Warning, spoilers for Steven Universe Season 3.
Jasper's Adventure
Jasper wakes up with an aching head, her last memories of pounding Alexandrite into the ground. Or, water. Whatever.
There are hunks of rock littering the stone floor around her from the earthquake that she wasn't quite awake for when she and Lapis were separated, the rocks are also on top of her, and dust hangs in the stale air. She's trapped in a small sort of cavern, dark and circular in shape, with a crack marring the top that Jasper must have fallen through. The various rock shards had rained down from the crack when Jasper fell, but a largish rock had collapsed and wedged against the cavern wall, sheltering Jasper mostly from harm. The rock that sheltered her is pushed carelessly to the side as Jasper stands with a huff.
Lifting herself to her feet while kicking aside the shards of rock around her, Jasper grips her head in her large hands, and checks her gem for damage. Her gem is unbroken, luckily.
No. It had nothing to do with luck. Her survival of the landing had to do with her strength and skill as a warrior to land her on her back and not her face. Luck does not exist, just the ones strong and skilled enough to survive, and the ones weak enough not to. The strong, and the weak. The victors, and the victims. She learned that the hard way in the rebellion.
The rebellion. Rose Quartz. This miserable planet! If only she could have pounded Rose Quartz into the ground like she'd planned, things wouldn't have turned out this way!
Turning, the dark orange striped and amber gem glared dangerously at a rock wall. Feeling her frustration boil, she took it out on the scenery before her.
It was all Rose Quartz's fault!
Punch!
If it wasn't for her freeing the prisoners, the ship wouldn't have crashed!
Punch!
And if it wasn't for that fusion's beating Jasper, causing Jasper's desperate act of fusion, she would never have been imprisoned herself at the bottom of the ocean!
Punch!
And now, with no one to blame but herself for this situation, of being stranded on this miserable planet!
And with one final punch, the cavern wall collapses, and a path is revealed.
Great, a way out, Jasper thinks angrily, as she strides through it, her anger not near spent.
Jasper eventually makes it to the end of the path, and starts climbing the pile of rocks that came down with the fall.
Anyone who can't make this climb, is weak! Jasper thinks, smiling at the challenge while thinking of certain gems in particular as she levers in between two rocks. Though she supposes she would not mind fighting that fusion 'Garnet' again. Now that she knows from Lapis that fusion isn't just some cheap trick, she knows that that gem is a respectable warrior and a worthy opponent.
When she gets to the top of the cramped space, she breaks through the top of the rocks and into water.
Great, just great, Jasper thinks, as she stands at the bottom of the ocean. The freezing water envelops her large body, not that the cold bothers her, as her body is mostly an illusion. The feeling of the water touching her skin brings an unwelcome shiver and an emotion that Jasper refuses to acknowledge. It brings to the fore, other, darker thoughts and emotions as well, that Jasper firmly ignores.
It's night out as far as Jasper can tell, this planet's only moon shining down and making its blue waters reflect bright light on the ocean floor. The glimmering light makes Jasper glower. After seeing the sight night after night for months on end as Malachite, Jasper freaking hates that light! A nearby school of fish startles at the sight of her, and Jasper screams her frustration, bubbles escaping her mouth. The fish dart away.
You know, it would be really useful to be Malachite right now. Jasper thinks, and then she smirks, too bad Lapis isn't here.
Lapis… She's the one that made me realize that fusion wasn't just some cheap trick. And maybe… I can get her to take me back. That power I felt as Malachite… we would be unstoppable!
And then… to finally capture the ones who deserve it, Rose Quartz, the Crystal Gems. And maybe… be bestowed the honor of executing them myself. That is, if they don't get shattered in my retrieval of them… well. Accidents happen.
The thought of those traitors makes her teeth ache as she clenches her jaw, and her chest bubbles with repressed emotions until she forces them down once again.
But first… to get out of this ocean.
Jasper sighs, and starts walking.
Jasper makes it to land a week and three days later. If she thought she hated water before when she was Malachite, she loathes it now. She sprawls on the sand, covered and dripping in seawater, not heeding that she just kicked sand in some random person's face and dripped water on someone and had four people check her out for her hot buffness.
The sun beats down on her, it's hot rays drying her long hair, melded on clothes, and illusionary body, and warming her from the ocean's icy touch. But her peace is not to last. A sound begins to annoy her. It is not the sound of the waves shushing against the sand, or the humans talking around her, those things are tolerable. They, at the very least, remind her that she isn't alone in the vast vast ocean, (even if she is around humans of all creatures) and that she is no longer stranded in the ocean (though still, unfortunately, stranded, on this miserable planet!).
No, what's grating on her nerves is-
Squaw! SQUAW! squaw!
SQUAW! squaw! SQUAW!
Jasper jerks up into a sitting position with a growl, making several humans nearby jump for some reason that she doesn't care to try to figure out.
What is that infernal racket?! Jasper wonders, and quickly tracks the noise to these white and grey winged creatures with yellow beaks.
For creatures that make such a terrible noise, they look incredibly weak.
Then, one of the small creatures makes eye contact, and it fixes its beady eyes on Jasper.
A Challenge, Jasper thinks, and a feral grin stretches across her face. "I accept." She tells it.
It cocks its head. "Squaw?"
Jasper's grins widens, and she takes off in a forward spin, form a blur of spinning orange and white as she plows into the sand. The winged creatures take off into the sky, spewing out those horrible noises again.
Jasper's spin ceases, and she yells to their retreating tailfeathers, "Where are you going?! You COWARDS! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN POUND YOU INTO THE GROUND!"
They keep flying. But Jasper, spotting another group of the strange white creatures, gives chase. She has quite a fun time chasing the creatures around, even if none of them stay around to fight her. They never looked like worthy opponents anyway. But that Garnet did not either. Nothing on this planet does, so how is she to know for sure if she does not check? Anything could be a gem in hiding using shapeshifting.
It's hard to find opponents worthy of her anywhere, anyway. Not that she would ever find one among the human world, of all places. This place is beneath her. But perhaps there is a worthy gem on this planet, when she finds Lapis that is...
Jasper finally catches one of the odd creatures, and she crushes it in between her fist. It jerks oddly, and then this warm, red stuff comes out of it.
Jasper drops it in disgust. When it just lays there, unmoving, she bends down and picks it up. "Hey. I caught you." Jasper gloats, smirking victoriously.
When the creature says nothing, Jasper deducts, "You must be incapable of speech. But…" Jasper trails off, turning the creature upside down and watching the red liquid dribble out, "why are you leaking?"
"The seagull's dead. You killed her." A voice speaks up, and Jasper looks up warily to see a human coming toward her. She had thought that all of the humans had fled the beach by now.
It has white hair in a small fluffy ponytail, and mercury colored eyes with a red scar over one eye, and is very pale, wearing a red two piece. It is carrying no weapons that Jasper can see, and it looks too puny to be a threat at all. Not that any human could ever be a threat to her.
"Killed?" Jasper said, "What does that mean?" Then, remembering something vague from the mission briefing, an event that she had mostly slept through because that was the Peridot's job. She remembered the human word for 'killed', meant, 'shattered'.
Jasper looks down at the 'seegull' in her hand. "I shattered it?" She asks, bewildered, "How?" Where's the gem?
A small, warm hand touches hers, as the human says with a smile, "Here, feel this." The warm hand grabs hers and guides hers to the left side of the human's chest.
Jasper lifts an eyebrow, teeth bared, and begins to pull away. But the human's grip is insistent, and so Jasper reluctantly spreads her large hand over the human's chest, her whole hand nearly spanning the width of the human's puny chest.
Thu- thump. thu- thump. thu- thump. thu- thump.
Jasper gasps in surprise and jerks her hand away, the 'seegull' in her other hand dropped and promptly forgotten. "What was that?!" She demands to know.
The human smiles again."It's called a heartbeat. All living beings on Earth have one." The human shrugs, "Well, except for you, as far as I know."
Jasper sneers, but doesn't correct it's assumption that she's the only gem on this planet, it'll be gone soon anyway so she has no obligation to tell it anything.
Suddenly, the human's face lights up with realization or something, or maybe it's about to explode into a million pieces and will finally leave Jasper in peace, "If you want to know more about stuff like that, there's always the internet. There's always tons of info whenever I go on Komui's phone."
Jasper snorts, and pushes the human down into the sand, just because she can and she felt like it. As she strolls away, she throws over her shoulder, "Whatever."
Jasper sprints out of the human building, her spoils clutched in her fist. Alarms blare behind her, and police sirens can be heard in the distance.
If I knew this was going to be this much trouble, I wouldn't have bothered! Jasper thinks, looking down at the stolen 'phone' device held carefully in her hand.
Let's wait this out, Jasper thinks as she hunkers down to wait, as the police sirens get louder.
Jasper walks out of the wreckage she made of the police car, typing on her new phone, after having interrogating the officer on how to use this 'internet'.
Too bad the guy didn't know much.
Or how to make the phones bigger. Seriously, they only came in a few sizes? And if she wasn't pleased with the size, she should try a tablet? Well…
One tablet and three police cars later, and Jasper has access to the internet.
Google Search: What is a heartbeat?
Answer: The pulsation of the heart.
- a single pulsation of the heart.
- an animating or vital unifying force
What does that even mean?!
Google Search: seegull
Answer: did you mean: seagull?
Gulls, often referred to as seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the Suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders. wikipedia
scientific name: Laridae
Ugh, more complicated words! If I didn't know any better, I'd think this was some sort of Peridot talking.
Jasper groans as she wakes with a pounding headache. She opens her eyes to see the white haired human from before sitting across from her.
It smiles wanly at her. "Hey," it greets, "you okay?"
"I'm fine!" Jasper snaps automatically, and a new voice pipes up from beside Jasper, "Hey, leave him alone! You bugging him is what got us into this mess in the first place." A dark skinned, bald, buff human exclaims, and Jasper notices that it's hands are cuffed. This device, at least, she paid attention to at the briefing.
And then Jasper notices she is cuffed as well, and she remembers.
Jasper had been wandering aimlessly, looking for some entertainment, when she saw it. It was the white haired human from before, casually walking down the street. Jasper decided to follow it.
She followed it as it lead her into a shadier side of the town, and watched as it entered a brightly lit establishment that was loud from the outside and smelled of something that bit sharply into Jasper's sensory diagnostics, and when she inhaled through her mouth she got a tongueful of fumes.
She entered the place, and it was even louder inside. There was a sort of rectangular bar where people were being poured some sort of liquid, and there were tables around which people were doing some sort of useless activity that involved a lot of shouting, sitting, holding laminated rectangles, and taking off clothes.
Jasper could not remotely figure out what this place's purpose was, except making a fool of yourself.
Spotting her target at one of the puny human clothes exchange tables, she ambled over to it. Grabbing the human by the arm and lifting it up, enjoying the squeak of surprise it let out, she drawled, "So, this is what you do in your spare time?" She examined the piles of green paper, jewelry, clothes, and shoes mountained around the human.
She then looked at the six humans all suffering in their underwear. She smirked with sadistic glee. "Impressive. But I don't get it. How did you get them to do what you wanted?"
The human somehow shrugged and smiled while still in Jasper's grasp, though there was a subtle tightening of it's shoulders and it's eyes were sharp even as it said in a friendly tone, "That's how the game works."
Jasper furrowed her brows. "Game?"
"Hey! Let him go!" A voice shouted from the din of the establishment. A dark skinned, buff human breaks through the crowd, and the white haired human said in surprise, "Mahoja? I didn't know you worked here."
The dark skinned human replied, "I don't, it's my night off." leveling a glare at Jasper, "Let him go. Now!"
Jasper, her grip tightening on the human's arm, "Why should I?"
The white haired human exclaimed, as the other human and Jasper exchanged glares, "Mahoja, it's okay, really! I'm fine."
The buff human's glare briefly sharpened, and skittered over to the white haired human, "No, it's not okay Allen. And if you won't defend yourself, I will!"
The dark skinned human swung a fist at Jasper, and Jasper ducked, letting go of the white haired human. She headbutted the other human in the stomach, sending it flying back into the wall. A feral grin spread over Jasper's face as she charged at the human in a spin attack, destroying two tables in her path.
The buff human dodged out of the way, and Jasper blew through the wall to land in the parking lot. She rushed back into the building through the hole in the wall and hit the dark skinned human full force, and grappled it to the ground and punched it in the face, and then the stomach. And then the ribs, and heard them crack.
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around Jasper's neck and threw her with such force that she impacted with the bar, breaking it in half. Euphoria filled Jasper's gem as she saw
the white haired human and the buff one standing together in fight stances.
A challenge, and from humans! I'd never considered this possibility before, Jasper thought, as she stood, and said, "So you have some fight in you after all." With a smirk, Jasper said, "Come on then!" They rushed at her with fire in their eyes.
Jasper met them blow for blow, strike for strike. This fight was invigorating, fresh because she'd never fought with a human before. She had shattered them during the war, sure, but that was a slaughter, not a fight. And she was fighting them head on, and they were still standing. These humans were truly respectable opponents, even if they were humans.
She wondered, as the white haired human did a spinning backflip off a wall to land on Jasper's shoulders with enough momentum to turn Jasper's head all the way around and send her tumbling to the ground while the human did a handspring off of her to land on his feet, if either of these humans could take her one on one.
None of them noticed the sirens wailing in the distance getting louder and louder until it was too late.
And then during her fight with the police officers, Jasper fell down some stairs, and landed on her face… her face. Her gem. Is it cracked? It can't be broken, or she wouldn't exist anymore, but…
"Hey." She grates out, addressing the white haired human. The white haired human, white hair marred by red liquid and dust and his cheek scratched and bleeding, looks up, smiling tiredly. Why is he smiling? "Yeah?"
"How's my gem?" She asks, not willing to admit to herself that she asks it nervously. She's not nervous in the slightest, after all.
"Your what?" The buff human asks dangerously, glaring venomously. Jasper bares her teeth, what's her problem?
The white haired human raises up his cuffed together hands, "She didn't mean it like that, Mahoja. She meant her plastic surgery." He lifts an eyebrow, mouth quirking in amusement, "And even if she did mean it that way, don't you think you're being a bit overprotective? I can take care of myself, you know."
The bald woman smiles, "I can be as overprotective as I want as long as I want, even if you are eighteen now." She sobers as she she says, "There's no one there but me and Anita to watch out for you."
The white haired human lifts an eyebrow, "What about Cross?" The other human snorts contemptuously. "He doesn't count."
Jasper, meanwhile, is bewildered by the whole conversation. But then, gems don't really have families. "What are you talking about?" She asks, confused.
The buff human shakes her head, the crimson liquid down the side of her face complimenting her dark skin, while the other white haired human smiles and says, "Nothing important."
Changing the subject, the white haired human says, looking closely at Jasper's face, "Your gem looks fine, I mean, it's not… cracked or anything?"
Jasper lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. It was probably just the shock from falling on it that had her unconscious. How embarrassing. And to be defeated by stairs? The report to Homeworld will have to be edited a little. Maybe, leave that part out. She has a reputation to uphold, after all.
"So, I guess you don't have anyone to bail you out?" The white haired human asks.
"There's no need." Jasper says, standing with a smirk and breaking the links of her handcuffs with one yank, "Because I'm going to break out." The white haired human blinks, and then smiles and says, "I'll go with you."
Jasper raises a brow. "Why?" The white haired smiled, but it was sadly this time, he shrugged, "I don't have anyone to bail me out, so, I'm in." There's a click of a lock, as the white hair's handcuff lock clicks open with the help of some sort of device, needle thin and yet made of metal, and the handcuff crashes to the floor.
"You're just full of surprises," Jasper comments, watching the strange needle device for anymore tricks other than unlocking locks. What an ingenious piece of technology.
Holding out a hand, the white haired human says, "Allen Walker. Lock picking, knife throwing, acrobatic, and gambling expert. You?"
Looking at the hand as if it were a poisonous insect, Jasper eventually put her much larger hand over the white haired human's, Allen's, smaller hand, and says, "Jasper. Soldier, gem, expert brawler and martial artist." She grunts. She doesn't know all of the things Allen introduced himself as, but she resolves to look it up on her tablet.
When they both turn and look expectantly at the buff human, though Jasper's expectant look is more of a glare, she groans despairingly. "Anita's going to kill me."
Google Search: Gamble
Answer: 1. play games of chance for money; bet.
2. take risky action in the hope of a desired result.
They're running through the halls of the police station with alarms blaring. After escaping their cell by Jasper breaking the bars apart, they had been able to recover their confiscated items through Allen picking the lock on the door before the alarm sounded. And they began running looking for the exit. The useless humans without weapons that sit at the desks were cowering under said desks. Are they like the Pearls of Homeworld?
Jasper headbutts an unaware officer that was in their path with a grin on her face, it falls limply to the ground, out like a light. When Jasper looks behind her, she sees Mahoja punch out a cop, and catches Allen spin and nail two approaching officers to the wall with his throwing knives. The group swerves through another hallway with pursuit hot on their heels, and pass by some sort of machines that hum and guzzle with fluids.
Another officer is in their way, with a cup of something in it's hand, it has just enough time to turn around before Jasper headbutts it and it falls to the floor, unconscious with hot liquid spilling on itself. She grins again. "Do you have any idea where we're going?" Allen asks, jumping over the downed human.
Jasper grunts a negative. "No. I thought you did." she accuses. They're the humans. They should know the way around the human dwellings, not her.
Allen laughs breathlessly, "Komui says I could get lost in a broom closet." That's no excuse! Only idiots get lost all the time.
Jasper's about to tear him a new one, when Mahoja adds, "I've been looking for windows." Well, at least one of them is useful.
They turn a corner, into a dead end with nothing but an open broom closet and another of those gurgling machines. Jasper is ready to charge at the officers that surround them, with weapons pointed at them, when Allen grabs onto both Jasper and Mahoja. Before Jasper can blink, they are suddenly in the broom closet, and Allen closes and locks the door with a resounding click.
"What on Homeworld...?" Jasper trails off, then, eyes locking on Allen, "What was that? Just now! What did you do?!" She demands to know, striding toward the human angrily.
As the officers pound on the doors and the door handle jiggles, Mahoja yells, "We don't have time for this! Allen, what's the plan?"
Allen closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. When he opens them, and his eyes are resolute. "I need both of you to take my hand." He holds out each hand palm up to each person and gem. They take it, though Jasper is actually more grabbed unwillingly by Allen than anything else.
"Now, think of a place that you've been on Earth. Any place, as long as you've been there before."
"What? Why!" Jasper protests, pulling at her grabbed hand to free it unsuccessfully, she growls and squeezes Allens hand, hard, and takes pleasure in his wince, and tries to jerk free again. She is unsuccessful, she had no idea humans could be this strong! She would really just rather fight her way out of this than whatever these humans have planned, "Just do it!" Mahoja snaps, closing her eyes.
Really not seeing the point in this, Jasper closes her eyes, and pictures the beach she she was at previously that she emerged out of the ocean from. The lapping of the waves against the shores, the cawing of the annoying seagulls, the smell of the salt ocean spray and the blowing of the wind stirring up the sand. The door to the room breaks down just as they all disappear in a flash of light.
Jasper reappears in a burst of bright light and lands perfectly on the wet sand. She looks down at the sand, and then up at the the scenery of the daytime beach around her, the sun above at least obscured by heavy storm clouds so as not to shine on the water.
And then Jasper begins to laugh. A human who could teleport like a warp pad. She could use this to get back to Homeworld. To go anywhere she wanted, at any time she wanted, with that human at her side!
But… How is it possible for a human to have such powers? Well, it's not like Jasper cared one way or another. He could be another Crystal Gem in disguise for all she cared, with a power like that, she could teleport right into the Crystal Gem's base and capture Rose Quartz in a surprise attack. She could steal important Alien tech from rival Species and bring it back to Yellow Diamond in a flash. She could obliterate the rest of the rebellion on Earth in one fell swoop! There was an infinite list of possibilities.
So, she must find Allen, and convert her, or him, to her side. But how to find him? Just then, a flash of light appeared beside her. Jasper turned and saw Allen appear out of the light to land lightly on the balls of his feet. Jasper smiles at her fortune. It is not a kind smile.
Allen looks up at Jasper, and then gives her a friendly smile. "Hey, Jasper! I was just checking to make sure your teleport went okay, I-"
"You're a gem." Jasper interrupts, sure of it now with the confirmation of that power. Humans cannot do such things, after all.
Allen stops, frowning. "What? No, I'm not! Jasper-"
"But," Jasper says, interrupting again, grabbing Allen and lifting up his shirt, "Where's your gem?" She doesn't see one. Maybe on his back?
"Jasper, I have a heartbeat, remember?" Allen says, and Jasper frowns at the complication, but then she smirks as she deducts, "You're probably just defective like everything else on this planet."
Allen blinks, and then suddenly glares, his eyes burning with intensity. "I. Am not. Defective. I refuse to be!" Jasper is suddenly hit in the face with a fist, and is sent flying backwards.
But she soon lands on her feet, "So that's how it's going to be," she says, and with a feral grin, retaliates with a headbutt that Allen takes to the stomach. This sends him skidding in the sand, and he holds his stomach and quickly stands as Jasper advances with rapid fire blows to the face and abdomen that had Allen ducking and weaving to the side, until suddenly.
Grab.
Allen dodges to the side and slides in to grab Jasper's arm, stopping her flurry of punches to throw her over his shoulder and into the sand.
"Jasper. I don't want to fight you!" Allen exclaims angrily, while backing away. Jasper looks up from picking herself up off the sand, disappointment pooling in her gut. "Why, you giving up already?" She mocks, standing.
"No, I'm-"
"Good!" Jasper interrupts, rolling herself forward into a blurring spin attack of amber and white, "Because I won't let you!"
Jasper doesn't see all that happens next, spin attacks obscure your vision a bit, but she sees Allen shift his stance, and lift his arms. And then, right when she reaches him, she feels as if she's batted aside by a great hand, and goes careening to crash into the sand.
She gets out of the crater she formed when she landed, holding her head, to see Allen holding a huge greatsword in his hands. A victorious grin splits her face as she calls out, "Where did you summon that weapon from?"
A glower darkens Allen's face, as the wind howls around them and the sky, already dark with storm clouds, rumbles ominously. He says, voice hard, "I teleported it here."
Jasper's mocking laugh rings out along the beach. "When are you going to stop lying to me?" She wonders, and smirking, she taunts, "Or could it be you actually believe you're a human?"
Allen's eyes narrow dangerously, as the winds rise, and the rain begins to fall in sheets."Tell me, what's so wrong with humans that you hate them so much?"
Jasper laughs, her hair plastered to her head as rain runs down her body. A human would probably be drenched to the bone, but she looks at Allen and sees him barely shivering at all. She shouts over the rising gale, "What's wrong with humans? Nothing. I barely think about the humans at all. They are beneath me, beneath us. Weak, puny creatures leading insignificant lives that will die out soon. Why should we care about them?"
Allen suddenly disappears in a flash of light that is even more noticeable in the darkness and chaos of the storm. Jasper has no time to look for him, because he reappears right in front of Jasper and hits her with the broadside of his greatsword, sending her skidding in the sand.
Allen shouts at her, enraged, "Because humans have minds, with ideas and hopes and dreams for the future! You're saying that's beneath you! Don't you have any dreams for the future?"
Jasper blinks, confused. "Dreams for… the future?" She asks, bewildered. No one had ever asked her anything like that before. Gems are made already knowing their purpose, what they're meant to do from the moment they form. Useless thoughts, don't get distracted. Shaking off the useless musing, Jasper growls, and summons her Crash Helmet. She charges at Allen, and the battle resumes.
The battle was furious, and destroyed nearly half the beach in the process, leaving craters and furrows and deep running scars in the beach that were quickly filled in with water by the rain. Jasper's and Allen's fighting styles were drastically different, with Allen's sword, knives, and acrobatics mixed with various fighting forms to suit to acrobatics as he pleased, and Jasper's own reckless brawling and martial arts skills as well as her signature headbutting and spinattack, it was an eclectic mix of brawling and blade combat and made for a very interesting sight to see.
Just then, Allen slashed down with his sword, Jasper blocking with her arm. Jasper is just so dense that it doesn't even really leave more than a slight scratch. Kicking off from the ground, Allen kicked Jasper in the face, sending her flying into the ocean.
Jasper bursts out of the ocean, and goes flying at Allen, punching his stomach, but is blocked by the greatsword. A brawler and a sword user fighting is sort of an awkward fit, now that she thinks about it. It was better when they were both using fists.
Smirking, Jasper does a backwards spin attack, sending sand flying into Allen's face. Allen, prepared for an attack, gets a faceful of sand. And then get's punched in the face while distracted with the sand in his eyes, landing in the sand.
Rolling to the side to avoid getting stomped on, Allen kicks blindly and hooks Jasper's heel, and leans with his weight to bring her to her knees. Jasper, surprised by this, lets him, but then grapples him to the sand in a strangle hold.
Holding him to the ground, she yells over the rumbling thunder, water running down her face, "Join me, Allen! Together, we'll take the galaxies by storm and crush anyone standing in our way!" As she says this, clenching her fists while still holding Allen down, baring her teeth in a malicious grin. Though, first, they'll have to figure out what kind of gem he was. She'd never heard of an 'Allen' before, so she was pretty sure it was a human name and didn't exist. But even that couldn't stop the vision she could see for them together.
Allen, slippery as an eel, slips out of the hold. Wiping sand from his eyes, he does a weird wheel spin on his hands and feet away from Jasper, just because he can and because he feels like it, or so Jasper guesses.
His neck length white hair whips wildly around in the wind of the storm from where it had been freed from it's tail during the fight, his mercury eyes seeming to glow with his emotions as the cold rain melded his clothes to his lithe frame. Allen lifts a white eyebrow, his mercury eyes skeptical. "I didn't take you for the world domination type."
Jasper laughs, as lightning crashes overhead, lighting up the sky in a flash of light that blinds neither of them. "I'm not!" She replies, evil grin never faltering, "All of it, all of this, is in service of Yellow Diamond! And if you assist me, she will reward you greatly!"
Allen's expression wavers, he bites his lip in uncertainty, his mercury eyes turning murky. "Even… someone like me?"
Jasper's grin widens. "I know you'll be an asset to us." Allen smiles, and then, in a blur of movement, a throwing knife hits Jasper's abdomen. The knife is thrown with such strength that Jaspers feet leave deep furrows in the sand from her reverse momentum. Because Jasper is so dense, it barely even penetrated, there was just some sort of force behind the throw that sent her thrown backwards.
Jasper looks up in shock at Allen, who's face is a complete opposite from before, grave faced and resolute. His mercury eyes are hard as he states, "I think I'll pass. I'm done being anyone's asset!"
Jasper growls to herself as she pulls out the knife and it falls carelessly into the sand, she bares her teeth in a feral smile as she snarls, "I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm sure I can change your mind!"
With that, Jasper launches herself into a forward spin, but she suddenly loses traction on the sand. She slips as if it were ice, losing momentum as her spin slows to a stop and she lands with a flop on her belly. Looking down at the surface of the sand, she frowns at the smoothness of it, and touching a hand to it, she feels it's cold.
She looks up at Allen, about to demand that he explain this as well as the rest of what they were fighting about. Suddenly, Allen clutches his chest, and looks at the sky for some reason, which accomplishes nothing, as it's still pouring buckets out here. "Time to go." Allen says, with a strained smile.
Jasper struggles to get to him from on the slippery ice, activating her fire attack to melt the ice, causing steam to rise around her, while growling, "Wait! You can't just-!" Allen smiles sadly, and warps away in a flash of light.
Jasper howls her rage to the sky, her fire attack finally melting the ice like it should have done two seconds ago, the useless thing! What was she supposed to do now? Allen had turned down her offer for him to join her, and even if she forced him, how could she ever get him to stay with that power of his? Her plan was ruined!
Or maybe, it's time for some different plans. Ones that didn't involve a possible gem/not gem, and involved something else instead.
It was time to quit messing around.
It was time to get started.
Pain, and confusion. And a sensation of being trapped.
And a warped sense of reality, trapped in illusions and pain and anger that overwhelmed it.
It just wanted out out out, it wanted the pain pain to be away, and was so angry angry rage angry. It's mind felt warped, twisted and wrong. And it wanted away, away from the wrong, to run towards what it felt would help it turn right again.
And it felt so close, what if felt would make it right again, but at the same time, what little was left of it's rational mind wanted to reject it, because it didn't deserve it's help. It didn't deserve it.
It just felt so confused. And it hurt, it hurt all the time. And it felt as if it was missing something. And what it was missing made it hurt even more, but it could not find what it was missing no matter how hard it searched.
The pain and suffering felt endless, as if it were suspended in time itself.
And then, suddenly, it was free, and it took no time in reforming itself. it's body grew with white and amber light, until it formed into a white haired amber and dark orange striped beast, sharp clawed and speckled with aqua and dark blue coloring and drill shaped horns that sprout from it's shoulders, head, eyes, and two large ram-like horns curved around it's head.
It uses its mouth to scent the air, and scents a being nearby, it's smell a mixed conglomeration of human and gem. Letting out sound that resembled between a howl and a human scream, it charged, fanged maw open wide.
Anger consumed it's heart, swallowing it.
Small arms open to wrap around it's neck, and then the being makes noises. It claws and bites, as immeasurable pain claws and tears at it's body. It feels as if it's being torn to shreds and dipped in acid and burning lava at the same time, but then it wonders what those things are. It claws, bites, screams and howls, but the human is so strong and refuses to let go.
And it hurt hurt hurts, it would do anything to make the pain go away. It wants to just die. It wants to…
Wait. Wait a minute.
'It'? It stops clawing and biting, murky clouds dissipating from it's mind as rational thought cleared it's mind like the sun on this miserable planet breaking through the clouds.
No. No!
It isn't an it… is it?
No! No, it's not!
It's a she!
And she has something else, too. Something others address her by.
A designation. What she was, what she is. A definition of herself.
A name.
Jasper! That was her name.
Jasper opens her eyes as the rest of her memories come rushing back to her, and looks down at herself. Regular, non-corrupted hands, covered in warm crimson liquid. Regular, non-corrupted body, splattered in red fluid. She gives a shaky breath of relief, large shoulders slumping. She glances around the room to see it's a wierd all white room with glowing spheres floating all around that look like miniature suns.
...I'm back. I'm back! But how? Her eyes land on the other being in the room, and she instantly recognizes him. "Allen?" Did he… save me? Anger fills her at the thought.
Allen smiles weakly, though he's bitten savagely on the shoulder, scratched deeply on the stomach, and covered in red fluid from the damage Jasper had done to him. The crimson liquid contrasts sharply against his pale skin. "Hey, Jasper. Glad to see you're okay."
"Why? Why?!" Jasper glares at him, as she exclaims furiously while shaking him violently from side to side, "I, I didn't need your help! I don't…!" She trails off as she has to blink back wetness from her eyes.
Allen's eyes sharpen. "Deserve to be saved?" He finishes for her, not seeming upset in the least by Jasper's outburst and manhandling, despite his wounds.
Jasper's eyes widen, and she lets him go as if burned, "How…?" Normally Jasper would firmly deny and punish an accusation of weakness like this, but she is simply too tired, too drained to attempt it. She's just so tired. For once, sleep doesn't sound like an activity that the weak partake in.
Allen's eyes soften, "In some ways, you and I are a lot alike." he states quietly, and for once he doesn't smile as he says, "But, whatever you've done or whatever you blame yourself for, even you deserve to be saved."
And Jasper- Breaks down. She fights it, like the soldier she is, tears fill her eyes and she blinks them back as she tries to hold back the shaking of her frame. But emotions cannot be held back forever. And her emotions are just too broken from being corrupted, and from being held back for so long. She breaks down and cries, sobbing and pounding on the floor as tears stream down her face, and lets herself feel all the things she's been holding back for thousands of years.
Her sorrow.
Her hatred for herself.
How she blamed herself for her Diamond's shattering.
And Allen picks her up and holds her as she cries while rubbing large circles into her back, and sings a soft, lilting lullaby that only he knows.
And Jasper takes her first step towards truly healing, because admitting that the problem exists and letting yourself feel can be one of the first steps to getting better. She has a long way to go, but it's a start.
Google Search: bleeding
1. to lose blood from the vascular system, either internally into the body or externally through a natural orifice or break in the skin. 2. (of injured tissue, excrescences, etc.) to exude blood: a wart that is bleeding.
That's disgusting!
GentleSoul76: And that's it! This was a christmas present for a friend, I had to get permission to post it first. And I know things are left unexplained about Allen, but that's how it was supposed to be. A mystery, because I'm eventually going to write a sequel. Just don't know when. But if you really like it, leave a review, might inspire me.
Also, Jasper was hard. I wrote her for my friend, but she was, very, very hard to write. So any advice or how to do better with Jasper's character or anything else you saw would be welcome.
