~O~
Chapter Three: Turn Loose the Beast
Steven took a seat across from Connie, barely listening when she was talking about her homework. He managed to doodle a little picture of Jasper's corrupted form on paper, moments as Connie took it out from under his hands.
"Steven, what is this?" she asked. She raised her eyebrows. "This looks like Jasper."
It occurred to Steven that she had never seen Jasper's corrupted form. He took the picture from her and sighed, crumbling it up into a ball.
"It's nothing. I'm just...distracted." he said.
Connie frowned. She tilted her head, knowing full well that something else was going on. Steven was always so easy to read.
"Steven..." she said. "Is something going on?"
Steven wanted to tell her. He really did. Maybe she would know some way to help that he couldn't. He gave a long, heavy sigh.
Taking Connie's hand, he led her from the library so that others would not hear. When he turned around the corner and told her everything, Connie's eyes widened in shock.
"You WHAT?" she exclaimed.
Steven held out two hands. "Please, just hear me out."
Connie folded her arms across her chest, frowning and waiting for his explanation. "Steven, this is very dangerous." she reminded him. "Do you remember what she almost did to us? To Amethyst?"
Steven nodded. "I know. I just...I had to try."
"Steven, if you're trying to fix this because..." Connie trailed off, not sure if bringing up what they had dealt with in their fused realm was a good idea.
"I'm not trying to fix what I did." Steven told her. "I'm trying to fix what SHE did."
Connie was amazed by the mature response from him. Steven's face was filled with sadness. "Mom had her reasons. Yeah, I get that. I know Garnet and the others are always talking about how war makes you do crazy things. But maybe it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe there can be another way to stop this."
Connie hesitated for a moment, considering his words. She exhaled, making a face. "Show me where she is."
Steven smiled and nodded.
The two walked back to the Temple, passing the kitchen. The Gems were nowhere to be seen. Steven could make out the sounds of Amethyst doing something on the roof. He had no idea what it was. Garnet was talking with her.
"...I told you, that isn't how you string up lights." Garnet argued, with that same calm serenity she was known to have.
Amethyst scoffed above. A banging sound followed, then a small laugh. "Humans weren't kidding when they say they get tangled every year."
Lapis was passing by the windows every so often, her arms full of strings of lights. She didn't seem to notice the two humans.
"Hey! Maybe we should wrap Perry up with lights!" Amethyst joked. "She's already green!"
Peridot gave a wry snort. "Haha, I forgot how to laugh."
Steven had almost forgotten that Christmas was not too far away. He had his mind so focused on Jasper that everything else slipped away.
He started to step up onto the warp pad, but Pearl was suddenly there, arms folded. She cleared her throat and regarded the pair curiously.
"Well. Where are we off to in such a hurry?" she asked.
Steven and Connie looked at each other, uncertain of how to answer.
"Uhm..." Connie said. "We were..."
Steven held up two hands, trying to sound convincing as possible. "Connie has a project! We need to find plants!"
"Oh?" Pearl said. She seemed interested. "Plants, you say? Maybe I could help." She made a face. "Amethyst has insisted on playing games with the lights again. I tell you, it's all fun and games until Peridot ends up wrapped in multi-colorful light fixtures."
Steven started pushing Connie onto the warp pad. "Thanks, but we can handle it!"
They both grinned widely at her and Pearl quirked an eyebrow.
She wasn't buying it, but allowed for them to depart without further talk. They were more than capable of looking out for each other should a situation arise.
Still, something didn't seem right to her.
Behind her, Peridot screamed as she fell from the roof, dangling by a single string of lights wrapped around her waist.
Pearl looked back with a groan. "Amethyst!" she protested.
Peridot hung there, annoyance on her face. "With these ridiculous decorations, how have humans not wiped each other out yet?" she muttered.
O
Jasper's right paw was now a five-digit arm. One she used to have before her corruption. She was using to tug frantically at the cell bars. The muscles in her arm strained. The screech she uttered almost sounded less beastly and more like her old voice.
The bar began to bend slowly. Jasper uttered a triumphant gurgle of sounds. Just a little more. She would finally be free.
The sounds of Steven and Connie talking together caused her to pause slightly. Craning her head, she spotted the two approaching around the corner. Releasing the bar, Jasper scooted back a little bit, staring at them rigidly.
Who was that smaller female?
Jasper's mind was a broken playback feed of images and colors from her most recent battle. Before everything had gone black. And the sounds that she didn't recognize bursting from her swollen, monstrous throat.
But importantly, she remembered the agony.
How it felt to have her physical form shredded by the corruption. How she felt like she was choking, dying over and over again.
Connie focused on Jasper, amazed by the sight of her. Jasper felt cognitive enough to recongize the stare. It was fear, that much she knew. It reminded her of the lower class Gems regarding her. The Rubies who drooled over her like despicable entertainment Gems. The ones who worked in the lower districts of Homeworld.
"Wait, what happened to her?" Connie asked, looking at Steven.
"She was corrupted." Steven explained. "I'm trying to help fix her."
Connie wasn't so sure about that idea. "I don't know, Steven..."
Steven peered into the cell, staring at Jasper's hand. He squinted in confusion, uncertain that what he saw was actually her hand and not the nightmarish paw.
"So what have you been doing, Steven?" Connie asked, trying not to look at the aberration inside the cell.
"Well, not much." Steven told her. "She still thinks I'm my mom."
"She doesn't understand how she gave up her form to have you." Connie affirmed. "Maybe if we explain that to her?"
Steven exhaled. "There's no way. She only sees it as a trick."
Connie seemed to be thinking about that as he spoke. She looked up at Jasper for a moment, noticing the shaking in her frame, the way she stared at Steven like she wanted to tear him apart. She still had no idea why he wanted to help her. She seemed dangerous to Connie.
But that was Steven. Always wanting to help even the most dangerous of Gems.
But in a way, Peridot was dangerous and they had gone through so much together. Maybe Connie wasn't looking at it correctly.
But Jasper looked different than other Gem corruptions. She looked as though part of her face and arm hadn't been entirely corrupted yet.
But Steven had told her than he witnessed her full corruption. So what did this mean?
Jasper moved forward, clutching the bar tightly in one hand. She gave it an angry tug, snarling.
Connie nodded her head. "I might have an idea."
O
Jasper stared down at Connie, pressing her paws close to her face. She leaned forward, trying to read the book title that the human was holding up.
"My mom gave me this book a long time ago." she told her. "When my brother died."
Jasper actually looked a little bored. She thought the smaller human had some sort of sense and perhaps gave her something more meaningful that a book. It wasn't like she could read it.
Connie watched as Jasper stoop up and turned her back to her, lying down on her sides like Lion often did when he was bored or just tired.
Connie murmured with dismay, but continued talking.
"It's called 'Frankenstein'." she said. "I don't know why, but this book used to be my brother's favorite. I would read it all the time when I felt sad." She noticed the music box near Jasper's paw and tilted her head curiously. "Is it the same for you and that music box?"
Jasper didn't look back at her. She only acknowledged Connie by the particularly rude grunt from her throat. Connie made a face. Steven was sitting beside her and shrugged his shoulders. Well, it was worth a shot, anyway.
Connie stared down at the book in her hands. She didn't realize she had started crying until Steven comforted her with a hug. Jasper's ears caught the sound and she glanced back with a small growling in her through.
Her features smoothed out a little when she noticed the tears.
"Jasper, it's alright if you need to cry."
"Jasper's don't cry, idiot."
"You were her favorite. No one would blame you."
Rhodonite was alone in the garden. Others had been left to become the massive vines that surrounded the beautiful statues. It was a fate they had chosen for themselves. To disappear into nothing with their Diamond.
Jasper was standing among the dead garden, dressed in her cloak. She looked regal and proud, as all Jasper's of her kind were known to look. But she had changed since being affiliated with Yellow Diamond.
She was no longer smiling, unless she was close to destroying a Rebel Gem. She almost seemed emotionless, thanks to Yellow Diamond's influence.
Jasper's eyes wandered around, studying each detail of the once-living garden. She gave a rather rude snort.
"Why do you still try to heal this...this Gem forsaken place?" she snapped.
Rhodonite herself looked almost...pale. Her black and pink colors were faded, perhaps from overworking herself. She no longer held her head high and chatted excitedly. No, her eyes simply looked heavy and sad. Jasper didn't like it.
"It's my duty." Rhodonite replied, now very quiet herself.
Jasper scoffed. "You have the Diamond Authority to serve. That is your duty."
"My duty was to Pink Diamond..."
"Yeah?" Jasper spat, her voice high with rage. "Well Pink Diamond is gone!"
It was the first real show of emotion that Jasper had displayed in such a long time. Rhodonite arched her thin eyebrows, not certain how to respond. And she usually had responses of every sort to give.
Instead, Jasper calmed herself, tucking her hands into her cloak. She turned with a swift huff and her voice even once more - albeit filled with mockery.
"You don't get it..."
She left without another word.
When she had returned the following day, she found Rhodonite's Gem shards lying on the floor where she had once stood. A knife was nearby.
The sight wasn't something Jasper hadn't seen before. She had known that Gems often times shattered themselves. For honor. For peace. Whatever the excuse had been, it was never something she was fully prepared for.
Some Gems just couldn't shake their loyalty.
"What a waste."
O
Pearl was suspicious.
She had seen Connie and Steven hurry out of the temple every day for the passed week now. Garnet herself didn't show signs of worry, so that should have been enough to pacify her. But then again, Garnet often times knew what was going on and allowed for things to play out as they did.
Peridot was in the middle of hanging decorations on the wall. She curled her nose at a bright, shiny red ball before making faces into its reflection.
Steven and Connie were helping decorate as well.
"Okay, did we get the tree?" Steven asked.
He looked around the house to every Gem, but they simply stared blankly back and shrugged. What were they supposed to do?
Garnet stepped up. "I'll be right back." she said.
They didn't see her wander outside, around the temple, toward a nearby tree. She delivered several well-placed kicks and punches to the base of it, freeing it from the ground.
Carrying the massive tree onto her shoulder, she pushed her way through the door, sending pine needles showering everywhere. She made her way to the corner, set the tree down and hurriedly decorated it with all the speed and skill she possessed.
The others admired it once she was done.
"A dead tree is still dead, even if you decorate it." Peridot quipped. "Why do humans HAVE this ritual anyway?"
Steven smiled. "Christmas is special." he explained. "It's a great day for family to come together, give gifts and eat lots of turkey."
"Can't you just do that any time?" Peridot asked. "I saw Amethyst eating a turkey just last week."
"Guilty." Amethyst said, raising one finger.
Steven and Connie looked at Amethyst in surprise.
"A whole turkey?" Connie managed to laugh out.
Later that evening, Pearl was reading Christmas stories to Steven and Connie. A story of "Santa Claus". She found it ridiculous that any human child would believe a human of his age would have somehow managed to travel across the planet in just one night; on a vehicle powered by flying animals.
"It's just a story, Pearl." Steven reminded her. "For fun."
Pearl made a face, considering that. "I see. Humans spend quite a lot of time having fun. Is it intentional? To distract them from their short lives?"
Connie and Steven stared at her, surprised by the remark. But Pearl was still learning much about human customs. Sometimes she was just set in her ways.
"My grandmother always thought Christmas was a time for miracles," Connie said, smiling at Steven. "She says that anything is possible on Christmas."
Pearl gave a snort. "That's ridiculous. Holidays don't have any..." She trailed off, considering this before staring at the children curiously. "Does it, really?"
Connie laughed. "I personally think we all can make our own miracles."
While they were sharing the warm, family moment together, Jasper was tugging on the bars of her cell. She snarled, spewing saliva from her jagged teeth. Finally, the bar snapped free from its housing. She managed to squeeze her way out of the cell, but not before looking back at the music box.
Hesitating only the slightest, she scooped it up gently into her hand and walked out of the cell, making her way through the canyon.
O
Steven and Connie made their way through the Beta Kindergarten.
"...I don't know..." Steven was saying, "Maybe Jasper's just set in her ways. I'm starting to think she's only going to see my mom and not me."
Connie nodded her head. "But we should think about how she looks."
Steven stared at her, confused. "Huh?"
"You saw her, right? She...almost looks like her corruption is healing itself. I mean, can that happen with corrupted Gems?"
Steven thought about that. "No. Not that I've seen. It's really strange." He gave a sigh. "Maybe we should tell Garnet. She always knows what to do."
"I...don't think they're going to like that you took Jasper's Gem." Connie pointed out.
"Yeah..." Steven agreed. "But I had to try something. We weren't getting anywhere. And Jasper's the only one who - "
He stopped, gave a terrified cry. Connie looked up and her eyes widened in horror.
They were standing next to the cell that once held the corrupted Gem. For the longest time, neither one of them could speak.
"Well, this complicates things." Connie finally said.
Meanwhile, Jasper was scaling across a bridge. She spotted a dam nearby which she used to soak her great mane. The icy cold water felt better than anything she'd experienced the passed few days. She heard the sound of an approaching car and lifted her head. A snarl ripped from her throat as the man behind the wheel screamed at the sight of her.
She clutched the music box tightly in one hand while she gave a bellowing roar at the man. He quickly put the car in reverse and drove backwards, still screaming.
How annoying.
Jasper shook the water from her body like a dog, sending splashes of it everywhere. Finally, she looked up at the sight of Beach City nearby. As far as she knew, the Rebel Soldiers were there. Her memory was still fragmented from her corruption, but she would never forget the place where it all started.
Where it led up to this.
She attempted to formulate words, but her disfigured jaw and mismatched face only wrought forth horrible snarls and hisses.
