Shattered Realities - 7

“Do you think she’s cold?” Steven asked quietly as he cradled the jasper in his arms like a small infant. “Is there a blanket anywhere on this ship we can use on her?”

Peridot grunted. “I don’t know, Steven human. I don’t imagine, the temperatures of our bodies has never been something gems need to concern themselves over, unlike you mere humans.”

Garnet slipped her arm around the boy’s shoulder. “I know you’re worried about her Steven, but now that her gem is healed Jasper is going to be just fine. All we have left to do now is wait… I don’t know how long it will take. She could have been badly damaged.”

“Who knows if she’ll even come out,” Amethyst mumbled quietly. Pearl shot her a glare as Steven’s face filled with horror.

“What do you mean she might not come out?!” Steven whimpered. He tightened his grip on the jasper. “You said she’d be okay!”

“Yeah she will, but I don’t know if after all of this she’ll even want to come out. Nobody could blame her. There were times I poofed into my gem and I thought about just staying in it.”

“She can really do that?” Steven asked, wiping his face. “She can stay in there forever? B-but isn’t that the equivalent of being dead?”

Garnet shook her head. “To us it would look like it. Her gem would lie dormant but she’d still be alive inside it. It’s like…staying in a box forever. You can hear things, but you can’t interact with the world.”

“Jasper is a strong gem!” Peridot snapped. “She would never hide away and refuse to face the world! She’s a soldier!”

“Yeah a soldier that was just told she’s just a mash up of mutants! How would you feel being betrayed by the ones that created you?”

“I WAS!” Peridot roared, taking her aggression out on the steering wheel and causing the ship to jerk in the air. Steven yelped and almost fell off the seat. He clutched Jasper to his chest. “Stop it guys! You’re probably upsetting her…”

“Steven’s right,” Garnet said sharply. It was a tone Amethyst and Pearl knew well and they shut their mouths immediately. Even Peridot quieted, wary. “The last thing any of us needs right now is arguing, and it certainly isn’t going to coax Jasper out. Let’s just…” She sighed. “Let’s go home.”

–

Peridot landed the ship on the arm of the temple and turned off the engines. She fell against the pilot’s seat, but Garnet had her by the scruff of her neck before she could even blink. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t trust you on my life.” She dragged the green gem into the house and deposited her onto the warp pad. “Garnet!” Steven ran up next to her. “What are you doing?! We’re not imprisoning them! We’re supposed to be the safe space for them!”

“And we are.” They arrived in the room that housed bubbled gems and Garnet dropped Peridot. “But we also have to take precautions.” She looked around the room. “This room is for incapacitated gems and for now it’s where you will both stay. Steven, give her Jasper.”

The boy’s mouth creased and he held the gem inadvertently tighter. He reluctantly relinquished it to Peridot, and Peridot clutched it close. Without a word, Garnet disappeared into the warp pad in a single flash of light, and Peridot and Steven were alone.

Peridot stared down at the jasper in her hands, which were quickly beginning to shake. She pulled her knees up, balling against the wall. The gem gave a sound of distress and she flicked something on the side of her visor. The lenses thickened and she covered her face with her hands.

“Peridot,” Steven began softly.

“Leave me be, Quartz child!” the gem shrieked angrily. Her small body began to shudder. She whimpered and Steven could see tears roll down the green gem’s face.

“It’s…it’s gonna be okay,” the boy said quietly. He approached her, slow and cautious. He wanted to touch her, but he didn’t know what her reaction would be. “She’ll be okay and you’ll be okay.”

“Leave!”

Steven’s face crumpled with despair but he did what he was told. “I’ll come check on you tomorrow.” The tears had already built in his eyes when he reached the pad, and luckily he was away from Peridot when he began to fall as his small body trembled.

“Steven?” When he heard the panic to Pearl’s voice it just made him cry even more. He turned away but the gem was there in an instant, in front of him and trying to get him to look at her. “Steven? Steven, what’s wrong? Did she hurt you?” He shook his head rapidly and just made a choked, sobbing noise.

“Oh Steven…” Pearl tucked him close and held the sobbing boy to her. She rose with him after a moment, holding the child as she had when he was even smaller and could fit in her arms perfectly. She sat down on the couch with him. “You’ve had to deal with so much tonight…”

He really had and he was at his limit. He was confused and worried and sore. It took until now to realize that his back was burning from…whatever they had attacked him with, and he had some cuts and a few minor burns.

“Lapis told us that you might be in Kindergarden but she never said why,” Pearl began gently. “Steven how on earth did you get to Kindergarden and why?”

“I just wanted to help her!” the boy wailed, pulling back from Pearl’s shirt. “I just wanted to help Jasper! I know she’s a forced fusion and I know that d-deep down she’s scared and I just want to help her! Sh-she told me she wanted to see me and I-I went…!”

“What did they do to you?” Pearl demanded, examining the boy. Out of this whole thing she almost forgot that they had abducted Steven. “What did those monsters do to you?!”

“Don’t call them monsters Pearl!” Steven snapped through a sniffle. “I-I’m okay, they didn’t really hurt me.” He didn’t want her to freak out over the burn. “Sh…she saved me,” he whispered. “Jasper re-released the fusions and she threw me and Peridot out of there so we wouldn’t get hurt! She saved us both!”

Pearl’s eyes widened. “She released the fusions?”

“Y-yeah! She turned right to Yellow Diamond and defied her! Right in her face!”

“Whoa-whoa!” From at the fridge, Amethyst nearly dropped her sandwich. “Hang on there, Bro. You…you saw…Yellow Diamond?”

He shuddered from the memory. Those cold, piercing yellow eyes, the jagged smile. The true, unvarnished evil… “Yes!” he cried and his tears started anew. He couldn’t bring himself to tell them that this was the second time he had seen her. “And—and she's—she’s awful and scary and mean! She said really horrible things about them!” He whimpered and balled up in Pearl’s arms, remembering all the threats she had given him. “A-and she threatened to kill me and ev-everyone I love!”

“Oh Steven!” Pearl teared up herself and crushed the boy to her chest. “I’m so sorry you had to see that-that awful…” She couldn’t find a word vulgar enough and just kept hugging the crying boy. “We won’t let her hurt you! We will never let her hurt you!”

“Wh-what about Jasper and Peridot?” he whimpered. “She wants them too. She already said such terrible things. H…how can someone be so…so evil?”

A sudden gentle two hands placed on his shoulder and Steven turned to see Garnet crouched down near him. She took off her visor. “Steven, sometimes there is just evil. Sometimes there is no good to be found in someone. But I will promise you this…as long as Jasper and Peridot are with us we will protect them too.” She smiled softly to the boy. “Remember what you said?”

Steven struggled to recall, but when he did he gave a wobbling smile. “No gems left behind?”

“No gems left behind…” Garnet sat down next to Pearl and Amethyst sandwiched them all on the other side as the team gathered around the boy and took turns comforting him. “Steven, I know you’ve been through a lot tonight,” Garnet said gently. “You must be exhausted.” The other two gems nodded in agreement and Pearl stood with the child in her arms.

“It’s time to sleep Steven…” He looked like he wanted to resist, but his eyes were half lidded, head drooping against the woman’s shoulder. She brought him to bed, laying him down as tenderly as you would an infant.

“So tired…” Steven mumbled, his eyes closing. “So tired…” He saw her face before he shut his eyes. “Jasper…”

–

It had been a while since she had been inside of her gem. In the military you weren’t really given the opportunity to spend too much time in your gem. Often the military would force gems from their stone—sometimes before they even had the chance to regenerate. It was a grisly sight to see; not all of the gems would be fully formed or healed. Some would be missing limbs, the others might have gaping wounds. And then sometimes regeneration took too long for Homeworld’s liking and they’d crush the recovering gems.

So Jasper never was able to enjoy regeneration. It was all and all a peaceful process. Gems didn’t feel any pain inside of their stones, although any afflicted injury was visible on their body. As it was right now Jasper could see some burns over parts of her body and several lacerations. They bathed in a light and glowed as the gem did its work.

Inside of the gem was almost like being in a small bubble. You could still hear the world around you and you could even see it if you wanted to, like a small window. Jasper heard a faint whimpering noise and as she walked out further she realized it was someone sobbing.

Is that the kid? That was her first thought. The brat seemed to be a sensitive soul and cried at the drop of a hat. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was him, but she wished he wouldn’t cry overher… As she listened closely, she detected the cries and it brought a twist to her stomach.

Peridot… For a moment Jasper just stood there, frozen and completely helpless. That was definitely her nerdy comrade crying and she wasn’t there to shut her up. Her eyes glazed over sadly. She didn’t blame Peridot; she felt numb. In a span of a few days she went from being Homeworld’s highest regarded General to somebody’s science project. She lost her mission, she lost her home. …Was it ever really a home?

Suddenly, Jasper realized that she wasn’t alone. She could hear breathing. It was very soft, and whimpered. She was sure that it was the kid until she turned around. There stood a figure smaller then Steven.

“What the hell?!” She staggered back and instinctively raised her large hand to bring it down on the figure with a snarl. It recoiled in terror.

“Shield!” the small creature shrieked and a yellow barrier put her between Jasper’s fist. “Don’t hurt me, please! I-I’ve already had that enough.” Jasper lowered her fist and stared in shock. On the gem’s face was a yellow jasper. The gem was yellow and looked like a miniature version of her, with shortened hair and a slightly pudgier face. Her eyes were like mirrors and Jasper could see herself in them.

“Are you…blind?” The small gem nodded.

“I’m afraid so. We all have something wrong with us.” She gave a little smile. “But maybe that’s what makes us special.” Jasper just screwed up her face in disgust. “I’m Yellow Jasper, but they call me Yellow.”

“Who’s they?” Jasper demanded suspiciously. There was footsteps near her and when she turned a red figure stood. She was slightly taller then Yellow but not by much. Her skin was red and so were her eyes, which blazed like gentle embers. Her hair fell nearly to her backside and she was missing an arm.

“We are ‘they.’ She was kinder, and seemed wiser. She had this know-it-all air to her that reminded Jasper of Peridot. A lot of Peridot. "Back in Homeworld since we were all jaspers we were called by our color. It helped to separate us. My name is Red. We’ve been waiting to finally meet you.”

“Waiting?” a gruffer voice snapped from behind Jasper. There stood the shortest of the gems, but she had Jasper’s muscles. “I wasn’t waiting for her!”

“Orange,” Red hissed.

“We were completely fine without her! It’s already crowded in this damn place, we don’t need another gem hogging space! She was fine where she was!”

“She was going to regenerate sooner or later, you had to expect to have her here eventually!” Red snapped. “Don’t bother lying, you know you wanted to meet her!”

The orange gem’s face turned a sunset tinge of embarrassment as she threw a punch that missed the armless gem. “Don’t go putting words in my mouth, you nerd!” Jasper stared down at the bickering two. The squabbling reminded her so much of Peridot that she almost laughed. When Orange started to body slam and nudge Red she really saw herself in the small gem.

“You three are all jaspers.” It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. “So you’re…you’re what makes me up.” There they were, the sentient beings in front of her that made up her very core. The gems that were a part of her. Her entire living being… She wrinkled her face in disdain. “You’re all so…puny.”

“Hey!” Orange snarled. “You’d be puny too if it wasn’t for us! In fact, you wouldn’t even be ALIVE if it wasn’t for us, so shut up!”

“Orange!” Red hissed. “I’m sorry, she’s incredibly short tempered, but rest assured we are all happy to see you. We’ve waited so long to meet you!”

Jasper stared down at the three gems. “You’ve all been in here…all this time?” They nodded. “Wh—why didn’t you ever say anything?!” she spluttered. “I’ve been in this gem thousands of times to regenerate! I never saw any of you! Not once! If you all wanted to meet me so bad why didn’t you show any of your shrimpy little faces?!”

“You didn’t know back then,” Yellow said softly, looking at the ground. Red put her one hand on her shoulder. “We didn’t want you to know,” the red gem murmured. Yellow covered her face and even Orange turned away. All the pain Jasper felt came flooding back.

“We never intended on you finding out, if we could help it,” Red continued. “You didn’t remember us, and what…what happened and we never wanted you to. We hid whenever you regenerated so you wouldn’t learn the truth. It was bad enough to live through it, but if we could keep you out of the loop then it would give us some peace.”

Jasper’s mouth fixed into a trembling line. She balled her fists up.

“We just wanted to protect you,” Red continued softly. “You were…all that was left of us.” Her eyes teared up slightly and Jasper bit down on her lip harder when she felt her own emotions stirring.

“How did…” Her voice cracked and she had to steady it before she could continue. “How did…this all happen? And…when?”

Red looked at her fellow gems and without a word, she bowed her head. Three red chairs appeared underneath every gem. “We were all harvested together along with several other jaspers. They were put into training immediately, but we were made with…defects. Our gems didn’t form correctly or to the proper size. The serum didn’t work properly. Normally gems with any malformations would be recycled instantly, but Yellow Diamond had just started a new program and was testing it.”

Jasper felt ill. “The fusions.”

“She thought by combining compatible gems together she could create larger, more damage resistant gems that would be stronger and more stable. Most of the defects mashed together just created a horrid monstrosity of gems missing limbs and deformed horribly, but there were a few successful ones. Like us…”

“We didn’t get much of a chance to know each other either,” Red growled. “But that’s okay because we spent the next thousand years doing that, all stuck together in one place. You were clueless when you generated for the first time, so we kept our mouths shut.”

“But…” Jasper was struggling to wrap her head around this. So many questions answered and so many left unanswered. “That…that isn’t fair! Neither one of you were given a chance! You were shoved together from the moment of your harvest! Isn’t there anything we can do? To—to try and free you?”

Red shook her head sadly. “We aren’t fully formed or functional gems, Jasper. You would have to shatter for us to come out, and I don’t even think we would be able to live very long on our own. Our gems can’t regenerate. If we’re injured that’s it for us.”

“So you…you’re all just stuck here forever?” Jasper asked helplessly. “That’s no life to live! You’re prisoners in this body!”

“Not exactly,” Yellow said, smiling at the other gems. “We have each other’s company and we get to watch you live! That’s all we really want. As long as some part of us lives we’ll be happy.”

“But what’s the point?!” Jasper snapped. “What am I supposed to live for now? Homeworld is all I’ve ever known! Peridot and me—that was our life! Our mission…” She shut her eyes. “Our existence.”

“You still have Peridot,” Yellow smiled. “And you have someone else to help you find your existence.” She looked upwards and the surroundings rippled. The sky peeled away and and Jasper found herself staring into a child’s eyes.

He couldn’t stand to be away from her and when he found Peridot had actually fallen asleep in utter exhaustion, he had to take her back. He was strumming some weird wooden thing. Music played.

“Oh Jasper I know you think they’re good

But they do awful things that no one should

You don’t have to be their war machine

Cause there’s more to you then we have seen!”

“You’re his enemy,” Red said with a smile. “And yet he treats you better then 'home’ ever did. There’s still a war going on. There’s still a side to fight for, and it’s up to you to choose what side you want to fight against.”

“And I just want to help you

I don’t want you to be alone

I bet you might like it here

If I show you our home…”

“You’re not a prisoner anymore and you definitely deserve better then this junky gem.” Orange made a face at their surroundings. “So stop being a gemling and regenerate already. Show the world they can’t mess with you. Show Homeworld they can’t mess with you.”

Jasper looked around at the three gems and for the first time in days, that determined fire came back in her eyes, which leaped with energy. She rested a hand on Yellow’s head and smiled at the other two.

“So does this mean that when I come back you’ll be here?” Orange glared at her flatly. “Where else do you think we’d go?”

“If you want us,” Red said, smiling. “You can talk to us any time if you want to. We’re always here for you when you need us. You never have to worry about being alone.” She smiled warmly at the larger gem. Yellow beamed, and after a moment, even Red gave the slightest little smile. Jasper nodded hesitantly and shut her eyes.

Back in a moonlit bedroom Steven’s eyes sparkled as the small gem in his hands floated up into the air. A white light emanated from it and it twinkled, taking form. She looked the same, white mane of hair flailing about her shoulders as she opened her eyes. The only difference was that a diamond was nowhere to be seen anywhere over her uniform. She looked down at him. “Kid?”

“Jasper!” Steven squealed, his voice so high pitched in excitement it was almost an inaudible squeak. “Jasper!” That’s when he realized that she was hovered over him and was plummeting down. “Oh…” The bed broke as the large gem crashed into it and him.