"You too, Jasper. Go do something better with your life."
Jasper felt like she'd been shattered twice that day.
For a brief moment in time, she'd found her purpose. Her real, true purpose. The quartz soldier had regained something suspiciously close to joy. Her joy left with Steven, while she herself remained with these…
Jasper's gaze met with the other three gems, and breaking through their furrowed brows, their own confusion, was the distasteful look of pity. She couldn't bear it, not from these gems, and left wordlessly to return to her woodland base. Somehow, even that seemed pointless to her. Why train for battles to come, when the one she longed most to serve would not have her? Before, there was at least a glimmer of hope that underneath Steven's human costume was the Diamond she was made for. All she had were her rocks and her power, and if she was being honest with herself, she wasn't exactly keen to return to the place of her shattering…
A lump burned in Jasper's throat, and she let loose a growl before plowing her fist into the shore, kicking up a huge sandy plume. And again. And again. Better to give her hurt an outlet than choke on the pain. And when she felt the beach had had enough, the emptiness came rolling back in like the tide. Cursed to emerge from a broken Kindergarten on a backwater planet for a Diamond who did not want her service. It would have been funny to Jasper if she wasn't the one having to live out the joke. Still, she was a proud quartz soldier, and whether he realized it or not, Steven had given her an order—his first and last. To her, nothing was better than being able to serve her Diamond once more, one who proved his strength and was worthy of hers. But she and Steven clearly had different ideas of what "better" was… She didn't understand this new Diamond of hers, but if nothing else, she would be loyal, and do her best to fulfill his wishes. But how to go about doing so?
He seemed very proud of that Little Homeworld of his. A ghetto of misfit and dissident gems, those who had forgotten their purpose, who had willingly acted out of their station. Her Diamond's words echoed in her memory: "Maybe you could… come join us at Little Homeschool?"
She crossed her arms, crinkled her brow, and a moment of silence fell over her. A ghetto of misfit and dissident gems… Those who were in this confusing new era, trying to figure out their own purpose, not unlike herself. Jasper paused to idly trail a finger along her broken horn. It ached slightly.
Truth be told, school wasn't as dumb as she assumed it would be.
The classes were tolerable.
Her classmates were tolerable.
The humans… Well, she supposed there were worse things in the universe.
But the smile Steven had for her, when he'd learned she enrolled, and again when she graduated… A familiar warmth came over her and she couldn't help letting her own lopsided smile slip through, just for a moment.
And when the time came for Steven to bid his goodbyes, she came to him with her own demands. I will come with you. I will protect you.
Failing that, she barked her farewell, her eyes screwed shut. It was hard, going against her quartz nature to keep herself from her Diamond's side. But she knew her service wasn't needed, and she had her orders. And she would never admit it openly, but it wasn't a bad life. At the very least, it was her life, and perhaps, that's what he'd wanted for her all along.
Jasper paused to idly trail a finger along her broken horn. It didn't ache so much anymore.
This was Era 3, and she was a proud quartz, moving forward.