." Connie said. "What are you going to do?"

"Something we should've done days ago." Aquamarine answered sinisterly.

Lapis' eyes widened fearfully when she realized what the young villain was planning to do.

"Jamie, the trident!" she belted to her boyfriend.

The two lovers each grabbed the Tsunami Trident to use against Aquamarine's power. But, it was too late.

The tiny evil mermaid was preparing to unleash a tremendous blast of dark magic towards the Oceanic Heart. She showed absolutely no regard for the cave's magical security system and just let it rip.

"NOOOOO!" everybody cried out, but it fell on deaf ears.

The ball of black magic struck the already damaged heart and that was the final blow to shatter the relic. Not only that, but Aquamarine's dark powers also destroyed the cave that once held the heart.

Although this was already a drastic situation, to everyone else, it was just shattered crystal; but to Lapis, it felt like a sword had gone through her heart; quickly and painfully.

She let out the most pain filled, heartbreaking scream you had ever heard and her body sank backwards.

Jamie quickly reacted and caught his girlfriend as the weight of grief weighed them both down to the seafloor. The large crowd of friends and family urgently gathered around the fading princess.

"No." the human boy pleaded, tears building up. "No, no, no, no, no. Lapis, stay with me. You can't die, Lapis. You can't."

"Jamie, it's the curse." Lapis gasped, weakly. "My soul is connected to the Oceanic Heart. I can't survive if it's destroyed."

The circled was struck by a wave of unimaginable grief and shock.

"No, I can't lose you; Lapis." Jamie choked up. "We had so many plans."

"Aquamarine, what have you done?!" Queen Hope bellowed, knowing that she was losing her baby at the hands of Aquamarine.

The bratty blue mermaid only responded by laughing at the expense of the dying princess.

"Don't be sad for me, Jamie. Or any of you." Lapis tried to smile with the last of whatever strength she had. "Even after I'm gone, I will always love you. All of you."

"And we will always love you back." her boyfriend replied in tears.

After that, the blue mermaid's eyes fell permanently closed and she exhaled for the last time. Every single mermaid and human in their circle was crying their broken hearts out. Jamie held his girlfriend's lifeless body especially close as he sobbed.

It looked like that was that. Not only was the last hope to restore balance and harmony in the ocean now gone, but so was a beautiful, kindhearted princess.