What it Means to Be
Chapter 10
Confidence
Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe.
"So... Uh... What does this room have to do with the tour?" Peridot said, treading carefully. Amethyst's room was packed with a large assortment of items, and she had no idea what was important or not. Amethyst just laughed while jumping from pile to pile.
"This isn't the tour silly! I'm just grabbing some stuff really fast." Amethyst said, quickly fading from Peridot's view. Peridot stood there momentarily, before Amethyst came back into view. "Alright Peridot, I got what I needed, let's head out!" Amethyst said, before running back towards the exit. Peridot managed to retrace her steps fast enough to keep up with Amethyst, but only barely.
"So, Amethyst, what did you come in here for?" Said Peridot, still worried about stepping on something. Amethyst turned around and smiled.
"I'll show you later, nosy. Now hurry up!" She called out, as she made it to the door. Peridot had finally managed to catch up, but Amethyst couldn't pass up the opportunity to mess with Peridot. As Amethyst opened the door, she saw that everyone had left the living room. Peridot followed shortly behind.
"Well, now where are we going to go?" Said Peridot, slightly exhausted. It was only the first Gem's turn and the idea of these 'tours' already seemed incredibly exhausting.
"I'm gonna show you what a sunset looks like here. You probably didn't get a chance to see it while we were chasing you and stuff." Said Amethyst. She walked through the living room and started heading down the stairs with Peridot following shortly behind.
"No, I didn't get the chance to enjoy much of anything while I was on the run. I don't understand while this planet seems to expel liquid from the skies so often." Amethyst simply laughed at Peridot's explanation of rain. The rest of the trip passed in relative silence, until they arrived at the top of the hill. Amethyst sat down, then gestured for Peridot to do the same. The sun was still in the sky, but dusk was approaching. Before long, Amethyst spoke up.
"I know this is supposed to be for you Peridot, but I have to ask something." Amethyst said turning to Peridot.
"And what would that be?" Said Peridot, always eager to show off her knowledge.
"What's Homeworld like?" Amethyst asked. Peridot froze slightly, thinking careful about how to answer her question.
"Homeworld is... Different. It's hard to explain, really. Everything is so efficient and well organized. Yet, it's slightly off somehow... Now that I think about it. It was... Cold, for lack of a better word. I didn't spend much time on Homeworld, however. I was a researcher, and I was always going from planet to planet, sometimes going centuries, even millennia without seeing Homeworld, and honestly, I didn't miss it." Peridot said, she noticed that Amethyst looked relieved.
"That's... Good to hear. I always felt like it was somewhere I had to go. Pearl always made it seem so amazing... I guess that's the best though. Here, I'm a guardian. Steven and the other humans look up to us. On Homeworld, all they would see is that I'm... Defective..."
Peridot looked at Amethyst, slightly taken aback, before she started to chuckle. Amethyst looked at her angrily as Peridot chuckle turned into a full on laugh.
"What's so funny about what I said?" Amethyst said as she stood up, ready to fight.
"You're... You're not defective... What ever made you think that?" Peridot said, still slightly laughing. Amethyst froze.
"What do you mean... Not defective? I'm too small, and other stuff." Amethyst said.
"Yeah, sure. In that form. When you fought me for the first time, that's exactly what a Amethyst is supposed to look like, and you figured it out without anyone telling you how to do it. I just assumed that you preferred this form because it fits through the doorway." Peridot said. Amethyst's eyes drift off towards the sea, just as the sun began to turn to an orange color. Peridot's eyes lit up at the sight of it. Home world had nothing like this, not even close. The way the light hit the sea was amazing, and for a moment, she wasn't thinking of home world, or of what might happen to her. Right now, she was thinking about Earth.
"I'm... Not defective?" Amethyst trailed off, lost in her own, very different thoughts.
When Jasper opened her eyes, blue skies greeted her. A sky foreign to home world, the sky of earth. She lay on her back and felt the green grass on either side of her and the dirt beneath her. "This... This is my gemscape. Right?" Jasper said to herself, almost unsure. She hadn't been here since the day she was made, but she felt like she had been asleep for a very long time. With all the effort she could muster, she pushed herself up to a sitting position. Green grass and blue skies were all she could see in any direction.
"So... You're finally up." Said a voice from behind Jasper, and she whipped her head around, only to be greeted by herself, sitting on a small boulder. A wicked grin adorned her face, filled with more malice that Jasper had ever seen.
"Who... Who are you?" Jasper said, finally pushing herself into a standing position. The other Jasper let out a cackle that send a chill down her spine.
"I'm a part of you. A part that you made." Other Jasper said, looking down slightly. Jasper let a confused look cross her face before responding.
"Why would I ever make something awful like you? I'm a proud gem, and I don't need anyone else in my head!" Jasper yelled, which was only met with roaring laughter from Other Jasper.
"Oh, you needed me. You needed me to cope with the horrible, disgusting things you did. To your enemies. To your comrades. To even your best friends you sick bastard. Ever since the start of the war, you've slept here, because you can't accept how twisted and awful what you did to your enemies was, and for all of that time, you've let me be in the drivers seat. I was what home world wanted in a perfect little soldier. Someone who didn't care about what they did in the coliseum, someone who even enjoyed it. They couldn't have enough of me, and that's what kept us alive." By now, Other Jasper was on her feet, with a look of murder in her eyes. Jasper stood, mouth agape and arms by her side.
"Did... Did I really do those things?" Jasper said, and as she began to think back, everything came rushing back. The war, the coliseum, everything she had done, all coming back at once.
"To be fair, that last thing that you did that was actually you was when attacked that poor human settlement. You remember that, don't you? They called you the Butcher of Man for centuries after that. You can't even claim that you were just following orders either, that attack was YOUR idea." Other Jasper kept pressing her speech, never giving Jasper time to think. By now, Jasper was on her knees, crying.
"I only did what I thought would win the war!" Jasper yelled out, only to have Other Jasper laugh at her again.
"Yes... Exactly, but you couldn't live with yourself after that. You remembered most battles as big blur. You just chalked it up as adrenaline, but that was me, doing your dirty work. Then the coliseum happened, and you snapped. I became the dominate personality after that, and you were locked away, like I was for so long." Other Jasper was staring at Jasper, who was finally starting to stand up again.
"While that may be true... Now I know what I did. I can deal with it on my own, and that means that I don't need you!" Jasper yelled out, to with Other Jasper responded with a smirk, before she began to fade away.
"We'll see about that, soon enough. I'm tired of this miserable planet anyway, you can deal with it." Other Jasper managed to say, before fading into nothing. As soon as she vanished, Jasper's gemscape started to vanish into blinding light.
Jasper's gem, hovering in a bubble, began to move slightly. Barely at first, but eventually shook hard enough that the sharp edge burst the bubble. As her gem began to fall, it started to glow before it hit the ground. From her gem, she emerged almost exactly the same, except her normal wild hair was perfectly straight. Grogginess shook her body as she regenerated, but she soon stood up and gained her bearings.
As she looked around at the burning room, she shuddered at all of the gems suspended in bubbles around her.
"Where am I? What kind of sick prison is this?" Jasper said, before spotting a door that appeared to lead out. She cautiously walked over to it, before the door opened by itself.
Right into the living room where the other seven gems were.
"Umm, Hello there?"
Author's Note: Well, that one took a while. Between Thanksgiving and Finals, I just didn't have any time, lol. I'm having to take alot of liberties with Jasper because as she is, she would just die fighting. Now for the fans.
To Knights and Dragons: Thanks for the reassurance. Lol
To Dark Holt: Thanks, lol. I try to avoid it, but I don't like writing if I'm just not feeling it.
To Guest: Of course, lol. She's my favorite.