It All Comes Down
Once again Jasper had invaded his personal space. Shadow could remember a warmth envelop him in the night. It was nice, he felt a feeling of security that he hadn't felt in a long time. At this point Shadow shouldn't have been surprised this wasn't the first time. Shadow was still infuriated but had no will to wake her. Her body curled into his surprisingly well despite their very different figures. Jaspers mouth brushed against the back of his neck, it sent a shiver down it spine but it was nice. The gem stirred in her sleep and pulled him closer. "Jasper please let go." Shadow whispered, his throat was dry from last night. The picture frame he cuddled to his chest explained why his eyes felt heavy. The last time he looked at it was two years ago. That still didn't explain Jasper cuddling up to him.
Why was she doing this to him? The arguments, her ego, the way she treated him when she wasn't in control. It was a tiring routine to follow but… Shadow didn't want her to go. The revelation scared him like nothing else. Jasper wanted to kill him on her bad days and even on a good one they would come close to fighting. Despite this he didn't want the gem to go, If she were to leave he would just be alone again. No one to look forward to talking to after work, no one to argue to about eating all the food. Shadow would just sunk further into the black waters he was trying so hard to get out of.
Shadow didn't know what came over him and he turned around slowly, careful to not wake up the gem. It was a purple bit weird to have someone taller than you holding you like a teddy bear. Jaspers relaxed features made him a happy. How such a high strung being could sleep so peacefully despite all that rage held up was beyond him. His right hand moved up to touch her face, he was hesitant at first. Shadow graced her cheeks with the back of his hand softly like he was handling a porcelain doll. His hand slowly started to cup her cheek till he could hold it in his hand. It was a picture perfect moment.
"Why are you here Jasper?" Shadow whispered running his thumb back and forth. Shadow finally got a hold of himself and got out of bed quickly. The gem didn't wake up from the noise and settled to cuddle with the pillow. He looked at his hand then at her. How her skin was so soft was beyond him.
Shadow stood under the shower head for ten minutes letting the hot water purify his thoughts for good reason. He let it run over his head helping him to relax and calm his mind. An image of Jasper holding him troubled his thoughts. Had to have ulterior motives that was the only explanation for her constant harassment. Shadow turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist. He opened the door to see Jasper awake and staring at him with those damn eyes. Shadow couldn't help himself from staring at her perfect body. The way her shirt hung low allowing him to see her breasts perfectly. The way she spread her long legs out in those short shorts. Any man in his right mind would be drooling out his mouth if they were in his towel. Shadow had a temptation he hadn't felt In a long time that shamed him to his core.
"You can leave now." Shadow turned to avoided her gaze like a plague.
Jasper was hurt by his words. "Dod I do something wrong?" Jasper stood to her feet to touch his arm but he stepped out of reach.
Shadows face flushed. "Stop thinking that you did something wrong Jasper I-" he stopped yelling to take a deep breath. "You haven't done anything."
"Then stop avoiding me." Jasper muttered. This wasn't like her. Normally something like this wouldn't have bugged her. If anything she would have screamed in anger. This time she was going to try.
Shadow got tired of standing around in a towel, he could not take his eyes off her body. Shadow needed to do something or she wouldn't leave. "Your right Jasper. Let's go do something."
Now the gem was excited and stars filled her eyes. "ADVENTURE TIME?!" Jasper roared grabbing him the shoulders.
The man chuckled at her cuteness, he swore it was infectious. "Yes we're going out tonight jeez calm down." Shadow gripped his towel around his waste harder.
"Let's go to the ice cream store. Ooh no the storage where people wrangle up animals and sell them!" Jasper exclaimed.
Shadow raised his eyebrow and grinned. "You mean Petsmart?"
"That's what I said."
Now he was actually laughing. An actual laugh that he hadn't done in a long time. It sounded nice to Jasper. Jasper finally left the room allowing him to get ready. Since they were going out Jasper wanted to look good for the occasion. Something she read on the internet about wearing fashionably desirable clothes made a beautiful woman irresistible, and Jasper knew among her people she was a goddess
After a couple minutes of searching the internet she found an outfit Shadow would like. She manifested into a new pair of clothes. Her muscular body was covered by a crimson red and black checkered shirt. Shadow came out of the room as she was putting her hair up in a ponytail. The man was dressed in a red button up shirt and wore a black tie.
"Wow you look..." He gave her two thumbs up and a goofy grin. "Cool."
Jasper looked at her hands then returned the gesture awkwardly. Jasper didn't know what the word meant but she assumed it was something good.
At the time they left it was late. Everything was beginning to close down like the stores and restaurants so it confused Jasper. If everything was closing then how could their be adventure time? "Where are we going?" She asked. Another store to the left side of them closed. Maybe they were just out on a stroll.
Shadow looked up from his phone. "Be patient my young gem we're almost there." Jasper tried to swing at him but he danced out of reach laughing as he did. After ten more minutes of walking they finally reached their destination.
The building invited them in with flashing lights and a red carpet. "Regal theater?" Jasper worded out looking at the bold sign atop the roof of the bright structure. It was the first time she saw a theatre.
Shadow noticed how the parking lot looked practically empty except for a multitude of motorcycles in the parking lot. They walked down the center of the entrance towards the ticket booth where a blond haired girl sat popping her gum and playing on her phone.
"Good Evening miss. Could I get two tickets for face grabbers from the deep please?" Shadow pulled out fourteen dollars to present to the woman but she wasn't paying attention. "Uhhh excuse me?" He tried again, even knocking on the glass. She looked up at him with a blank expression. Her hand reached under the table top and she put up a sign. "ON BREAK" it read. Shadow was about to blow a fuse. Jasper beat him to it though.
Using her knife like nails she used it to draw a jagged circle on the glass of the booth. The sound was horrible but it finally got the attention who popped her gum in her face. Jasper finished and simply tapped on the glass popping it in. The girl leaned forward and looked up at the tall orange gem with fear written in her face.
"Two tickets please." Jasper gave her a toothy smile. The girl all but passed out at the sight of her fangs. That had to have been the fastest service Shadow had ever seen. So fast they didn't even have to pay. Before the girl could say anything he pulled the warrior along so the girl could stop cowering inside her booth.
Shadow opened the door for her and she inclined her head at him. A shocking gesture considering how he was still teaching her manners. Maybe giving her the internet wasn't so bad. The lobby was pretty much empty except for a nerdy kid behind the concession stand cleaning up a huge mess. It looked as if a F6 tornado had ran through this place. Shadow didn't even notice the knocked over arcade games. His eyes grew bigger than his already huge birth control glasses he wore on his pimpled ridden face. The kid looked like he had been roughed up by somebody. His uniform was ripped and stained with nacho cheese. Shadow asked if he was alright but the kid only shook his head nervously. When he crossed eyes with Jasper his fear free. Couldn't really blame him her height and odd appearance gave anyone who crossed her a fright.
"Do you know what you want Jasper? Ask for whatever you want." Shadow asked pulling out his wallet.
The gems eyes glowed at the chance to pick what she wanted. Finally the gem was in charge! She rested her elbows on the stand and began to scan over the menu display. After two minutes the glow went away and a darkness fell over her face. "There's too many options…"
Shadow chuckled at the poor gems hard choice. It must of sucked being a being older than most of the things on earth and still looking like a indecisive toddler. Shadow ended up just ordering a drink and popcorn that Jasper happily dug into. He didn't like popcorn himself so when she was having a one-gem eating contest he didn't mind.
They entered into the room where the movie was playing. It was relatively empty except for a squad chasing each other around the theatre tossing popcorn at each other and cursing aloud. Something about them set off an alarm in his head. had a gang name on their backs that made him sweat.
"Fuck!" He muttered under his breath. They just walked into a theatre with a motorcycle gang. He should have known better If they hadn't noticed them yet maybe the gang wouldn't notice them. They sat in the back center as to not cause any attention. Jasper being so tall it it was only a matter of time before they would notice her but until then he hoped they wouldn't notice them. Jasper must of not of noticed anything out of place. The gem was oblivious to what these people were. The sight of the concession stand told him that these weren't the type of people who got along with other people.
"Pass the soda please." Jasper said between bites of popcorn. Her goofy face put him back in a good mood. The movie began to play after a couple of minutes, still the gang stayed rowdy and obnoxious. Shadow chose to ignore them but his burly companion was growing more aggravated by the constant disturbances. Her fists clenched and unclenched every time something was thrown at the screen. Everyone would burst into laughter when an employee would come in to sweep and they harassed them. Shadow was getting pissed himself. Who were these people to bully others? Its people like them that took away his Erica. People who think they everyone should bow down to them in fear. Now that he thought about it Jasper wasn't so different so long ago. The stories about her coming to earth and fighting the rebellious crystal gems confused him as well. If it wasn't for them the earth could have been invaded by more people like her, or worse. Shadow doubted that Jasper was the worst gem out there in the universe.
Jaspers eyes began to glow in the dark of the theatre. "Those humans are so loud Shadow."
Shadow nodded his head in agreement. "Just ignore them we didn't get free tickets to watch this movie for nothing."
Jasper just gritted her teeth, as much as she wanted to say something she didn't want to be the one to ruin anything. That was until a cup came flying out of the air at them. Jasper was deep in thought about the situation and didn't notice anything till Shadow stood up in front of her. He spread his arms out and took the soda to the face. His clothes were drenched in coca cola but at least Jasper wasn't soaked. The gang roared in laughter blocking out the sounds of Jasper cursing in anger. "Jasper calm down it's okay!" He held her back making sure the gem didn't take action against them, no one needed to die tonight. That's what he wanted to believe at least.
"Thats right boy you better hold your bitch back." A raspy voice said from behind them, a spiky haired man stepped from five of them who wanted to see some action. His eyes darted up and down Jaspers body like some cock eyed bird. A devilish grin spread across his scar ridden face. The leader parted his mouth and licked his lips. "Actually why don't we just take your lady and show her what a real man can do." The rest of the hooted, hollers and whooped at the words. The leader grabbed at his groin and grunted in pleasure. "It's been awhile since I've seen a woman scream, maybe we ought to change that."
Shadow didn't know what happen he just saw red. Shadow sprinted so fast he never saw him coming. He jumped into the air ramming his straight into the mams face. The leader was thrown off his feet and crashed to the floor, his muffled screams of agony broke through the shock of his gang at what happened., Shadow didn't stop and dropped on top of the mans chest smashing his fists into his already destroyed mouth, broken teeth dug into his fist with every strike. It sounded like Shadow was hitting a smashed pumpkin after the fifth strike. Jasper tried to pull Shadow to his feet but his rage blocked out all reasoning. He threw his elbow straight out catching one man in the throat then catching the other gang member in the chest with a back kick. Their was a sound like something snapping then choking, the gang member gripped his throat with a wide eyed stare. Shadow was so lost in his rage he couldn't hear anything. None of these men would touch Jasper, he would die before anyone laid their hands on her. Shadow spun around and faltered backwards when a fist hit him in the face then in the gut. He keeled over from the strike that took the air out of his lungs but couldn't retreat far before more blows rained down on him. He tried to fight back but the darkness of the theatre made it difficult to see where the strikes were coming from. His rage still fueled him and he quickly regained himself. Shadow rolled out of the way of another strike and came up with an uppercut that sent the man into the chairs. Shadow picked up a chair whipping it around to fight back the wave of men. Jasper tried make her way to the center without hurting anyone. Shadow tried to teach her to only take lives she it absolutely nattered, the was that time. All his words disappeared when their was a loud bang that made everyone freeze.
"...What the..." Shadow dropped the chair and fell to his knees. His head dropped and he put a hand to his stomach. When he pulled his hand back it was soaked in blood. Shadows vision began to go blurry and his head went light. Orange arms wrapped around him to catch him when he started to collapse.
Jasper screamed something inaudible, her eyes were wide like saucers and welling up with tears. "Shhh." Shadow hushed her, his hand moved up to touch her face. Everything was going black, he could feel himself slipping. He took the minute to memorize everything about her face. The markings, her gem, those sad looking eyes. Why such a beautiful being was crying over him made him feel like scum. Shadow tried to cling on but the darkness pulled him into a blanket that he couldn't fight out of. Started started to descend into darkness.
"Shadow… shadow?" The gem shook her friends body, his eyes wouldn't open no matter how much she called out to him. The gang circled the gem laughing at the scene in front of them. One of them stepped forward with a gun in his hand smiling and placed it against her forehead. The man squeezed the trigger and their was a loud ping as the bullet ricershaded. Jaspers crash helmet blocked the round. The humans around her stepped back in shock, the gem settled Shadow on the floor and stood to her feet summoning to summon her combat wear. The fear in the eyes of the humans fueled her hatred and a evil grin appeared on her face. These men took the one good thing in her life, now she was going to take theirs.
