Author's note: The third and final part of my Jasper trilogy. Not sure what I wanted to get from it, but I am quite fond of it.

Also! Two days left to Christmas and the new episode! I am totally hyped for it and while I am sure none of the things I write will happen, it would be cool.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything, I'm just having fun writing.

Warnings: Yep, it contains a lot of spoilers starting from 'A Single Pale Rose' to the most recent 'Legs From Here To Homeworld'. I maybe will imply a slight Lapis-Peridot relationship, but that's all.

After the flash and the sound which was sang by the four figures in the space, the smallest turned to the greatest, most glowing one.

"Did it work? Even with the ones in the bubbles?" he asked worryingly, standing on the top of a bright pink pair of legs.

"Of course, Starlight. You may go and see for yourself, I'll await you at home to fulfill your part of our deal." Came the answer, before the figurine disappeared, only leaving the darkness behind her creepy voice. The small boy - because that was what he was - turned to his other companions.

"Do you really think White said the truth?" he asked, yet again with worry in his voice and eyes.

"She made a deal with you, so yes, she did." Was the answer from the big, yellow lady. She seemed to be standing on a right hand-shaped ship, which reflected her color.

"Do you want us to come with you?" asked the other large lady, this one blue, standing on a blue, left hand-ship. She looked worried too, but about the boy.

"No" he said, shaking his head. "The others will be with me, so I think I'll manage. And I don't want White to be angry with you for not doing your work, just to look after me" he finished, smiling sadly. "Guess, I'll see you in a couple of hours, if not sooner."

"Oh, if you think that getting together an army takes only a few hours, you are even more naive, than I thought you were" laughed the yellow lady, smiling down at the smaller creature. "We will meet you in a few days, Pink."

"Steven" corrected the boy, also smiling. Then he waved and got back into his ship.

Jasper sat up, panting and grasping for air. The scene she had just witnessed was absurd.

"Oh. My. Head." She complained to herself as she stood up, not caring enough to open her eyes. Her right hand was on her head as if this way the pain would go away. It didn't, however.

"Do you think she is sane?" asked somebody somewhere in front of her, in a low voice. Her head still hurt, but the voice seemed familiar. Where did she hear it exactly?

"Yo' saying she ever was?" asked somebody else, grumpily. "I don't understand why we had to let her go. She wasn't a Crystal Gem and almost killed you" she continued and Jasper felt herself remember. This was that little grunty Amethyst, wasn't it? And if so, from her recent memories, there must be the Peridot and Rose Quartz with her...

She opened her eyes immediaetly, only to fall onto her back in suprise. She was in a chamber-like place, with a lava-fountain and logs in the walls. In front of her was the runt, the denegrate Pearl, the fusion and Rose Quartz in her new form. It wasn't all, however.

"Nefrits?" She asked, confused by the three Gem soldiers before her. They weren't supossed to be on Earth! They were elite soldiers, after all. At least, more elite than a Quartz soldier like she was. And they were wearing a sign, she hasn't seen since decades. "With the emblame of Pink Diamond..." Jasper could only stare. How was this even possible?

"Jasper?" asked a low voice, the one who talked first. Jasper connected the voice to the little human-thing which was looking at her from behind the biggest ranking Nefrite's legs. Jasper didn't answer. She wanted to attack, but she was confused by the Nefrits' presence and their uniforms.

Rose's new form looked up at the Nefrite she used as a cover. "Centi? Could you... Ah, you know... Tell her? I don't think that it would be the best to let me do the talking." The thing smiled awkwardly. The Nefrite - to Jasper's biggest suprise - smiled back, then stepped forward.

"I am Nefrite, Facate 413, Cavishon 12" she instroduced herself. "And I, just as you and so much more Gems were infected by corruption. Today we all woke up from it, thanks to the one and only Pink Diamond, who travelled trough space and got the other Diamonds to cure us." She explained, smiling brightly. Jasper blinked.

"This is good and all, but Pink Diamond was shattered. By her" she pointed at the thing, which was now behind the two other Nefrites. "And I did not get corruption, I..." she started to say, but was interrupted as a sudden wave of pictures came to her. The fading colors, the darkening world, how she lost all her senses. "I got corrupted" she whispered in disbelief. Then her eyes lit up. "You said Pink Diamond, right? Is she okay? What happened to her?" she asked in a hurry.

"She is not a 'she' anymore" replied briefly the Nefrite, turning back to face the Crystal Gems. "Should I continue telling the story or you will take it from here?" she asked, showing respect to even the fusion. To all of their suprise, the Pearl was the one to answer after snickering:

"There is no need to tell her anything. Jasper, you can stop pretending. Everybody in this room knows that Rose was Pink Diamond" she said, looking challengingly at the Quartz, whose shoulders relaxed.

"It's a relief" she said with a small smile, then turned to the thing. "I have informations from Homeworld. From what I heard during the centuries, White Diamond might be suspecting that you are alive..." She was cut off by a sad smile from the half-human Rose turned into.

"I know. I've already met her."

"WHAT?" Jasper's scream seemed to - yet again - suprise everybody. "Why did you go to Homeworld? And why did you go to her? She is - she is a monster! What has she done to you?" She asked, worriedly, then remembered back to the things she saw before she wake up. "You made a deal with her" she said in a low voice, panic clear on her face.

"It was for your sake. And every other corrupted Gem's sake" he answered, also lowly. Jasper shook hear head.

"You're crazy just as before" she said, then simply walked off. None of them tried to stop her, even though, she heard them suddenly start talking about her reactions, once she left. She walked up on a stair, before she stepped out of a door with a five-point star, each point holding a gem. She at least hoped that they are just gems and not Gems.

As she walked throught it, she came to a scene she never thought she would witness. There were Crystal Gems and Pink Diamond's soldiers, laughing and talking together. In peace.

Every eye turned to her, than dissapprovingly flew away. It was clear that they were expecting their leader, not just a Jasper.

She got not one strange look from the other Gems as she went over the room, which seemed to be the Crystal Gems' base. She found the exit, but after walking trought it, she only saw more Gems and that was what she not needed. She wanted to be alone to get used to the situation.

She went down on a stair and started marching, slowly remembering that it was the beach they landed with their ship, when they came to Earth - the Peridot, she and their captive, Lapis Lazuli. She, how much she feared the other Gem, after what happened between them... However Jasper still felt sorry for her. She knew that she became a little crazy and much more choleric than she was before, but she never wanted to do such bad things to the Lapis Lazuli.

Thinking about this, Jasper frowned as she noticed that she was acting like this since she accepted the job as an undercover agent for Rose-Pink. She took a deep breath. She will never again need to feel or act like this. She can be free and herself.

She sat down, enjoying the sun as it shone at her. She walked so far that she didn't even hear the faintest sound of the Crystal Gems' and Pink Diamond's soldiers' made with their babbling and reuniting.

She didn't know how much she sat there, but after a lot of thinking she figured that she would help Pink's newest from. Steven, as he called himself now. Even if it was very stupid from him to risk his own life for a few hundreds of Gems.

Yes, it was stupid, but that was how Pink Diamond's mind always worked. So Jasper thought, it didn't change much during the time she spent on Earth.

She smiled at that thougt. After all this time, some little things didn't change.

Just like the sun, she thougt, looking up at the brigthly and proudly shining star. How much fights did it witnessed and still, it didn't change even a little, she wondered.

She sat there for a while, just enjoying the hotness with closed eyes, only listening to the waves of water, which still reminded her to Malachite, but also the times she spent explaining Homeworld tactics to Rose back then. She figured that the latter would be happy, knowing that she is going to act like herself again. The unprefect, yet perfect Jasper.

"Jasper?"

She opened her yellowish eyes to turn at the boy who was looking a little bit frightened by her presence.

"Yes, Steven?" Jasper used the name for a reason. And that reason became obvious as the boy's face lit up: he no longer feared her, instead happily came closer.

"Can I sit down?" He asked, politely. Jasper gestured at the place next to her, so he took it.

They were in silence for a minute, Jasper gazing at the waves, Steven watching her. Then the half-human spoke up.

"Pearl told us everything. "

Jasper nodded. She knew the white Gem will.

"And by everything I mean... literally everything."

Jasper chuckled.

"I knew she would" she replied, still not looking at Steven. "She was always proud of how she knew almost everything about Her." There was no need to say the name, both of them knew who they she was talking about. "During the less serious times I even heard her boasting about how she knew that Rose did that, Rose was there, Rose talked to them..." She didn't finish, but smiled anyway. Steven did too, she noticed as she looked at him.

"Yeah, that sounds like Pearl" he agreed, then he looked at the sun which was already setting and sighed. "It is not a good thing to know that for a long time, this is the last sunset I see" he explained to Jasper, who frowned.

"Yeah, that. I still don't understand how can you be so stupid to do anything like this, but I'll help you anyway" she announced, much to the boy's suprise.

"You will?" he asked, amazed. Jasper just nodedd. "Wow. I came here to make sure you are going to be on our side and you already are!" he said, louder in the end as he watched Jasper with a big grin. Then it all faded away in a second. "Jasper...? Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, of course, you helped mum, but you don't have to help me..." he started.

"You're right. I don't have to" Jasper interrupted as she streched. "I could do so much things instead, like poofing you, threathening the other Gems with your shards and taking revenge on that runt and Lapis Lazuli" she said calmly, causing the boy to wince in terror. "But I don't want to do these."

"You don't?" asked Steven dumbly. Jasper shook her head.

"I don't" she reassured the half-human. "I want to help you. Just like I wanted to help to your... What did you say? Mum?"

"Yeah, mum. You know, the person who cares about you and helps you, even if she is mad at you" he explained.

Jasper thought for a second. "Then your mum was my mum, too" she said thinking out loud again.

Steven blinked. Then he screamed in joy. "That's fantastic! That makes you my sister!" Then he hugged her. Jasper didn't know what to to first, but eventually hugged back.

"I guess so" she answered, when they sat back. Jasper knew that her face was flustered, so she didn't look at the boy, only the sun which was, by that time, already fully in the ocean. Or so as it seemed. "It is getting darker" she said as-a-matter-of-factly, before glancing at the boy. "You should go back. They will start to suspect that I did something to you" she warned him and the half-Gem took the advice by getting up.

"Don't you wanna come with me, Jasper? There are other Gems you should meet, maybe some you even know..." he started, but Jasper shook her head.

"I don't think that's a good idea" she started to say, when the somebody she wanted to she the least, screamed her name:

"JASPER!"

They both looked at the two figures who were heading towards them. Jasper recognised the green, smaller one, the Peridot - the one she came with - with a big start on her chest, before the other, blue figurine spread her wings of water, raising her hands up. Jasper felt the water before it reached her, separating her from Steven.

"DON'T YOU EVEN DARE TO GO NEAR HIM! AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT HURTING HIM!" she screamed flying closer and pushing Steven behind her. She looked angrily at Jasper who stared back with a stoic face, thinking about how she should apologise.

"Look, Lazuli... " Jasper tried to start, but only got water all over her mouth. However, that water freezed. Somebody was clearly upset about her, even while she was unconcious.

"And don't you even dare to address me" she continued less louder, danger in her voice. "I am not going to be as sweet as last time" she promised. Her small - at least compared to Jasper – figure was as tall as she had ever been and looking into the blue Gem's eyes, Jasper understood why exactly Lapis Lazulis were so feared in Blue Diamond's court.

Jasper smiled a little, bitter smile. So this is how it's gonna end for her. In the hands of her former prisoner, never getting the chance to prove to this new form of her Diamond that she is still and will stay worthy.

Lapis Lazuli seemed more enraged by her smiling features than she looked before. She slowly, but steadily started to crush her hands, watching with a morbid satisfaction as Jasper became more and more uncomfortable in her situation.

"Lazuli, I don't think it's a good idea to do this..." Jasper, feeling pretty suprised, showed a side-glance at the Peridot who was – probably unknowingly – trying to save her life. "Look at it this way: if you stop for a minute and consider how Jasper has just been freed from her own madness..."

"You say it like she wasn't mad to start with" Lapis mumbled and beamed at Peridot, when she giggled. Jasper felt her eyes widen. It didn't happen, did it?

"You're right. Just as you were right about Camp Pining Hearts' season five finale" the little green Gem seemed... rather dismissive about admitting that fact. Whatever that „Camp Pining Hearts" was, she must have been an all-knower of it, Jasper thought.

"You already watched the season five finale? " Little Pink... No, Steven questioned. He frowned. "So much I have missed."

"Yeah, you missed the part when... " started the Peridot and the Lapis Lazuli together before bursting into cackles as Steven put his hand into his ears and started to loudly scream 'La, la, la, la, la, I don't hear you, I don't hear you!' all over.

Jasper watched them with a strange, pensieve look that was rare among Quartz Soldiers like she was. As the two Gems' cackles turned into laughter and as Steven joined them, letting himself be drawn into an embrace. They were family and dispite what Jasper said earlier, she just couldn't imagine herself as even distantly affectionate as this. It was not her world to begin with. But it wasn't a Peridot's or a Lapis Lazuli's world either. Maybe it was her Diamond's new, human-half who made the Gems act contrary to their normal. If this was the case, some Homeworld Gem would clearly cause some problems in the near future... Maybe just name-calling and vicious rumours, but a combat attack based on how much Pink Diamond changed... It would surely be fatal for the half-Gem, half-human Steven. It was a possibility that he already faced those discriminations and that was why he came back for the ruins of Pink Diamond's army. Jasper dismissed that train of thoughts. It should be saved for later.

By this time the trio of a family was already refocusing their attention on her. She couldn't decide if it was good or bad news, regarding her current... Situation.

"Oh, yeah, Lapis? Could you... Ya know, let Jasper go? She's with us now. No longer a threat and all that. I talked to her." Steven looked up at the seemingly irritated blue Gem with what Jasper learned to recognise as 'puppy eyes'. They were one of the biggest weapons Steven had – this was also a knowledge Jasper learned much later, specifically after some explosions on a high-ranked Gem's office. (This was how they got away with it, even though the Gem belonged to White Diamond who was famous for making her employers 'perfect'. Which normally meant making them forget about emotions in all. Jasper shivered at the thought. It must not have been a particulary pleasant feeling.)

The Lapis Lazuli sighed, before grumpily agreeing to let Jasper down. While doing so, she formed her opinion about how careful they should be around her. 'A clod' as she put it in the end. Jasper had no idea what that meant, except it not being a compliment.

But when she was finally on the ground – on the ground of the planet she was created inside in – she smiled. She finally could do what she felt she failed to do in all her life – serve the mighty Pink Diamond, who needed a protector by her side as much as Jasper needed somebody to look up to. Well, more likely, to look down to. Jasper did just that. She was still smiling and Steven smiled back.

Yes, they would have to face everybody in Homeworld, including White Diamond. And yes, Jasper would have to bear the knowledge of being an outcast in Steven's court for long. But she had Steven and would prove only to him how much she can outcast everybody in protecting her family, when she had the chance to have one.