New spoilers for this one! This time, the spoiler alert is for the most recent Stevenbomb, also known as the Wanted Arc. I know it's been a while since it aired, but I don't want to risk spoiling it for someone who hasn't seen it yet.

For the first time in a long time, the Beta Kindergarten was calm.

It was as if the constant tenseness that always hung so thickly in the air had disappeared all at once.

Several yards deep into the canyon wall, two-and-a-half Gems were engaging in a group hug, holding each other firmly in the darkness, not wanting to let go.

"Thank you." the half-Corrupted Quartz soldier whispered. For once, she actually meant it. It wasn't dripping with sarcasm or hostility as it normally would. She was being sincere, and she realized that that actually felt… good.

Steven said nothing in response, only hugging the huge Gem tighter and pushing his face against her chest. Amethyst had her arms wrapped around Jasper's left one and pulled it close. She had felt bad, even a bit guilty, about the horrible fate that the Quartz had met that day. She couldn't suppress the tears of happiness forming in her eyes as she stood there. Silence reigned over the three Quartzes for about twenty seconds before Jasper finally released her grasp on Steven.

Not expecting it, Steven let out a startled cry and fell onto his back on the glass floor of the tunnel. Taking her action as a hint, Amethyst let go of Jasper and stepped away, looking at the ground as her face burned a deep purple hue. Jasper didn't seem to notice or care as she let out a sigh, shifting her position and leaning against the wall of the tunnel, crossing her teal spotted arms and staring blankly at nothing in particular. Steven and Amethyst exchanged concerned glances as Jasper sat there in silence, not looking at either of them. She had a solemn, distant look in her golden eye, but at least she wasn't shouting at or attacking them anymore.

She lowered her arms just enough to look at the Yellow Diamond insignia on her chest. She stared at it for a long time, reaching up with a clawed finger and running it across the icon's length.

Jasper winced when she felt something touching her shoulder and looked down to see Steven staring up at her, a sympathetic look in his dark eyes, forcing a smile up at her. She said nothing and turned away, sighing, much to the boy's dismay.

"Are you okay, Jasper?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, why the long face?" Amethyst added as she leaned against the opposite wall, forcing a sly smirk at her.

Jasper didn't respond for a long time, but, exhaling sharply, she finally spoke up, "Don't worry about it. You got what you wanted, so you can leave me alone now." Her tone was soft and completely emotionless, but Steven saw right through her. Something was wrong with her, even now that her Corruption was healed, something that he hoped would be permanent, she still seemed so… sad, an expression that felt strange and unfamiliar on the Quartz soldier.

"But… that's not true!" Steven retorted. "You wanted this too, you told me."

"Yeah, so what?" Jasper said bluntly. "It's done and over now. You can go home, back to your… base,or whatever."

Steven looked over at Amethyst, who just shrugged, then looked back up at the bigger Gem. "Jasper, don't you have anywhere else to go?"

Jasper scoffed. "What do youthink? It's not like I can just get up and walk back to Homeworld, y'know."

"Homeworld?" Amethyst cut in. "Heh, good luck getting back to Homeworld like this."

"Amethyst!" Steven exclaimed. His expression read a mixture of annoyance and surprise.

"No, she's right." Jasper said listlessly. "I can't go back. Even if I had some means of returning to Homeworld, they'd never take me. Not… not like this."

Steven shot an accusatory glare at Amethyst, who gave him a weird look and shrugged sheepishly without a word. Jasper let out a sound that resembled a low snarl, and continued, still not looking at either of them, "I don't have a home here. This Kindergarten, this hole is the closest thing I have." Steven opened his mouth to say something, but Jasper cut him off again, "I'm okay with it. I've never needed anything more." She smirked and chuckled bitterly under her breath.

"But it doesn't have to be, Jasper. Maybe… maybe you could join the Crystal Gems and…?" Steven suggested.

"Never! I'm enough of an embarrassment to Homeworld as it is…"

"Oh, come on, Jasper, just give it a chance! I'm sure you'll…"

Jasper snarled softly under her breath, frustration building up within her as she cut him off again, "Look, Ro… Steven. I don't want your help. I don't need your help anymore!" She turned to face him, a startlingly angry look in her narrowed eye. Steven glanced nervously towards Amethyst as she silently summoned her whip, holding it coiled in her hand just to be safe. "I have failed my mission, I failed my Diamond… I've failed everyone! There's nothing left for me to do! Don't you understand?! At least you have the luxury of having a home to go back to, I have nothing to speak of. I can never go back to Homeworld again… if I did, they'd have me shattered on sight."

Jasper looked at her arm, still covered in splotches and spikes. She caressed it with her opposite hand, a disgusted look etched onto her face, and turned away, closing her eye as she chuckled bitterly, sounding almost manic. "Look at me… I thought I was a brute before, but now… heh, now I—I look like a monster." She grimaced as she ran her forefinger and thumb along the length of the spike where her right eye used to be. "I am a monster…"

Steven paused for a moment, wondering what to say that wouldn't anger her even further. "That—That's not true, Jasper. Just because you think it's over doesn't mean it is! We could help you. The Crystal Gems can help you, if you'd just give us a cha…"

"No." Jasper said tersely. "It's over for me, it has been since the very beginning, ever since… she shattered Pink Diamond. I was made for her, but without her, without the one I was created for, the one I owe my very life to… I'm nothing. I don't even have Yellow Diamond anymore… or that Peridot, or Lapis… or anyone! Don't you understand?! I have nothing… I am nothing, and that's all I'll ever be!" Steven took a couple of cautious steps back as Jasper slammed her fists hard to the glassy floor. Both he and Amethyst cried out as the glass shattered beneath her weight, sending the glittering shards flying in every direction. Steven crouched down and shielded himself with his shield, while Amethyst used her whip to deflect many of the shards flying in her direction.

Once the ricocheting shards had settled, Steven and Amethyst took the time to recover from the shock. Jasper was on her hands and knees again, facing the floor. Dissipating his shield, Steven stepped forward and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away from his touch. Amethyst grimaced at the shards of glass scattered across the floor, cautiously avoiding them as she approached Jasper as well. Steven looked over at her for a second, and then spoke.

"But… you have us now, Jasper. You don't needHomeworld anymore, you can just start a new life here with us! On Earth!"

"You don't understand." Jasper growled. "Joining the Crystal Gems, fighting for the cause of Rose Quartz, my Diamond's killer… it—it goes against everything I believe in, everything I've fought for everything I was made for!" Jasper trailed off, chuckling under her breath again, putting Steven a little on edge. "Heh-heh… wh-what would she even think of me now?" Steven looked over at Amethyst who shrugged again, then turned to Jasper as she shifted onto her knees.

"You mean… Yellow?"

"I mean Pink. What would she think of me now? Half Corrupted, stranded on Earth, sitting here in my old exit hole trying to negotiate with an overcooked Amethyst and the spawn of the Gem who took her life. She used to think I was the best of the best, that I was the only good thing to come out of this—this mess…" Amethyst's eyes widened at those words, but it went unnoticed. "…how would she look at me now I wonder?" Jasper's manic smirk disappeared. "With disappointment, with hatred, with… disgust." She lowered her voice as she added, "If it was anyone else, then I know I would…"

"Look, Jasper, I—I don't know what Pink Diamond would think of you now. But she… probably would've turned her back on you. Just like all the others." Steven yelped as Jasper grabbed him by his arm and jerked him up to eye level, a look of rage burning in her eye.

"Don't you dare pretend to know Pink Diamond! You'll never know her like I did! Got it!?"

"Ah! Okay, okay, I got it!" Steven pleaded. "B-But what I mean is we won't give up on you, and we won't turn on you just because you're different now! But Homeworld… they will, we both know this! And that isn't what you want, you don't want to be surrounded by Gems who will shatter you on sight over this… r-right?!"

Jasper looked at the floor, still strewn with glass shards, an unreadable look in her eye. She still hadn't put Steven down and he could only squirm helplessly in her grasp. He looked over at Amethyst in a silent plea for help, but she seemed to find the occurrence mildly amusing.

"Uh, Jasper? Could you… put me down?"

Without hesitation, she did as he asked. Literally. She unfurled her fingers and sent Steven falling unceremoniously to the floor. Amethyst snickered softly until he jumped up, crying out in pain and grabbing his bandaged arm, caressing it gently in an attempt to make the pain subside after he landed on it. She tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the slightly blood-stained bandage wrapped around his forearm.

"What happened to you?" Amethyst asked.

"D-Don't you remember? I was attacked… by that Carnelian?"

Jasper's eye went wide at that and she silently mouthed the name of the Corrupted Quartz he was talking about.

"A Carnelian?" Jasper inquired.

"Yeah, she attacked me. We had to poof her because she was really,really… uh…"

"Loco?" Amethyst suggested, making the "crazy" gesture beside her head with one finger.

Jasper scoffed dismissively and shrugged it off. Steven looked at her in confusion for a second, then decided to shrug it off as well.

"So, about my… offer." Steven began.

"Don't say it."

"Come on, Jasper!" Steven said, almost whining. "Why can't you just give us a chance?"

"Why should I?!" Jasper snapped.

"Because we gave you a chance!"

Jasper's eye went wide and she didn't say anything for a while. She shifted back against the wall and closed her eye, crossing her arms again.

"I can't. It… it's against everything I stand for! Everything I've ever livedfor! Joining Rose Quartz's band of rebels is a disgrace to Gems everywhere."

Steven's hopeful expression fell as he looked up at her. He didn't even bother challenging her statement about the Crystal Gems, he knew that nothing anyone said would ever be able to change her mind. Not to mention it was a foolish decision to try and convert her so soon; she let him heal her, but that didn't mean she was ready to give up everything she's believed in to join his side. They should've at least been thankful that Jasper was being passive towards them and not trying to emotionally break them down every time she opened her mouth.

Steven glanced over at Amethyst for a second. The small Quartz didn't seem to notice, only staring solemnly up at Jasper. The Gem in question continued to sit there against the wall, arms crossed and eye closed, looking as if she were asleep. Steven exchanged glances between both of them and stepped over to Amethyst, flinching when he nearly stepped on a precariously situated shard of glass. He paused and shakily stepped over it, shooting a nervous smile at it as he passed by.

Amethyst blinked and looked over at Steven as he cautiously made his way towards her.

"So," she began. "what now?"

Steven didn't look at her, a disappointed look in his eyes. "I—I don't know, Amethyst. I wanna help her more, but she won't let me." He lowered his voice, just loud enough for Amethyst to hear, but too quiet for Jasper to. "She—She feels like she doesn't deserve my help, or anyone's. This is what made her Corrupted in the first place." Amethyst rolled her eyes and scoffed at his words.

"Duh. I was there, y'know, I heard the whole spiel between you two."

"Oh, right. But I don't know what to do now. I don't want to leave her here, but she doesn't want to be part of the Crystal Gems either. What if… wh-what if she hurts someone while we're gone? Or… what if she just Corrupts again and we don't know it?" Tears beginning to form in the corners of Steven's eyes and put a trembling fist against his bandaged chest. "I-I'm worried about her, Amethyst. Really…"

"Don't be, man! Jasper's a big, bad Quartz soldier! You don't needto worry about her!"

Steven glanced over his shoulder towards Jasper, then turned back to Amethyst. He didn't look very convinced, so she unfolded her arms and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder, a rare gesture of kindness to come from the normally reckless, playful lavender Gem.

"We'll figure this out, dude. We always do."

He hesitated for a couple of seconds, then looked up at Amethyst with a smile. "Yeah, because the Crystal Gems never give up on anything. Right?"

She looked a bit confused at first, then reflected his smile back at him. "Right!"

Steven turned and looked up at Jasper. She looked asleep and, for a second, he wondered if she was. He cautiously stepped towards her and reached up with a hand, resting it on her arm.

"J-Jasper?" She jerked away with an irritable grunt. "Jasper… could we, maybe, convince you to… come to the Crystal Temple?"

Jasper was silent for ten seconds more, and Steven opened his mouth to clarify, but Jasper cut him off with a terse, "Why?"

"Wh… oh. What if… what if you got attacked again? You can't summon your weapon anymore! You can hardly stand! You'd be defenseless! What if you retreated into your gem or worse: had your gem cracked again? Or shattered? Please, Jasper, I can't let that happen to you! I—I just… I can't!" His voice broke slightly on the last word.

Jasper let out a snort of laughter and smirked. "Oh, really? Who would miss me if I shattered out here?"

"I would!" Steven pleaded, looking up at her with glimmering, tearful puppy-dog eyes.

Jasper scoffed and glanced down at him out the corner of her eye. "You think you care about me, runt, but you don't. I know you don't, because no-onewould care about a brute like me."

"You're nota brute, Jasper."

"Well…" Amethyst chimed in softly, but quickly fell silent when Steven shot her an uncharacteristically venomous glare.

"You're just… misunderstood." Steven said as he faced Jasper again. "But we can help you. Come on, just let us…"

He reached out a hand, offering it to her, but with a snarl she batted it away. "I said no! You've done all you can for me! There's nothing else that can be done."

Steven's face fell as she hung her head, her tone becoming deeply solemn, "You may've fixed my Corruption, Steven…but you can't fix me! So, just—just leave me here, forget about me."

"But Jasper…"

"I said…" She grabbed him by his unbandaged arm and, before he had a chance to struggle or writhe in her grasp, she violently threw him forward, punctuating it with an enraged, "LEAVE!"

"Steven!" Amethyst cried out instinctively. She glanced down at her whip and, in an instant, lashed it forward. The end of it tied itself around Steven's bandaged torso and she jerked it back a split second before he would've tumbled from the hole and onto the ground. He skidded to the floor of the tunnel with a pained moan and Amethyst quickly dissipated her whip, rushing to his side, a concerned look in her eyes as she looked down at him. "Steven? Jasper, what the heck was that for?!"

"I told you to leave." Jasper said calmly, but coldly. "And my words still stand… unless you want me to make you leave." She raised a clenched fist, but there was a strange look in her eye as she stared at it.

Amethyst opened her mouth to retort, but Steven staggered upright and cut her off.

"Okay, Jasper, we will leave." he said coolly. "But we're—" He glanced over at Amethyst as she gave him an unamused look out the corner of her eye. "I'm coming back." Jasper remained silent, so Steven softly added, "Whether you want me to or not."


The Warp Pad rang out as Steven and Amethyst returned to the Crystal Temple. Amethyst had a hand on her hip, her head tilted to the side with a look of agitation in her eyes. She knew what was coming. She looked up for a second as Pearl strode towards them from the couch, an angry look etched on her face, and Amethyst crossed her arms with an annoyed sigh, while Steven glanced at her, unsure of what was wrong.

"Thereyou two are!" Pearl shouted.

Amethyst rolled her eyes and muttered, "Here we go." It went unheard by the skinny Gem.

"We've been looking all over for you two! Where on Earth were you?!" Pearl asked. She stood in front of the Warp Pad and crossed her arms, staring sternly at the two of them.

"We were… w-we were, um…" Steven stuttered, trying to think of a justifiable lie, so Amethyst spoke in his place.

"We were at the Beta Kindergarten last night! So what?!"

"'So wha—'…?" Pearl scoffed in disgust at the young Gem. "Steven is still hurt and you dragged him out to Beta anyway?!"

"I didn't–"

"No! Don't blame her, Pearl! It was me, I went to Beta and Amethyst followed me!" Steven interrupted.

"Wha…?" Pearl went to say something, before face-palming with a sigh. "Oh, Steven… your injuries aren't even scarred over yet! Do you have any idea what could've happened?"

"Yes! I knew the risks, Pearl, I've already told you this!" Steven retorted, becoming increasingly frustrated himself. "But—But it actually worked this time! Jasper's…"

"Oh… this again." Pearl muttered in annoyance under her breath. "Steven, now's not the time to…"

"He's telling you the truth, Pearl."

She let out a gasp as Garnet approached her from behind. None of them had even heard her come in.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Pearl asked her, glancing at the Fusion over her shoulder.

"I saw Steven and Amethyst going to the Beta Kindergarten last night." she deadpanned.

"You… b-but… but why didn't you stop them?!"

"Because I saw Steven helping her. I saw him healing her."

Pearl went tense at those words. "But—But Rose couldn't heal Corrupted Gems. She tried, over and over again, but they always went back to being monsters! There's…"

"They're not monsters, Pearl." Steven chimed in. "They're just… Gems that need our help."

Pearl opened and closed her mouth, then let out a sigh. "Okay, so you healed her… and you just left her out there? Unsupervised?!"

"Actually, that's something I wanted to talk to you guys about."

Pearl opened her mouth, but Garnet cut her off. "And what is that, Steven?"

He looked over at Amethyst who only returned his look. Then, she sighed and spoke up, "Well, here on Earth, Jasper doesn't have anywhere else to go. She's just staying in her old exit hole back in that Kindergarten… it's kind of pitiful to look at actually." Once she finished, she made a gesture at Steven for him to continue on with their story. He gave her a look of mild annoyance and remained silent momentarily to see what Pearl or Garnet had to say. When they were both silent, he continued without argument.

"We were thinking, maybe she could… stay… here?"

"Absolutely not!" Pearl shouted without a missing a beat. "There's no way we're letting that—that monster stay in our Temple! She'd probably shatter all of us as soon as our backs were turned!"

She went to continue, but Garnet shushed her, putting a finger to Pearl's thin lips, catching her off-guard. Garnet stared in silence at Pearl for a second or two, then turned to face Amethyst and Steven.

"Steven."

Steven winced slightly. Garnet sounded a bit stern. He never liked it when she was a bit stern. "Yeah, Garnet?"

The Fusion was silent for a few tense seconds, then said, "At the very least, we can give her a place to stay until she can find somewhere else to go."

"What?!" Pearl cried out.

"We know that the Barn is out of the question, and it isn't safe to leave her out on the loose like this." Garnet explained, as calm as ever.

"But what if… I—I mean, it isn't safe to let her stay here either!" Pearl argued. "What if she tries something?! A-And with that Warp Pad, she could get anywhere in the world in seconds!"

"She can't activate the Warp Pad because she's still partially Corrupted, and she's considerably weaker than she used to be. It will take some time for her to regain her strength again. She won't be trying anything anytime soon."

"But…"

"That's final, Pearl… as long as Jasper chooses to cooperate." Garnet turned to face Pearl, staring the pale Gem down through her visor. "Just remember. Jasper is not our enemy now, she is a Gem that needs our help. Nothing more, nothing less. At the time, she's weakened, not only from the amount of time she was bubbled, but because of her partial Corruption as well. Because of this, she won't be able to hurt anyone. Understood?"

Pearl opened her mouth to respond, but chose to nod a couple of times instead.

"Good." Without another word, Garnet started walking towards the Warp Pad and as she stepped upon it said, "Steven, I want you to come with me." She smiled down at him. "You'll never know if I might need a little extra protection." Grinning eagerly and with stars in his eyes, Steven rushed to join her. Pearl looked on in concern as he prepared to activate the warp-stream.

"Um… Steven?"

"Yeah, Pearl?" he asked.

"…Be careful." Pearl said simply. Amethyst nudged her in slight irritation.

"He will, P, c'mon! He's not a baby anymore, y'know!"

Steven said something, but neither of them caught it. Steven crossed his arms over one another and outstretched them in the air, grinning widely up at the Fusion.

In a blue flash of light, they both disappeared. At the same time, Pearl covered her mouth and turned away, stifling quiet sobs. Amethyst looked up at her in surprise and took an uncomfortable step back.

"Well, at least Steven isn't." she remarked. She crossed her arms and forced herself to keep her composure. She glanced briefly up at Pearl and back-and-forth between her and the Warp Pad. Once she was sure that they were alone, her irritated expression morphed into a concerned, slightly sympathetic one and she stepped towards her, resting a comforting lavender hand on the Gem's back, too short to reach her shoulder.

Pearl turned in surprise at her touch, her face streaked with tears. Amethyst wasn't sure what to say, so she forced a comforting smile up at her friend instead.

Meanwhile, Garnet and Steven glided through the glowing blue warp-stream as it twisted and turned throughout the vastness of Warp Space on its way to the destination its occupants had chosen for it. At first, both of them said nothing and merely waited until they reached their destination, but the perpetual silence became awkward… fast.

Garnet was used to being silent and mysterious, but Steven, on the other hand, was not. A question in his mind begged to be asked and, when he wasn't forcing a nervous stare at nothing in particular, he shot unsure glances up at the much taller Fusion Gem, as if wondering whether breaking their silence was an acceptable move or not. For a moment, he reached forward and put his finger through the wall of the stream, flinching at the intense cold beyond it.

Recoiling his hand, Steven looked up at Garnet again; she was still quiet and as still as a statue, hardly acknowledging his presence. It would be creepy to someone who wasn't familiar with this behaviour. He let out a soft, defeated sigh that made her glance over and, finally, he chimed in confidently while she was already paying attention.

"Uh… hey, Garnet?"

"Hm? What is it, Steven?"

"I was wondering… do you think Jasper will still be there?" The Fusion cocked her head in slight confusion, so Steven clarified. "I mean, what if she left? She's not Corrupted anymore, so…"

"She couldn't have gotten far, Steven." Garnet reassured him. "Her Corruption has taken a toll on her. Not just on her mental state, but on her physical state as well."

"Oh, so… that's why she can't walk anymore?"

"It will take time, but she will be able-bodied again." Garnet corrected. "Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month, but she will. Eventually."

They both fell silent for a few seconds, then Steven spoke up again, "Will we still find her in her hole, though? Can you use your future vision to see if she's still there?"

She didn't immediately respond, tilting her head forward and pushing two fingers against the surface of her visor. The warp-stream disappeared with a blue flash and a distinct ring, giving way to the warm, sandy air and the towering, hole-filled canyon walls of Beta. Steven looked around momentarily, then looked up expectantly at Garnet when she finally turned to look at him.

"She's not there."

"Wh-What?!" Steven exclaimed. "What do you mean she's not there?! She said she'd stay put!" He opened his mouth to continue, but Garnet silenced him, raising an extended index finger to his mouth.

"You asked if she was still in her exit hole." Garnet calmly reminded him. "I didn't say that she was no longer here in the Kindergarten."

"Oh. Then… can't you use your future vision to…?"

"This is your mission, Steven, not mine. And thus, it is your job to figure out what became of her."

"What…?" Steven said, bordering on a whine yet again. "But—But I can't see the future like you can! I don't even know where to begin!"

"Calm down. Just take a moment to think about it, Steven. Where do you think she might be?"

"I—I don't know." Steven admitted in defeat. "I thought she was going to be in her hole, but… you already said that she wasn't." He took the time to scan his surroundings, seeing no sign of the half-Corrupted soldier in the immediate area. He let out a sigh as he added, "She's not here, either." He jumped slightly as Garnet rested a thin red and black hand on his shoulder, prompting him to look up at her with curious dark eyes.

"Think about it, Steven." Garnet echoed. She retained her stoic demeanour as she looked down at him.

Steven looked up at her, a nervous look in his eyes, and opened his mouth to speak, but Garnet covered his mouth with a hand, repeating her three-word mantra. Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, Steven sighed and closed his eyes, curling his fingers into two fists at his sides. He tried to clear his mind and not focus on much of anything except for the orange and red Gem, picturing her disfigured, half-Corrupted form in his mind to the best of his ability and picturing the orange scenery of Beta around her form.

At first, he didn't see much of anything except for the empty blackness behind his eyelids. Then, what appeared to be tiny motes of colour came swimming into his vision. Several of them came together to form a new, but familiar scene. It was still Beta, but it was a different section of it.

It felt as if his eyes were open, but they weren't. Not really. He was seeing through someone else's eyes instead… or eye. He could see nothing but the blackness of sightlessness through his right eye and a dull, throbbing pain constantly pulsed within it. He crawled on all fours like an animal but, before long, he stopped and looked down, balancing himself on both knees as he looked down at the ground. There laid a small pile of gem shards of teal and pink hues. He reached down with a muscular, clawed hand and grabbed one of them between his forefinger and his thumb, lifting it to eye level. His hand was yellowish-orange, covered in ugly splotches of teal and sickly green spikes.

He turned it over in "his" fingers, examining it closely, when something suddenly burst forth from it. The massive form of a teal, canine-esque monster covered in pink rings and splotches materialized from the single shard in a monstrous, ghostly form. Letting out an unearthly roar, it leapt straight at his face, huge claws outstretched before her.

Steven subconsciously let out a startled cry and stumbled backwards; he would've fallen off of the Warp Pad if Garnet hadn't caught him. Her touch made him jump, but it spontaneously snapped the hybrid boy back into reality. He opened his eyes with a gasp, blinking several times and reaching out a hand, waving it in the air in front of him to make sure it was his own, to make sure this was real. He looked up and smiled slightly when he saw Garnet staring down at him, a soft smile playing on her own lips. He tilted his head down again and stared at a random, deformed hole in the sandstone wall. His smile fell away and he pulled away from Garnet's grasp, adopting a more determined, confident facial expression.

"I—I saw it…" Steven said. He vaguely felt like it wasn't himself speaking when he opened his mouth, but he continued regardless, "I know where she is!"


The path they took felt eerily familiar. It felt like the pain from his wounds worsened as Steven recalled encountering that Corrupted Carnelian as they went around the corner of the curving sandstone wall.

Once they got to the opposite end of the wall, stopping in their tracks when they heard something close by, but sounding too quiet and muffled to really distinguish. Steven went to peek around the corner, but hesitated when he heard Garnet summoning her gauntlets as she stepped up beside him. His eyes immediately went wide and he spoke up in a hushed tone of voice.

"No, no! I don't want her to think we're here to fight!"

"My presence alone will be enough to put her on edge." said the Fusion as she stepped back a couple of inches. "That's why I'm going to stay here while you talk to her. I have my gauntlets summoned just in case she tries anything." She interlocked her fingers and stretched them forward, causing them to make an audible crackling sound. He looked up at her for a long time, wondering if it'd be a good idea to summon his shield. Deciding against it, he stepped forward and peeked around the corner of the wall.

Jasper was there, sure enough, and, for once, she hadn't reverted back to being fully Corrupted. He had feared she would've overheard the hushed conversation they'd had, but he soon realized why she hadn't. She was crouched down on the ground, staring at a small object in front of her. A bit of closer inspection revealed it to be an amber Gem bubble; he had previously assumed Corrupted Gems lost all of their unique abilities and powers, including the ability to bubble objects. She rolled it back and forth beneath a clawed hand like a cat playing with a ball of yarn, whispering… something to it, but he couldn't make it out.

He feared trying to move closer would alert the Quartz to his presence… then his gaze fell onto the spike protruding from the right side of her face, replacing the eye on that side.

When he dreamt himself into Jasper's body when she was still Corrupted, she was totally blind but navigated through all of her other senses. He assumed there was something similar going on now.

Dropping down onto his hands and knees, Steven tried to be as quiet as possible as he crawled across the ground on Jasper's right side, not stopping until he reached a sandstone formation not far from her. He nervously peered over the edge and smiled silently when he found that Jasper was none the wiser. She was cradling the bubble between both hands, her chaotic blonde hair mostly blocking his view of it, keeping him from making out its contents.

"… nothing but a sorry excuse for a Gem ever since the day you emerged!" rasped Jasper, directing the harsh words at no-one in particular. "You were Corrupted, you became a monster. because that's what you deserved! Shattering is what you deserved!" Steven let out an audible gasp at those words and hastily ducked down again, covering his mouth when he heard Jasper snarl a surprised, "What?"

Steven sat against the formation, his body tense, covering his mouth with both hands and squeezing his eyes shut as he anxiously awaited the consequences of his action. He heard strange sounds, intermittent shuffling and heavy stomps against the ground, moving closer and closer to him, like Jasper was half walking, half dragging herself towards where she heard the mysterious sound. His gem glowed as he prepared to summon his shield when, suddenly, everything fell silent. He sat there anxiously for a good ten seconds, but heard nothing.

Steven wasn't quite ready to let his guard down as he scrambled onto his knees and grabbed the edge of the rock formation. He peeked over the edge and nearly tumbled backwards when he found himself eye-to-eye with the livid, half-Corrupted soldier staring him down just on the other side. He tried to jump up, but staggered and lost his footing instead, falling clumsily onto his back with a grunt. Before he even had a chance to get up again, Jasper pulled herself up and over the formation. In an instant, she had a clawed hand on his bandaged chest, shifting a lot of weight to it, while she continued to support herself with her knees and opposite hand.

Steven whimpered and writhed weakly beneath Jasper's heavy grasp, but the tiniest of movements only aggravated his injuries further. He felt her claws digging into the layered bandages and pricking his battered flesh beneath it. He suppressed a cry of pain for fear of alerting Garnet and prompting her to attack the Quartz.

"I toldyou to stay away." Jasper snarled at her captive. She dug her claws in a little deeper, ripping a pained whine from Steven's throat as if he were an injured animal. "Why…? Why couldn't you just stay away?! I don't want your help anymore, Ro… Stev… ugh, whatever you are! I don't need your help anymore!" Steven could only look up at her with teary, pleading dark eyes until she loosened her grip a little, giving the pain a chance to partially subside. He was unsure of how she'd react, but he opted to change the subject instead.

"Jasper… that Gem bubble. Wh-Where did it come from…?"

Jasper's eye went wide, then she reached around with her free hand and removed the bubble from where it'd been hiding in her thick, tangled mess of hair. She allowed it to hover inches off of her palm between them. Steven let out a startled gasp while Jasper stared it down with a bitter look. Within the bubble's amber confines were teal and pink gem shards, floating in a vague hexagonal shape. He could still see where the spotted patterns used to connect, as if it were some gruesome jigsaw puzzle.

"You mean this thing? Go ahead, take it. I have no use for it." Jasper said dismissively.

"Th-That's… those are the shards of that Corrupted Gem…" Steven whimpered. "Jasper, wh-why… why did you shatter her?!"

"Nothing of value was lost." Jasper said, retaining her eerily stoic tone. "Just another Gem that lost its mind and turned into a wild, savage animal, mere wildlife compared to the likes of, heh… the Gem I used to -one will miss it. In fact, I probably did your world a favourby purging it of this thing's existence!" Her eye became hard and intense again as she continued, "Now,I asked you a question. Why do you keep coming back here!?"

"But she wasn't a wild animal, Jasper! She used to be a Gem, j-just like y…"

"Answer me, runt!" She tightened her grasp on Steven again, making him cry out painfully.

"Uh… b-be—because… I—I have an offer for you, Jasper." Steven began, struggling to keep his composure. "A—A new one… I—I talked to the Gems, they…"—he remembered what Pearl and Amethyst had said—"th-they want to help… by giving you a place to stay." Her eye widened in genuine surprise, as if she never expected to hear those words. Steven forced a smile up at her through his pain. "…th-think of it as a—a place to call home… until you find s-somewhere… better."

Jasper seemed to breathe a little harder as she crouched over him, a look of disbelief in her eye. Then, she turned away with a bitter scoff, suddenly releasing Steven altogether. He let out a relieved sigh as she did so, the pressure of her weight no longer crushing his chest and aggravating his existing injuries.

"I… I can't. I've already told you, I can't!" Jasper snapped, still not facing him. "She… th-their leader shattered my Diamond. I'll never forgive her for that for as long as I live!"

Steven's eyes went wide. "But they didn't shatter Pink Diamond. They just followed the one who… oh." Steven trailed off and thought over his next words. Then, he remembered something, what Zircon had said about the shattering of Pink Diamond during that trial on Homeworld. Jasper had no idea. "Um… Jasper? Can I… c-can I… tell you something?" Jasper growled irritably and jerked her head up to look him in the eye, unsettling the hybrid boy.

"I'm listening." she said. It wasn't friendly, nor did it sound very willing. She may as well have said "Do I even have a choice?"

"About the shattering of Pink Diamond, did you actually… see it happen?"

"Of course I did, runt! Plentyof Gems witnessed the shattering of Pink Diamond that day!" Jasper shouted in frustration. "Unless, of course, you think you know more about that than I do."

"Well, not really. But there was another Gem on Homeworld that might."

Jasper's intense gaze fell and was replaced with another shocked one. "You… You remember Homeworld?"

"Yeah, of course I do! It was only a few days ago, after all." Steven said matter-of-factly. Jasper didn't seem very impressed. "I was… actually captured by two Gems that were here on Earth looking for human specimens. I was put on trial for the shattering of Pink Diamond and… I learned something new. Something that mightchange everything!" Steven threw his hands theatrically into the air to emphasize the last word. Jasper situated herself into a casual sitting position, but she still looked indifferent.

"Oh, really?" She scoffed. "I'll be the judge of that."

Steven gave her a strange look, but continued regardless. "Well… what if I told you that Rose Quartz didn't shatter Pink Diamond?"

"And what in all the starsmade you think that?!" Jasper said, suddenly becoming angry again. "What unintelligent, half-formed… clod came up with thatconspiracy theory?! I saw Rose shatter her with my own two eyes! Hundreds of Gems saw it! And you're telling me that what we witnessed right in front of us was nothing but a staged act?! A fabricated lie!?"

"B-But listen to me! Please! There was a Zircon there, a—a blue Zircon." Steven began in increasing desperation. "She was defending me in the trial and she pointed out to everyone that Rose Quartz being the shatterer of Pink Diamond doesn't make any sense! Just—Just… think it over, Jasper, and then maybe you'll realize that too!"

"I know what I saw! We all do!"

"But think about it! Rose Quartz was a notorious war criminal by that point in the Great Gem War, and all other Rose Quartzes had been bubbled away! There's no way she would've gotten close enough to Pink Diamond to break her gem, not without facing heavy resistance! She had Sapphires in her court that would've foreseen it, she had her Pearl that could've warned her and would've tried to defend her Diamond from an enemy like Rose!"

Jasper's eye was closed and she hung her head, half-heartedly repeating to herself, "I… know what I saw."

"And what about her Agates? Her Rubies, her Amethysts, the other Jaspers? And what about you, Jasper? How could Rose ever have gotten close enough to shatter Pink Diamond with a Gem as powerful as you on the front-lines? It—It just doesn't make any sense when you really think about it. I… I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, Jasper, b-but…" Steven trailed off, beginning to fathom just how Jasper might react to his words.

"Then what do you say did happen? That Pink wasn't shattered at all?"

"That one of the other Diamonds betrayed her." Steven said those words quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. "I wish you didn't have to hear it from me, Jasper, but… facts are facts. There may be a traitor within the Diamond Authority."

Jasper was silent for a long time. Steven tried to read her facial expression, but it was completely blank. As unsettling as it was, he was a little amazed at how calm and collected she was being. He didn't try to force her to respond or bother her at all. The news, that one of the three remaining members of the Diamond Authority, the three Gems she'd dedicated her life to following the loss of Pink, had to be very hard to swallow. A full minute of silence hung between them before Steven reached a hand towards her, a concerned, almost scared look in his eyes.

"Jasper? A-Are you…?"

He was cut off as the Gem let out a roar. In an instant she'd latched onto him again and whipped around, slamming him against the rock formation, crushing his throat beneath her forearm. Steven writhed and struggled beneath her tight grasp, clawing futilely at her arm as his windpipe was closed almost entirely, the greenish spikes that protruded from her skin digging into and piercing the flesh of his neck, making it burn. He wanted to cry desperately for her to stop, to apologize, to call for help, to do something, but all he could manage were pitiful, strangled whines and gasps.

"Who are you to speak such blasphemy of the Diamond Authority?! WHO!?"Jasper screamed at him. "Zircons are idiots, they rival the likes of Rubies in their lack of intelligence, their uselessness! I saw it with my own eyes, Rose Quartz penetrating the gemstone of my Diamond with her sword's blade! Destroying her forever! And some off-colour Zircon, some traitorous rebel wants to tell me to my face that I-I'm lying?!"

Steven's chest began to burn as his lungs screamed for oxygen, his face turned a deep purplish-blue.

His struggles became weaker and weaker, his vision gradually blurring over. Even her enraged words began to fade into indistinct ringing.

Just when he thought he was going to fade away into blissful unconsciousness, she released her grasp on him just enough to let him suck in a long, much needed gasp of air. Jasper said something more, but it went unheard beneath the sound of his violent coughs and gasps, his whole body still quaking beneath her. He looked up at her and flinched at the look of unadulterated rage and hatred burning within her single eye. However, he noticed something behind the resentment as well, but she hid it too well for him to make it out.

"J–J… J-Jasper, I—I…" Steven choked out, still struggling to catch his breath. He clawed at her arm in a futile attempt to pull it away, the spikes of Corruption piercing his neck. "I—I–I'm s-sorry, Jasper… I—I'm just telling y-you wh–what she told m-me… and everyone else… I didn't m-mean anything b-by it! I—I swear!"

"But you believed her, didn't you?" When Steven didn't immediately respond, she pushed her arm against him a little harder, taking bitter satisfaction at the strangled cry of pain he let out in response. "Didn't you?!"

"N-No!" Steven began as soon as she let him breathe again. "I—I mean, ye… ugh. Th–The Diamonds believed her too! That's why she was sha… poofed!"

"The Diamonds aren't that naïve." Steven noticed that she looked away when she said that and sounded a bit unsure of herself.

"That—That doesn't matter, Jasper! What's said is said!" Steven retorted. He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper as he continued, "And… that Zircon was right. How would Rose Quartz have ever gotten within shatteringdistance of Pink Diamond without everyone fighting her back? It couldn't have been her…" He briefly thought back to that nightmare he'd had, a chill running up his spine as he recalled the stand-off between Pink Diamond, Jasper, Pink's Ruby guards, and the leader of the Crystal Gems. It seemed so vivid, so real… but the more he learned about the truth behind Pink's death, the more he began to doubt the dream's validity. "It had to've been someone she would've trusted, someone she would've let get that close to her."

"I—I…" Jasper choked out under her breath. "…I know what I saw. Ask those Rubies, ask any Era I Gem and they'll tell you the same thing…"

"But that was over five millennia ago, maybe you just don't remember exactly what you saw… ugh." Steven reached up with a hand and tried, but failed to caress at the forming wounds on his neck. "Jasper, could you, um…?" Before he even finished his sentence, she dropped him to the ground, the boy immediately throwing his hands up to the front of his neck, the skin there covered with deep, dark red holes that looked and felt a lot more gruesome than they really were. They didn't even bleed.

"Tell me…" Jasper began before Steven could speak up again. "…why should I believe you? Why should I believe what some traitorous Zircon has to say about it? Neither of you were there on that battlefield, you know nothing!" The hybrid boy flinched as she increasingly rose her voice again; he scrambled to his feet so that he could run or dodge with ease if she decided to lash out at him again.

"I—I know I wasn't…" Steven admitted pitifully. "But… b-but… ugh…" He trailed off, unsure of exactly what to say to that. He really couldn't think of a reason off the top of his head.

Jasper smirked and chuckled softly. "That's what I thought."

They were both silent for a bit longer and Steven thought he heard footsteps approaching them from behind. That's when he remembered something.

"I may not have been there, Jasper, but I know someone who was." said Steven, finally breaking the silence.

"What?"

"The Crystal Gems… well, Garnet and Pearl anyway. They fought on Rose's behalf during the Great Gem War, and… maybe you can ask them what they saw?"

Jasper let out a loud laugh of disbelief, making Steven jump. "Are you kidding me?! There isn't enough time in an eternity for me waste listening to what a defective slave and a dirty war machine have to say about the matter!" She suddenly leaned close to Steven, letting out a barely audible whimper as she did so. "It's over, Steven. We can sit here for eons discussing this but nothing is going to convince me otherwise, not unless you show me actual proof!"

"And the Crystal Gems can give you proof! All you have to do is try! They saw it too, they know what reallyhappened!"

Jasper fell silent for a second, looking away from Steven.

"Forget about what they are, Jasper, just this once! All you have to do is give it a chance!" He offered a hand to her, but she jerked away from it. "We're not going to hurt you, we're not going to trap you or manipulate you, we're just going to try and help you. And if the truth is what you want, then we can help you get that too! Just—Just trust me… trust us! It… it's better than just sticking around here, fending for yourself in this half-Corrupted state… right?"

They were both silent for a long time, at least a minute, and Steven began to wonder if she was going to answer him at all. Then, he grinned widely as she let out an exasperated sigh and hesitantly rested her hand against his, still not looking at him.

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Jasper muttered under her breath, then rose her voice to a tone that Steven could understand, clenching her hand into a fist around Steven's smaller appendage and jerking him forward. "But remember this: I'm not your ally! I'm not your friend! I am not going to fight on your behalf or pledge allegiance to Rose Quartz! And I am not, by any means, a Crystal Gem! I'm coming with you for one reason, and one reason only, and that's to find out the truth regarding what happened to my Diamond. Got it?!"

At first, Steven hardly heard her, staring up at her with stars in his eyes, but he shook it off and nodded quickly, prompting the banded Quartz to release him, sending him falling back against the sandstone formation again.

Not a second passed after that before the rock Steven was leaning against exploded from beneath him and two large red and gold objects flew over him where he laid atop the formation's shattered remains. A look of horror entered Jasper's eye as the gauntlets rocketed straight towards her. Steven summoned his shield, but by then, it was too late. She was hit square in the stomach with both of them, thrown back uncontrollably against the wall of the canyon. She vanished into an explosion of orange smoke as the gauntlets dissipated into thin air, her tiny gem falling lifelessly to the orange ground.

Tears welled up in Steven's eyes and he jumped up, rushing towards her.

"Nooo!" He fell to his knees by her side and cradled the gem in his hands, beginning to tremble again as his tears fell onto her gemstone. "Jasper! Jasper! J–Jasper…?" A hand rested upon his shoulder and he didn't even look up, already recognizing that touch. "G-Garnet… why—why did you…?" He trailed off, hugging Jasper's gem to his chest, trying to remind himself that she'd be back before long; that didn't stop the tears though. What if she didn't remember what they talked about it? What if she became fully Corrupted again?

"That's what she gets for insulting Fusion." Garnet deadpanned, until she noticed how upset Steven was. "Steven, just remember, a Gem's form is only an illusion, she'll regenerate before long. Don't worry about her." Steven sat there for a bit longer, then sniffled as he shakily held the gem out to her, allowing her to scoop it up in her own palm.

"But—But what if she doesn't remember anything? Wh-What if she's… she's…?"

"She'll remember, Steven, and she's not going to Corrupt again. She'll be a little on edge when she regenerates, so don't let your guard down when she does."

He nodded once as she began to walk away, Jasper's gemstone in tow. Before long, she realized that Steven wasn't following and turned to face him. "Are you coming, Steven?"

"Oh, yeah, I–I'll be there… in a sec." Steven responded half-heartedly.

"Don't be long." And with that, she departed towards the Warp Pad, leaving Steven alone there. He briefly turned to face the canyon wall, a spider-web of cracks covering its red-orange surface where Jasper had impacted it. He had to remind himself that Jasper retreated into her gem a lot easier now that she was half-Corrupted, but it still put him on edge. A part of him still wished that Garnet hadn't poofed her so soon, but then again, it wasn't like she'd be able to walk to the Warp Pad and they couldn't carry her.

He turned and began to walk away again, but stopped when he noticed something. It was Jasper's amber bubble, the Corrupted Gem's teal and pink gem shards still floating within. The translucent bubble's amber hue almost camouflaged it against Beta's red and orange scenery.

Steven approached it, a little hesitant. He wished she hadn't been shattered, he wished that he had saved her like he had tried so hard to save Jasper. But he didn't, and now, here she was, nothing but a few mindless shards encased in a bubble. As he ran his fingers across the bubble's smooth surface, tears forming in his eyes again, he considered popping it and trying to reverse his mistake, but he reluctantly decided against it. He could heal a cracked gem, he presumably cracked the code to healing Corruptions, but that wasn't the case with a shattered Gem. While they weren't quite dead dead, it was the closest thing they got.

Once they were in pieces, they couldn't go back. Who they once were was gone. Forever.

Steven wiped away the tears and let out a heavy, forlorn sigh. Lifting a hand, he gingerly tapped the top of the bubble and sent it away.

And that's chapter seven! And I finally got around to revising this ol' thing, thank the stars. Next revision will be of the insanely long chapter eight, and then I'll officially get back to work on the long awaited chapter nine! Whoo!

In canon, I don't know if Corrupted Gems can bubble or not, but if gem shards can (Gem Drill), then I'm assuming Corruptions can too. You cannot convince me otherwise! And about that strange scene in which Steven telepathically managed to locate Jasper, I originally wanted to change that scene to something else, but then I decided that perhaps it's just another power he has that he's just recently discovered exists. Any Gems that Steven has a close relationship with, or any Gem that Rose Quartz had a close relationship with, he can telepathically contact or locate them if he just stops, clears his mind, and meditates for a few seconds. It's similar to how he dreams his way into the minds of other Gems or humans, except it's temporary and happens when he's conscious instead.

Alright, I think that's all I have to say this time around. That is all.