Steven shivered at the cooling red goop that covered the front of his body. He glanced at Amethyst and was envious that the purple gem didn't feel the cold like him. The quartz was entirely covered with the mush but she didn't even shudder once. Steven's attention was pulled back to the map of Beach City that Pearl had laid out on the counter. The gems were discussing where Jasper could have gone and Pearl was insisting the quartz gem had skipped town for the tenth time. Steven couldn't focus on the words or frantic gesturing, he was busy replaying the past few hours in his head.
He had hoped to go back to the temple and wait out under the porch for Jasper to come back from her talk with Lapis. Luckily for him, the Crystal Gems had received word from Garnet that there was a corrupted gem in the strawberry patch and they had left, thinking Steven was still with Jasper and Peridot. That had been five hours ago. Now, they were all back and Steven was forced to explain how he had left Jasper with Peridot and Lapis and how now Jasper was loose somewhere, at least that was what Peridot had told him over the frantic tablet call. Steven was extremely lucky that Amethyst was distracting Garnet and Pearl by trying to hug them, after she got him, so none of them would hear about Jasper's and Peridot's hunt for Lapis and the resulting mess. As far as the Crystal Gems were concerned, Jasper started reverting when she saw Lapis at the barn and ran away so she wouldn't hurt either her or Peridot.
"Didn't you hear me, Steven?" Pearl asked, snapping Steven out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, I was just uh," Steven scrambled for an answer but came up empty. "I was just worried for Jasper," he said honestly. "She's alone out there and hurt and probably really scared," He knew how Jasper was feeling, having experienced it first-hand in his dream.
Pearl nodded and looked back at the map. "We all are but we need to concentrate on finding Jasper before she hurts anyone." She tapped at where the temple was drawn on the map. Steven noticed that it was encased in a red circle as well as several other areas, including the barn. "We need to split up to cover more ground. Steven, we want you and Lion to stay at the temple-"
"What!?" Steven interrupted Pearl. "I should help too! I'm the one that bro- got her out of the bubble, Jasper is my responsibility!"
"Jasper isn't a pet, Steven," Garnet said, not looking up from the map. "We need you here in case she comes back. Like you said, she's scared so showing up to an empty temple isn't the best idea."
Amethyst nodded, some of the strawberry colored mush dripping onto the map. Not even Pearl scoffed at the mess which made Steven worry more. "Yeah man, go make her some Together Breakfast or something to calm her down." The grin she gave Steven looked more like a strained grimace.
Steven thought over it for a few minutes while the other gems went back to the map and sighed, knowing that the gems were right. If Jasper showed up to an empty beach house or even to one of the gems she could freak out more and hurt herself and others. He watched in silence as the other gems discussed about which area was to be searched by which gem and if Peridot should get involved. Steven noticed that not one of the Crystal Gems mentioned Lapis.
The gems finally settled on which areas they would search and that Peridot would be better at the barn calming Lapis down. Steven promised that he would call the gems if he found Jasper and not approach her under any circumstances. The boy knew that if he indeed find Jasper first he would break the promise at once but by the way Garnet gave a subtle nod when Pearl asked him to promise, Steven knew he wouldn't get into too much trouble. Besides, if Jasper was reverting back to her corrupted form, Steven was the only one that could heal her. The three gems left Steven alone with Lion to search for Jasper in their assigned areas. Steven looked up to where Lion was sleeping on his bed and hurried up the stairs.
"Lion," Steven prodded, poking the pink animal's face. "Wake up, we have to find Jasper before the others."
At the quartz's name, both eyes snapped open and Lion jumped down to the first floor, running at the door. He pawed at it desperately while mewing up to Steven. Steven ran down the stairs, tripping on the last step and landing with on his back a grunt. He got back on his feet and went to the door, opening it for Lion. As soon as the door was opened wide enough, Lion squeezed his body through and bounded down the stairs. When he got halfway down, Lion halted and doubled back. Steven was about to climb on Lion's back when the animal leaned down and grabbed Steven by the nape of his neck. Lion jumped off the railing and landed lightly on the sandy beach. Steven could only tuck in his legs and arms as Lion sprinted to right of the temple, going to the more rural side of the cliff.
After a minute of Lion running with Steven safely in his jaws, Lion slowed to a stop, setting Steven gently back down. The boy got up and looked about, realizing with a quickening heart that Lion had took him to where Peridot's ship had crashed into earth. He saw a silhouette of an oddly-shaped boulder a few meters in front of him in the ocean. It moved with a whine and a sickening crunch. Steven dashed to Jasper's side, gasping as he saw the extent of the damage. Whatever Peridot had led him to believe about the corruption process was not even close.
All but Jasper's eyes had reverted back to her corrupted form. He looked at Jasper whining, her forepaws rubbing at her face like she could wash away the corruption. Steven lifted a hand to wipe away what he first thought was sweat but he snapped his hand back when he saw the liquid was staining the ocean a hideous red. "J-Jasper?"
Jasper's head whirled to look at Steven. Another whine forced its way out of her throat as she backed away from him and deeper into the ocean. Her eyes were unfocused and were ablaze with agony. Her gem was pulsating a brilliant orange as if it were her heart but each pulse was growing duller. Steven knew that once the pulsing stopped, Jasper would be back to her corrupted state, perhaps forever.
"St-stay a-away."
Steven's heart almost broke at how weak and melancholy Jasper sounded. Her voice was a bare skeleton of what should have been full of strength and a bit of arrogance. He shook his head and walked closer to Jasper, the water now up to his waist. Luckily, Jasper didn't retreat any further but she did give a low growl.
"Stop that," Steven ordered, his mouth set into a determined frown. "You don't have to pretend with me." He gestured to the blood staining the water. "I know you're hurting and you're scared but we've been through this before." Steven licked his hand and held it out to her. "I helped you once and I can do it again. I will do it again but you need to want to get better too."
"N-no point." The pulsing was only happening every twenty seconds now and the gem barely glowed. "Lo-s evrythin."
Steven took a tiny step forward and rested his nonhealing hand on her chest. He couldn't feel Jasper's heart but he knew that it was still there. "You haven't lost everything, Jasper. It may seem like that now but there's still tomorrow." Steven smiled up at her. "You can be whoever you want on earth. You can learn new things. You already learned how to read! You don't have to be like this." On a whim, Steven removed his hand and walked back onto the beach. He turned to look at her and lifted his arms wide. "All you have to do is take the first step!"
Jasper stayed in the ocean, staring up at Steven and Lion. The pulsing of her gem grew a little stronger as she took a step forward. Another step and the gem pulsed a second faster and brighter. The pain began to ebb away as her fore paw touched the sand. Jasper walked slowly towards Steven, each step uncertain but she eventually stood in front of Steven.
Steven gave a relieved laugh and placed his healing hand on Jasper's gem. Immediately, the figure lost its shape and turned into a white, glowing blob. This time there was no hesitation, the blob returned to the form that was in between Jasper and her corrupted state. Once the light faded away, Jasper slumped forward and laid on the beach.
Lion walked over to her and rolled her on her back with his head. Jasper didn't open her eyes. Lion tilted his head and pawed at her horns but Jasper didn't respond. He mewed at Steven but the boy didn't know what to do. He had healed Jasper! She should be up and threatening him not to tell anyone about what just happened or she would have him bubbled! Steven took a shaky step forward and poked Jasper's face. She still didn't move and it didn't look like she was breathing. Steven poked her harder, his eyes starting to tear up as Lion mewed by him, patting Jasper's stomach with his paw.
"Wake up," Steven whispered. He reached into his pocket to call 911 but when he pulled his phone out it was soaked and won't turn on, no matter how hard he pressed the power button. He went into the ocean with it in his pocket! Steven threw the useless device away and licked his hand again. He laid it on her gem and Jasper's response was instantaneous.
Her eyes flashed open, wild and raging. With a snarl, Jasper leapt up and tackled Steven to the ground, her chest heaving. Lion was too shocked to do anything as Jasper lifted a clawed hand to bring down on the defenseless boy.
"Jasper, wait!" Steven cried out.
Jasper's eyes focused and she stared down at the boy. Her eyes widened at the realization of what she was about to do and she leapt off of him, slamming into Lion. The big cat gave a surprised yelp but didn't attack. Jasper's eyes scanned Steven, looking for any injuries. When she found none, she got back on her two feet and ran a hand through her hair. "What the fuck were you thinking, Steven!?" she yelled as she paced back and forth. "I was reverting back to my corrupted form! If you had showed up any later I could have hurt you or worse, killed you! What then, huh!?" She pointed at the sitting boy. "I would have to tell the Crystal Gems that I killed you and then they would have bubbled me or shattered me!"
Steven still stayed on the ground as tears leaked out of his eyes.
"Oh no," Jasper growled at the sight of the tears leaving streaks down Steven's cheeks. "I have been playing nice since I got out of that fucking bubble and I am not going back in just because some brat couldn't let me become corrupted in peace."
Steven wiped away the tears with a grin and smiled up at Jasper. "You called me Steven," he said. He got up and wiped away a few more tears. "You would always call me Rose and then brat or runt but you called me Steven." The happy grin melted into a pained grimace as Steven looked down at where his gem was, hidden by his favorite shirt. He looked back up at Jasper who stopped pacing. "I-I'm sorry for what my mom did to Pink Di-"
Jasper silenced him with a lifted hand as if she could physically stop the words from coming out of Steven's mouth. She looked out at the ocean, scowling at the remains of her blood in the water. "I don't want your apologies," she said, a hand coming up to rest on her arm. Steven noticed that the orange hand was covering more of the turquoise spots on Jasper's arm. The quartz gem looked back down at the boy. "Do you remember when I first came here? On that spacecraft?"
"Yeah," Steven answered with a nod. "You thought I was my mom when I brought out my shield." He glanced at Lion and then back at Jasper. "You said that you respected her."
"I did," Jasper agreed. She looked down at her hand with a sigh. "Do you know why I respected her so much?"
Steven shook his head.
"She did something that not even Pink Diamond could," Jasper said. She turned to look at the temple. "Rose Quartz was able to rally all of her forces every time they fought, no matter how low their chance of survival. They believed in her, in what she believed in." Jasper looked back down at Steven. "Soldiers fight for what they believe in but true warriors, warriors that make the greatest of leaders, know when to put the ideals they believe in at stake in order to create a better world in which others could have faith in. That is something no Diamond has ever done. Rose Quartz did shatter my Diamond but it was because she saw something on this planet that no one else could, and she showed that to others who joined her cause." Jasper rested a hand over her gem, feeling her heart beat steadily under it like it was proof of how much she sunk. Or maybe how much she changed. "I could never do something like that. I fought for my Diamond and only my Diamond, not for myself or for others. I just fought whoever they told me to fight and I didn't even care enough to ask for a reason. Rose Quartz wasn't like that and her comrades saw that."
Steven stayed quiet for a long time. He had no idea that even his mother's enemy could see something like that. He touched his own gem, wishing for the millionth time that he could talk to his mother, to know what she was like. He held up a hand for Jasper to grab. "Let's go home."
Jasper looked down and huffed, marching past Steven and towards the temple. She heard laughter and two pairs of footsteps trailing behind her. The quartz gem didn't turn her head to look at them but she did leave the door open for Steven and Lion to walk into the beach house before her. She glanced up at the portrait of Rose Quartz as she entered the house. Jasper sighed, she just hoped that Steven didn't tell the others what she said.
"Jasper, you should always have your backpack with you!" Steven called.
"What?" The quartz gem looked at where Steven was frowning at her with his hands on his hips, looking eerily like Pearl when Jasper did something wrong. On the living room table was the cheeseburger backpack but Jasper could have sworn she left it at the barn when she went to Mask Island. She walked over and picked it up, still trying to figure out where it came from. Something fell out of the burger compartment but Jasper never opened it that day. She bent down to pick up the object and saw it was the orange leaf that belonged to Lapis. She stared at it, the backpack slipping from her fingers to land on the table harshly. Steven didn't reprimand Jasper, he simply went to the bathroom room to get ready to sleep. He knew full well that the backpack wasn't there before and what the leaf meant.
Jasper held the leaf carefully as if it could break at any moment. She looked back down at the backpack and then at the leaf again. She knew it was a peace offering but Jasper wasn't sure she wanted to accept it just yet. The sound of a door opening and closing brought Jasper's attention back to Steven who was climbing up the stairs to his bed. "I'm going to sleep outside tonight," Jasper said, turning to head out of the house, not waiting for a response, although she could hear Steven tapping at his phone, presumably to tell the others that Jasper was back and all right.
The quartz gem left the beach house and with a few jumps, was sitting on the hand that Steven used to clean his clothes. Why he didn't simply use magic to put on clean clothes or create his uniform Jasper didn't know but she took comfort in the scent of the drier sheets. She studied the leaf, her night vision working well even in the dead of night. Jasper tried to memorize every detail of the leaf but after three minutes of looking at the leaf, Jasper groaned at her stiff neck and lifted it to get the cranks out. She looked up at the stars and frowned when she realized she couldn't tell which little dot was Homeworld. When Jasper was still on Homeworld, she knew exactly which star belonged to the Earth's solar system.
Her gem grew warm as something slid down Jasper's cheek. She wiped it with one of her fingers and looked at it. Jasper nearly jumped when the same thing slid down her other cheek and a few more followed suit. With a start she realized she was crying. Jasper's gem grew hotter as more tears came out of her eyes but she couldn't stop them. She held the leaf close to her chest as her body shook with the intensity of her sobs. Jasper came to the realization that she could never go back to Homeworld. She failed to redeem herself by not succeeding in escorting a simple peridot who only had to restart kindergarten and report the progress of the Cluster. She had fused with a gem of a different species, something that would have gotten her shattered on Homeworld in an instant. She lost control of said fusion and was the other gem's prisoner for months. She tried to fuse again and got herself corrupted in the process. She was revived by her sworn enemy's spawn and now owes her life to him. She was stuck on this miserable planet, living in the same house that Rose Quartz used to live in, having to pander to the Crystal Gems. And she was happy for it.