THE OFFER

SAPPHIRE STUDIED Jasper, Helio, Lapis, Peridot and Lion as they stood before her and the Crystal Gems on the town's outskirts, wondering what they were doing there in the first place. She tried to read their minds to find out, unable to as there was a psychic interference being put out by Jasper herself, one of the most powerful she had ever felt. Looking at the orange gem's snake like eyes, she felt a deep anger rage within her, holding herself back from reacting hastily for Lion's sake.

"What're you doing here?" The blue woman demanded.

"Tried reading my mind, huh? Heh, my old man taught me how to make the old noggin an impenetrable steel trap." Jasper smirked. "Even Pink Diamond couldn't get in." Sapphire frowned at this.

"What have you done with Lion?" Pearl drew out her katana. "I won't show mercy if you've hurt him."

"Whoa, relax; we didn't do anything to him." Peridot held up her hands. "He came to us actually."

"What?" Pearl's brow arched.

"Yeah, I'm not buying that." Amethyst crossed her arms.

"Lion's an old friend of mine and he told me to come find you," Jasper stepped forward, "Though I wasn't expecting to find you so soon, or so unceremoniously."

"What're you talking about?" Sapphire asked, her tone becoming less angry and more confused.

"Heh, guess she really did a number on you, didn't she?" Jasper looked to Lion then back to Sapphire, "Lion only speaks telepathically, but it's in such a low frequency that only high level telepaths can hear. I bet you could if you tried."

Sapphire considered what Jasper said, looking at Lion and scanning his body inside and out. Concluding that he had no injuries, she slowly descended and approached Jasper. "Wait, you can't trust her!" Ruby cried.

"I know what I'm doing." Sapphire walked up to Jasper, looking up to the tall woman. "Show me."

"Alright." Jasper held out her hand and her eyes glowed, looking into Sapphire's eye and connecting with her in the psychic realm. She brought her deeper into the plane, further out of the range of everyone else's thoughts, and entered a dark empty void. The metaphysical Sapphire felt an intense grief as she entered the realm, stunned as she saw a tear from Jasper as she stood with her.

"There he is." Jasper gestured to her left, pointing Sapphire to Lion who sat facing away from them.

Sapphire looked to the animal and finally heard the frequency he was emitting, what his voice actually sounded like. It was deep and heavy, but had a gentleness and warmth to it that she immediately grew fond of as she heard it. Despite his cheerful tone, a deep sorrow and loneliness seeped behind every word, one that was many years old and would not go away.

Returning to the physical realm, Sapphire looked to Lion who sat beside Lapis - she could finally hear him clearly! "Jasper's telling the truth." Sapphire turned to the others. "He wants us to work with them."

"Wait, who are these guys exactly?" Steven asked.

"They are commanders under White Diamond." Pearl began. "I don't recognize all of them, but she is Jasper; an old enemy of the Crystal Gems."

"I was trained and tortured by her for centuries before Rose saved me from them." Ruby growled. "She is a heartless monster who would turn on her own kind if it meant victory."

"Watch your tongue, you little brat!" Jasper yelled. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a traitor!"

"You killed my friends!" Ruby screamed in rage, an intense fire bursting out of her when Sapphire raised her arm, blocking her way. "Sapphire …?"

"Hear her out, Ruby." Sapphire said to her. "I know what she's done, I know it well, but Lion trusts her and I trust him." She turned to Jasper. "Let's hear what they have to say."

Ruby looked at Sapphire in disbelief then to Jasper and Lion and sighed heavily, putting out the flames around her. "Alright."

"Fluffball here says you guys can help me in my quest to destroy Home World," Jasper put a hand on her hip. "I didn't agree with him at first, but I thought I'd give his idea a shot."

"Wait, you want to destroy Home World?" Sapphire asked.

"What? I didn't stutter, did I?" Jasper turned to Lapis.

"Well, they're kinda not expecting someone who's been with Home World since the Gem War to suddenly turn on them at the drop of a hat." Lapis chuckled. "They need to understand why you're doing it."

"I'm so fucking confused." Amethyst scratched her head.

"I would have fought with the Crystal Gems the moment I heard about you, but I couldn't because your plans were flawed." Jasper said. "Your efforts were in vain and you would have never succeeded."

"You're lying!" Ruby screamed again. "If you cared about our cause, you would have helped us, but you killed us instead! You've always been Home World scum!"

"Do you even know what I had to go through?" Jasper walked up to her. "I had to kill my own friends when they joined the Crystal Gems just to keep the Diamonds off my back! If they found out what I was planning, many more lives would have been lost!"

"So, your friends' lives didn't matter to you?" Ruby responded. "You couldn't just explain it to them."

"You don't know what it's like to have a Diamond constantly watching your back; watching every move you make." Jasper said. "Having to fabricate false thoughts so they wouldn't read your mind!" She began to breathe heavily, slowly composing herself. "I've sacrificed so much; I have planned for many, many years for this. I have gathered armies, weapons and I have studied Home World's structure inside and out and I know how to bring it to its knees." She sighed. "Will you help me or not?"

Sapphire tried to think, glancing at Lion and Ruby, and she sighed. "No, no we won't."

"Same here." Pearl stepped forward. "You may want to put down Home World as well, but we can't trust you. If Lion wants to go with you, then it's his decision to make, but we're not going to work with you."

Jasper looked at Pearl and the other Crystal Gems, huffing, as they seemed to all agree. "I knew this was a waste of time." She began to leave.

"I'll work with you." Steven said, halting Jasper.

"What?!" Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire turned to Steven.

"Steven, what're you talking about? These guys destroyed Beach City!" Connie cried.

"If somebody knows how to fight a Diamond, it's someone who's worked with one." Steven walked up to Jasper. "I want you to train me so I can get stronger; I don't want to lose again."

"Hmm." Jasper scrutinized him.

"Steven, you can't be serious." Pearl quickly pulled the boy towards her. "We can train you; we've always been training you - we can just find out new, better techniques."

"Yeah, we can even find somebody in Ooo who knows how to fight." Amethyst added. "Maybe we can even ask that Billy guy Finn always talks about."

"Billy's dead and we weren't prepared at all when Home World attacked Beach City." Steven frowned. "I was helpless when White Diamond attacked and if there're more as strong as she is, we're toast."

"Actually, Blue's the strongest Diamond, so you'd be pretty screwed if you couldn't lay a finger on White." Peridot noted.

Steven looked at Peridot then to the others. "We need all the help we can get; we're not strong enough to face Home World on our own." He turned to Jasper. "Train me."

Jasper scrutinized the boy, seeing the fury and determination in his eyes. "Alright, I'll train you."

Pearl and the other gems froze upon hearing this, Connie reaching forward and grabbing Steven's hand. "Steven, can I talk to you for a second?"

Steven turned to Connie, not answering, and stepped away from the others. "Steven, you can't be serious." She chastised in a hushed tone.

"I am serious; this's the best chance I have." Steven insisted.

"But how can you trust her? She's from Home World."

"I don't know if I can, but I need to take this chance." Steven said, seeing Connie's worry. "Look, I know this's crazy and I know what Home World's capable of, but that's exactly why I have to do this." He looked at his hands and sighed. "I'm not strong enough, none of us are. People died because we couldn't protect them and I'm not gonna let that happen again."

Connie tried to speak, but cut herself off, sighing reluctantly. "Just be safe, okay?"

Steven nodded and returned to the others, walking toward Jasper. "I don't know how long this'll take, but I won't come back until I'm stronger."

"But, Steven -," Amethyst tried to speak, but Pearl held her arm out, stopping her.

"Just be careful, Steven." Pearl said reluctantly. "And contact us when you've finished so we can come get you."

"Relax, I won't hurt him." Jasper smirked, getting a scowl from Pearl. "Alright, let's go."

"I'll stay with the Crystal Gems until you're done." Lapis said, walking up to Pearl. "Children irritate me."

Jasper looked at her curiously then shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Jasper, Helio and Steven headed towards the forest, leaving the others behind as Lapis joined the Crystal Gems – Peridot quickly following behind her. Lapis shot a glare at Sapphire, this going unseen by the others, and Pearl watched Steven as he went, questioning her decision to let him leave. Raising her hand, the pale woman summoned a small magic circle that attached to the boy's back, disappearing shortly after as he entered the woods.

"Don't worry about us getting in your way." Lapis crossed her arms. "We'll follow your orders while we're here."

"Yup." Peridot beamed.

Sapphire shook her head. "Fine." She turned to the others. "We should return to the town and see if everyone's alright." She flew off.

Returning to town, Pearl and the others entered a street where several men were looking closely at the downed beasts that they had managed to pull to the center of town – Pearl moving up to Gen and Mira who were studying a boar carcass. "Is everyone okay?"

"Fortunately there've only been a few injured – no casualties." Gen said, stroking his chin.

"It's quite odd though." Mira said as she ran her hands on the side of the beast. "I'm sensing large amounts of Gaia Energy from the creatures; it's what gave them their power."

"Yes, I'd been sensing that too, but I wasn't sure." Pearl frowned.

"But, how's that possible? I thought Gaia Energy was peaceful and therapeutic." Connie questioned.

"There's no such thing as good or bad energy." Mira said. "It's what it's used for or what form it's shaped into that defines its alignment. But I've never seen anything like this before."

"So, you're saying someone used the Energy to corrupt these animals." Sapphire landed beside her.

"I can't say for certain, but it's a strong possibility." Mira stood up. "I'll have to study these beasts more to be sure."

"Then I'll have the men bring one of these to your workshop." Gen said, calling over a man who was nearby.

Pearl looked around at the buildings damaged by the attack, sifting her mind. "We'll need to make sure the town's safe before we continue looking for a warp pad back to Home World." She turned to the others. "Let's find out where these animals came from and put them down before they attack again."

"Right." Sapphire nodded.

"Sapphire, Lion, Lapis and Peridot, you'll come with me." Pearl ordered. "Connie, Amethyst and Ruby, you stay here and help the townspeople anyway you can."

"I'll be coming to." Gen said, holstering his rifle. "I know these woods better than anyone."

Pearl turned to him, hesitating. "Okay, let's go."

Ruby watched as Pearl, Gen, Lion, Sapphire, Lapis and Peridot went on into the forest, turning to Amethyst and heading out with her into another street, leaving Connie behind. Connie watched from a distance as Mira went around with a group of women and healed injured people miraculously that were carried in from around the town. Enamored, she went up to the woman who waved her hand over a gash on an old lady's leg, spreading energy over it that caused it to slowly close up on its own.

"I've been around enough and I've seen your work first hand, so I've made up my mind." Connie said, grabbing Mira's attention. "I want to learn how to use Gaia Energy."


ELSEWHERE IN town, Amethyst and Ruby entered a street were people were trying to clear away the rubble from an attack. Walking up to a group of men, Amethyst cracked her whip and drew their attention. "Hey there, need some help?"

"Uh …" A man said in confusion.

Chuckling, Amethyst lassoed a fallen wooden beam and yanked it toward her, lifting it with one arm. "C'mon, we don't wanna just stand around doing nothing." She walked on. "Let's keep working."

"Okay," He said, stunned by her strength.

Watching Amethyst leave, Ruby moved up to a large boulder and tried to pick it up when a large foot stepped on it. "Ya sure you can handle it, Ruby?" A familiar voice said.

Ruby looked up and froze in shock. "Bismuth?"

"What? Ya daydreamin' again?" The giant woman chuckled. "Listen, you probably wanna handle somethin' easier; large scale repairs are a little above you. Let another ruby handle it."

"I can handle this!" Ruby growled.

"Uh, Ruby?" Amethyst called, making Ruby turn to her. "Who're you talking to?"

Ruby squinted and turned to the large boulder, seeing that no one was there. Realizing that it was only a memory, she glanced around uncomfortably. "Uh, it's nothing I was, uh …" She sifted her mind. "I'll get to work."

Grabbing a hold of the boulder, Ruby went down the street toward a pile of rubble the people were collecting. She looked blankly onward as she walked, her mind filling with voices as she struggled to fight off the doubts in her mind. As she continued walking however, she began to wonder why the rock started to feel lighter.

"Ruby!" Amethyst cried out.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, realizing that she was about to drop the boulder on three men! "Whoa!" She quickly held the rock, mere inches from crushing them!

"What're you doing?" Amethyst rushed towards her and took the boulder. "You could've killed them!"

Ruby looked at Amethyst, seeing how she carried the rock deftly in one hand while she had to struggle to do it. Looking around, the red woman saw the commotion she had caused as people started to stare at her. "I … I'm sorry, I'll be careful next time."

"Are you okay? Maybe you should sit down for a bit."

"No!" Ruby yelled, noticing her outburst. "… No, I'm fine." She sifted her mind. "I'll get back to work." She walked off, leaving Amethyst confused.


JASPER POCKETED her hands as she looked at the twilight sky, enjoying the stars and remembering the time she spent in the plains of Dragonbloom. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Steven pull himself up onto the mountain side and Helio who drew out a small disc from his gauntlet and chucked it forward, letting it levitate and fly off.

"I'll be studying the area for a while." The black gem said, drawing out a small pen-shaped device from his pocket and tossing to Jasper. "You can set up camp without me."

"Sure." Jasper received the device, seeing him fly off.

Jasper pocketed the pen and looked at the mountains around them. "I've been looking to work the Crystal Gems for some time now, but I've never had any opportunities to see if they were willing or not." She clicked on some buttons on her gauntlet. "I'd fought Sapphire when Home World invaded your home a few months ago and she intrigued me."

"What do you mean?" Steven sat on a rock nearby.

"She let me defeat her." Jasper crossed her arms. "I could sense an immense energy from her that she was desperately trying to suppress during our battle; she'd rather die than use it against me."

"Oh …"

"My point is that I value strength in those I work with." Jasper pressed a button on her gauntlet, summoning a force field that spread around the two and covered several square meters around them. "And I test their strength in battle."

Steven looked at the force field and became nervous. "What's this?"

"This is a device Helio developed as we'd travelled these lands for the past few months." Jasper began. "Within this field, time is stretched out so we can perform tasks at record speed. One Terran day outside is two months in here, so we can train virtually forever." She removed her cloak. "If I'm going to train you, I'll need to assess your strength first."

"Oh, okay." Steven got up. "What do you want me to do? Lift a boulder, levitate, or …?"

"I want you to fight me."

"What?"

"Show me how strong you are, human!" Jasper grinned as an aura of intense energy burst out of her.

Steven gulped in fear. "Uh …"


MOONLIGHT GLIMMERED through the trees and lit up their path as Pearl, Gen, Sapphire, Lion, Lapis and Peridot travelled through the wood. The area felt much different from the landscape of Oval Town even though they were only a couple kilometers away from it. There was a great amount of colorfulness in the plant life around them and the animals seemed more active than they were in the day, much to Peridot's intrigue.

"So, where did you find Jasper before coming to us, Lion?" Pearl turned to the animal, getting no response, then looked to Sapphire. "Could you translate?"

"He's not saying anything." Sapphire said. "I guess Lion's just a silent gem in general."

"Hey, how come we didn't see any of these creatures elsewhere?" Peridot strayed off from the others, reaching out to a small bird with six wings that perched on a tree.

"Don't wonder off, Peridot." Lapis held the green girl's hand.

"What? I'm not going to get lost again." Peridot insisted, getting a disbelieving look from Lapis. "I'm not."

"That's what you said before that bear almost got you earlier." Lapis let go of her hand. "We don't know what kind of animals Terra has, so you should be careful."

"Ugh, fine." Peridot pouted. "I just wanted to find out if they were like the birds on Home World since they looked so similar."

Pearl, becoming unnerved upon hearing this, stepped ahead of the group and looked into different light spectrums, looking for traces of the corrupted animals that had attacked the town. She looked at the ground; the plants and the sky above, searching for footprints, claw marks or anything at all that could lead to their whereabouts. As she did so however, her pupils slowly began to turn red though she failed to notice.

"I think we may need to employ different methods in order to find these creatures." Gen went up to a tree and ran his hand along the bark. "If they were indeed corrupted by Gaia Energy then they should be emitting it wherever they go."

"Good thinking." Peridot smiled and summoned four light clones that dispersed into the woods.

Releasing a blue glow from her eyes, Pearl looked at the energy fields in the area, seeing many energy waves that mixed in with each other. Separating those of herself and the gems from the others, she started to search for concentrated traces of Gaia Energy, finding that troublesome as the trees themselves produced small traces of it. She shut her eyes as the sight became overwhelming, trying to focus on any that felt out of place, anything that disrupted the natural flow in the area. She found it.

"Alright, I think I've found something." Pearl opened her eyes and turned around, finding no one behind her! "Guys?"


"LAPIS?" PERIDOT cried as she walked through a foggy path in the forest. "Lapis, where are you?"

"Peridot!" Lapis called out as she walked through a patch of leaves.

"What happened? Where're the others?" Peridot walked up to her.

"I don't know, I just blinked and the next thing I knew I was in a river." Lapis said, waving her hand and getting the water off her clothes.

"Oh, there you two are." Sapphire said blankly as she descended from the skies, followed below by Lion. "It seems we got separated by some strange magic."

"Yeah, seems about right." Lapis crossed her arms.

"So, what now?" Peridot asked.

"We need to find Pearl and Gen and get out of here before anything else goes wrong." Sapphire said.

"Yeah, that's gonna have to wait." Lapis frowned and looked into the shadows to her right. "We've got company."

Several eyes shone through the darkness in the wood around the four gems, followed by growls and shuffling in the bushes. Peridot held Lapis' arm as the noises loudened and the trees started to shake and fall over, making Lapis, Sapphire and Lion become tense. Bursting through the trees like twigs, a gigantic one-eyed wolf leapt out and landed before the four, circling them and eyeing its prey.

"It seems we were on the right path." Sapphire summoned ice around her.

"Yeah, no shit." Lapis frowned.

Howling at the sky, the wolf called more monsters that revealed themselves from the woods around them, surrounding the four gems, and charging at them full speed!


CLIMBING OVER a fallen tree, Pearl entered a burned area of the woods she had not seen mere seconds before, confused as the area she had just come from had also changed. The trees around her were nothing like they were before she lost track of the others, none of them pointing upward, but rather intertwining and shifting back into the ground like overgrown roots. She looked at the smoke rising from the earth before her and picked the smoking ash, confused, as it seemed to have burned decades ago, but felt fresh at the same time.

"What is this …?" She asked herself when a voice caught her attention

"Pearl!" Gen's voice came, drawing Pearl's attention as she turned and saw him trying to rip himself away from a tree that was wrapping around him!

"Gen, hold on!" She ran up to him.

"Stay back! You don't want to attract the other trees here!" Gen cried and reached for his rifle, blasting a hole in the roots and causing it to drop him on the ground. Pushing himself up, he fired at the tree repeatedly, incinerating it to bits!

"What's going on? What happened to the others?" Pearl asked.

"They've been taken by the forest." Gen said curtly.

"What're you talking about?"

Gen hissed as he saw a gash on his arm. "There're portions of the forests that'll try to eat you alive if you're not careful; that's why I insisted on coming along because I know how to avoid them." He ripped a piece of his shirt and covered the wound. "But I guess the energy's become harder for me to trace now."

"Well, how do we find the others?" Pearl asked.

"We'll just need to follow them by their energy, but it might take a while." Gen sighed. "I'm sorry about this."

"No, it's fine, we'll find them soon enough." Pearl moved up to him and held out her hand. "May I?"

Gen hesitated and held his arm out to her, showing her the gash that was mere inches away from exposing the bone. Holding her hand over the cut, Pearl covered it with her energy and started to heal it, pressing against his skin as it slowly closed shut. She felt his warmth as she held him, looking at him and getting drawn into his deep green eyes as he looked into hers.

Gen became lost in the moment when he saw a large branch snaking up to Pearl from behind. "Pearl, behind you!"

Pearl reached for her katana to defend herself when a bolt of lightning gutted the branch instantly! The two froze in shock and turned to the direction where the electricity came from, seeing a dark-haired man garbed in black clothing approaching them. "You should be more careful when traversing these woods." The man said blankly. "Wouldn't consider this a place to get comfortable in."

"Uh," Pearl quickly let go of Gen. "Who are you?"

"I am Sasuke Uchiha."


A/N

There ya go, Chapter 2!

Sorry it took so long, but I just felt lazy honestly and got a little sidetracked, but I'm back now! It's too bad I couldn't really show why this is a crossover with Naruto from the very first chapter, but Oval Town had to be set up first. Now that that's done, we can get into the meat of the story.

Please leave a comment or review if there's anything you like or hate about the story or if you have any questions and check out our Deviantart and Tumblr for character designs! Thanks for reading.