Author's note: I am back with one of my favourite characters: Jasper!
Okay, she is not my favourite, she is just the character I see a lot potential in - in the fanfiction side of the things. Because who doesn't want to know how this big ball of broken heart feels? Heck, I do want to know! But, the series is still continueing, so we will eventually get some Jasper-scenes. Till that time, here is this.
This is the second part of my 'Jasper' trilogy, the first is under the name of 'Jasper and Pink' if anyone interested. This could be read without it, but I would be happier, if you took a look at the other one :)
(Also, I am writing a Sequal to this under the name of 'Jasper and Steven' again, if anyone's interested it will be posted on next week when I am not tired enough to sit to my laptop and put it on.)
Oh, and a little thing, which may not be as important as I think: this story is a little bit different in style then the first part of it. It is one long and not some few minute of shots in together. Just wanted to warn! Have a good time reading it!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. No, I still don't. Sorrowfully.
Warnings: This contains spoilers from the episode 'Legs from here to Homeworld'.
The battlefield became quiet in mere two seconds. Jasper's eyes fixated on the pink Gem shards just as everyone else's. Before the shards was another pink figure with a sword in her hands. As Jasper's yellowish eyes flew onto her, she felt anger burst out from her chest. This can't be! That defective Rose Quartz couldn't...
She shouted as an animal, her voice being painted by pain, then launched at the first star marked Gem. Next to her the other soldiers also noticed themselves and restarted the fight, most of them with tears in their eyes.
Jasper didn't even looked at who she was poofing and not rarely, shattering. She wanted to reach that slimy traitor and shatter her Gem with bare hands.
She was the kind of soldier who in a smaller battle, knocked-off at least fifty from the filthy Crystal Gems - or what the stars they were called - so she got pretty fast where the shards and a minute ago, the betrayel Quartz were and then rushed without even bothering to think about what had happened a few minutes before. Neither could she bring herself to even look at the shards from that close, she feared that it might turn out to be truly her own Diamond's.
She looked around for the pink-haired Gem, who was stupid enough to shatter a Diamond. She saw a pink flash from a few metres away so she headed that way, anger already boiling in her. She wanted to rush in and shatter the other Gem instantly, but when she heard sounds, she stopped, hidden behind a massive rock. It was bigger than her, so she was able to peek out. And what she saw was even more compared to what she heard.
"You can come out now" whispered a Pearl. Jasper recognised it in an instant: she was Pink Diamond's. She saw them just the other day, when she was listening to a talk one of her new Agates gave.
But that wasn't all. Right in front of the Pearl layed an another Gem. She felt her breath stop as she watched the so familiar shape and color. The Gem flew up and with a lot of pinkish light, a big woman's form appeared. The large amount of her, the white clothes and the star which held her Gem was also familiar to Jasper. She blinked. Once, twice. She tried to make her brain think and put the pieces togerther just to accept it as truth, but she just couldn't - Pink Diamond cannot be Rose Quartz!
But she saw it.
She as a Jasper, always thought only what she witnessed with her own eyes can be true. And she just did that.
She stood there dumbfounded as the two Gems started talking.
The first, who said anything was Rose.
"We did it! We did it!" she screamed in happiness with a bright smile in her face. She hugged the Pearl and turned around with her in her arms. They both laughed, but the laughing soon evolved into crying at the Pearl's part. That was the moment when Rose stopped and put down her, still holding the white Gems' hands. "Thank you" she said quietly. "Thank you so, so very much! Without you I could never have done anything like this. Without you I would still be with..." she didn't finish, altought Jasper felt curious about it. What could really happenned to a Diamond to encourage her againts herself?
But the Pearl seemed to understand it. "It's nothing, my... Rose" she answered finally, with a soft smile dancing on her lips. "It was my purpose to make you happy. And now... I would like to continue doing it..."
"Pearl..." The bigger Gem started, but got interrupted.
"I know, I know!" replied the Pearls quickly. "But not as a Pearl. As your friend."
That was the time when the tears started growing in Rose Quartz's eyes and fell onto the small Pearl.
"I would be delighted" she offered at least, hugging the Pearl again. The Pearl hugged back with closed eyes. Then she suddenly opened them, probably wanting to continue the conversation. But she didn't because se saw Jasper.
Her soft face changed to a warrior's grim. She pushed away Rose Quartz and draw her swords at Jasper. Japer looked confused for a second - this little servant really thinks she can beat her? Her? - but then she smiled viciously. Something familiar - a fight was a situation she can do things in.
So she launched forward to have more space and started to attack.
Everything happened so fast, she remembered back hundreds of years later. She attacked and dodged and... Did the fighting, which came to her so naturally. But somehow the Pearl did in fact, beaten down her, the swords right under her neck.
She wasn't tired or anything. She just got distracted - she looked deep into her Diamond's eyes which watched her from Rose Quartz's body. She couldn't let go of those eyes - this was how the Pearl captured her. The littleler Gem was about to poof her, but she didn't care. She wanted to know something, however.
She looked deeply into Rose's eyes and asked:
"Why?"
She didn't know how very concerned and full of fear she appered during that single moment. Later on she found out that thet was the reason Rose Quartz didn't let the Pearl poof her.
"Wait!" The leader of the Crystal Gems screamed.
And the Pearl stopped.
"What? Why?" The Pearl looked troubled. Jasper thought it might be because of her presence and just partly because of the sudden decision her Diamond made in Rose Quarz's form.
"How... Long were you here, Jasper?" asked Rose, not answering her Pearl's questions.
"Since the beggining" she replied immedietly. The Gem in front of her was her Diamond in another form. Of course she told the truth as soon as she could!
Her reply seemed to amuse the pink haired woman.
"Were you? " she asked, but didn't look like she wanted an answer, so Jasper stayed silent, only letting herself to nod. Rose watched her with vary eyes, then looked at her Pearl. "Do you remember who she is? "
The white Gem's eyes widened in recognision.
"Yes. She was the only perfect Gem in the Beta Kindergarten. The only one our plan didn't count on..." She went back to silence. Jasper didn't see her, but she felt that the Pearl is thinking. "Rose... She is dangerous. She was the one who destroyed eighty soldiers on her Emerging Day" she said, fear clear in her tone. "We can't let her go."
"And we won't" agreed the bigger Gem. This was the time Jasper felt, she should speak up for herself.
"I can bear shattering from my own Diamond" she stated, head held high. "I just want to have answers first."
Rose Quartz chuckled hearing that.
"See?" She asked her Pearl. "She isn't that perfect."
These word from her own Diamond's mouth made Jasper want to cry. She knew she isn't perfect, but her beloved leader saying that... She felt she wasn't able to do what her purpose was. However, when she heard the following words, the tears wanted to come to her from pure joy:
"She is even better than that."
Jasper smiled up at her Diamond, who was also smiling.
"I'll give you - just you - an explanation. But" she looked around cautiously "not here. It isn't safe. My Pearl, you can let her go. Jasper" she talked to her now, to only her "please, follow us."
And so she did, her head filled with thoughts. Where would they go? What she did to earn answers? How could a Pearl learn how to fight down a Quartz like her?
They went on for more than a little while. She just followed, just as she was asked to - she didn't dare to catch up to her Diamond and the Pearl who were in a big discussion. Probably about her fate. She didn't bothered to listen in. As long as she would get an explanation, she would die for her Diamond, just like she was meant to be.
The little group of theirs soon reached an another rocky hill, where - to Jasper's biggest suprise - were Gems, talking and laughing. How could they, Jasper wondered. Pink Diamond just was shattered - at least that was supposed to be what everyone believed.
Then she noticed the stars on the Gems' clothes and she understood it. They were the Crystal Gems and took a Diamond's shattering as their largest victory since the start of the war.
She felt the sudden urge to vomit, looking at these Gems. They were what she hated the most: traitors to her beloved Diamond.
But, she thougt, watching as Rose Quartz greeted her people and talked to them, maybe they just loved an another part of the said Diamond. After all, Pink was Rose and Rose was Pink. Except that she will probably won't take the form of a Diamond for a long-long time.
"How did nobody realised that she is she?" Jasper asked the Pearl, who was by her side, not even trying to hide her swords. She snickered.
"Nobody knew the real her, before this." Was the simple answer and Jasper somehow agreed with it. The Gems were loving their Diamonds - not because how great they were or what lovely traits they had -, because that was one of the things they knew from their emerging. They purpose and their love for their Diamond.
"She must have been very lonely, having only one friend as you" Jasper wondered aloud, making the Pearl blush.
"She was, I think" admitted the white Gem, then smiled. "This is what she really likes to do, after all." They both watched as Rose healed a fusion's Gemstone with her tears. Jasper thougt the fusion were pretty ugly with their fore arms and strange, lilac-green colors, but Rose didn't stopped crying even after the Gems were fully healed. They didn't hear the conversation, but soon, the fusion was crying, too.
"Nephrite and Amethyst were from Pink Diamond's court, before they formed Amerite" explained the Pearl, chuckling at the name. Jasper had to hid her smile, too. Amerite was one of the most, if not the most strangest name, she ever heard of.
Looking at the fusion, she could see the Nephrite's mane and the Amethyst's muscles as well as the two Gems on their forehead, which was indeed an Amethyst and a Nephrite.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" asked a new voice next to them. Jasper jumped, summoning her helmet, ready to fight, but the fusion, who talked to her just smiled. "I had Seen your coming, Jasper. Or have you got an own name already?"
Jasper blinked in confusion. What the stars were they talking about?
She watched the fusion with vary eyes. Square head, three eyes and a pink-blue colored dress. They were almost as tall as her.
From their head's shape, Jasper assumed, part of them belonged to a Ruby. But the tone of their, frozen, almost uncaring towards what will happen next... And she had said Seen, not seen.
"How did a Ruby and a Sapphire get together?" she finally asked, hoping that she is right. She was awarded a smile from the fusion.
"It is indeed a story, I guarantee" they answered, winking at Jasper, who looked away, trying very hard not to feel insecure and embarrassed near them. "I am Garnet" the fusion hold out their left hand, which was strange, until Jasper noticed that this was the Ruby's Gemstone and the right hand was the Sapphire's. A Ruby protecting her Sapphire made sense to her, so she took it.
"Call me Jasper" she replied. Garnet looked at the Pearl.
"Not very creative newbie, is she?"
The Pearl pressed her lips together. "I... Rose is not sure if she is a newbie."
"Oh." That seemed to answer all to Garnet's questions. Their smile faded away. "I guess, it was another timeline then." They mumbled. That took Jasper's attention.
"Another timeline?" she asked, just when Rose re-joined them.
"You are telling Jasper about your blessing, Garnet?" she asked, smiling brightly at the fusion. Then Rose leaned closer to Garnet, whispering loudly. "Have we won her for our cause already?
"'Am not sure" they muttered. Rose patted their shoulder.
"It's okay. Pearl and her negotiation skills will help us won Jasper, I am sure" she smiled again. Jasper noticed that the Pearl blushed again. Very hard. She has a very interesting relationship with her Diamond, she noted.
Rose looked up at Jasper, then the Pearl next to her. "Shall we?" The Pearl immediatly was at her side and they started walking away, again. Jasper groaned. There are warp-pads, for the stars' sake! But she eventually started going after them. She wanted her explanation, so, so much.
Their next stop was in a forest. A clearing to be specific. Jasper had to admit, that Earth had its own wonder, when she looked at the blossoming trees.
Rose sat down under the biggest one of the trees, so Jasper followed her lead and sat in front of her. The Pearl was next to her owner - friend, they said, Jasper reminded herself - and she was the first to speak.
"What do you want to know?"
Jasper thought for a few minutes. Then, she slowly said, cosidering all her words:
"I, of course, want to know the reason, why. It would be good to hear the tactics side of all of this, but if you don't have time, it isn't necesarry. Lastly, I want to know if me and the others did what you wanted us to do" she looked deeply into her Diamond's eyes, yet again. "Did we... Help? Even a little?"
The smile was even more brighter on the leader's face then ever before. At least, that was what Jasper thought.
"Oh, my dear Jasper... Of course, you helped! Every single Gem in my court helped."
That made Jasper feel something warm in her chest.
"Thank you" she whispered, feeling no need to say more.
"You're welcome" answered Rose, then she gave the word to Pearl, who explained how they made up the Rose Quartzes. How they were just a facade to them. How they outsmarted the other Gems in Pink Diamond's court and how they helped their own, the Crystal Gems, even though Rose mourned every each and one of them, when they were hurt. Jasper heard everything up to the very day, the very moment, they were sitting there.
She sat there silent, rarely asking questions, silently amused by the intelligence they made all of this work and sad by the loss of her fellow Gems.
Part of her was already thinking about the future, trying to imagine herself wearing the star, which was the sign of the Crystal Gems, but she couldn't. She couldn't see herself go againts the Jaspers she was in good terms with. Or the Agate they were under. (Well, she wasn't the best leader, but there was worst, Jasper knew.)
So at the end of the discussion she said:
"I can't."
And that one sentence seemingly made it clear for Rose what she exactly can't do.
"It's not a problem" she shooked her head. "Yellow would love to have a soldier like you."
The Pearl, who was silent to this moment, suddenly burst out: "You'll let her go?!"
"Yes" replied Rose easily. "You will have to show those Gems that the loss of a Diamond doesn't affect you, just makes you angrier towards us, Crystal Gems" she assured Jasper.
"But I won't fight my own Diamond. Everybody will know that something is not okay if I don't fight you" Jasper pointed out the facts.
"Yes, you clearly won't fight your own Diamond" agreed Rose, then smiled mischivously. "But that doesn't mean, you can't fight Rose Quartz."
Jasper felt a smile creeping on her face. Rose was right!
"Let's make a deal" she said, an idea getting in her head. "In a fight, when I win, I'll get informations from you and if you win, you'll get some in exchange about Homeworld and the other Diamonds."
Rose and the Pearl looked at each other as Jasper held out her right hand. She was suprised, when the other Quartz took it. Jasper hid hear smile as she got up and streched.
"See you on the battlefield then. Rose Quartz" she said.
"See you there, Jasper" answered the pink haired woman with a big grin on her face. "Please, do get me some informations worth fighting!" she shouted after Jasper, who laughed.
"I will" she than vowed to herself.
And so she did as their deal stated: fighted Rose Quartz, won and losed many times. After all those years, she came back to Earth to fight again, hoping that their deal was still in charge. But as she was in the Beta Kindergarten, her brain cells slowly getting under corruption, she understood that this new version of Rose Quartz - that weak human-thing - does not know anything the real Rose Quartz did. She tried so many times to help her remember, while keeping her facade: she talked about the Gem war on Earth, the loss the Crystal Gems had and so on. She knew how her Rose would answer: smile sadly while mourning for the loss, but attack her just after that. And she did collected information just as Rose asked her to: for example, she was almost sure, White Diamond knew about Rose being Pink. She wanted to warn her Diamond. So she accepted the Earth mission. She wanted to warn, so even if her mind was slowly getting under corruption, she said as much as she could, despite the Peridot's presence and the runty Amethyst being there, who was, just a minute ago, fused with what Rose became. She tried their coded messages, just like they did before, but none of it seemed to make any sense to the new Rose.
"I've been fighting from the second I broke free of the Earth's crust because of what you did to my colony, because of what you did to my planet, because of what you did to my Diamond! My Diamond! Your Diamond! Pink Diamond!" she screamed at the face of the human who looked at her in fear. Then, everything went black and she no longer was there.
Her sanity which has been creeping away since the moment she formed Malachite, left her and she no longer was Jasper. She no longer cared about anything, but somehow... She still wanted to warn the new Rose. But... Who was Rose? And what did she wanted to warn her about?
For a single moment she remembered and shouted at her. Then she felt the pain.
She wasn't able to tell anything to Rose, before she was poofed.
With the feeling of dissapointment in herself, she accepted the calming presence of the bubble.
