The official arenas within Yellow Diamond's court were prestigious and savage, reserved for the elite members of the Homeworld military. The matches were brutal but the rewards for succeeding were innumerable and could open the door to privileges otherwise denied to common quartzes.
"You are anything but common," the agate explained as they sat opposite one another in a private steam room lit by glowing salt lamps. She was a sagenite and a recruiter for the high arenas. "Imagine it. You would honor her legacy: Pink Diamond's champion, Jasper of Facet 9. If you want to show Yellow Diamond that her mercy was wisely granted – if you want her to know just what you're made of – this is the way to do it."
Sweat dripped down Jasper's back and was forming on her upper lip by the time Sagenite finished her pitch. She knew she could make waves in the Colosseum, she was a match for any gem homeworld had ever made. Yet she hesitated, ashamed. "How much honor is there in being the champion of a lost war?" she asked.
Sagenite's brow creased and she uncrossed her arms with a frown. Jasper winced, half expecting her rebuke to come accompanied by some corporal punishment. To her surprise, Sagenite only sighed deeply. "We've all sacrificed for that gem-forsaken colony. We are all suffering a great loss after Pink Diamond's destruction. But that's why Homeworld needs you to fight out in the open. Show them that for all our losses, we have gained strength. The gems of this world need to see that something, anything good came out of that disaster of a colony or we'll never rebuild. The Colosseum has been quiet for too long."
The words shook Jasper to her core. She could never do enough enough to erase the loss of her Diamond or how her own finitude in the war weighed on her. But she could do this.
"I'm in," she said at last. "What do I have to do?"
When Jasper and Sagenite left the steam room, their bodies glistening with sweat, PB was waiting diligently by the door. She fell into step behind Jasper as the two soldiers walked. They discussed formwork and schedules and rules and they paid little mind when PB pulled up her screen to collate what she could. It wasn't hard to piece together what they were talking about. She was excited for this chance to be useful, to help Jasper take on a new role by handling the procedural work for her. Not only that, but pulling together the forms for this new endeavor gave her something to focus on aside from her wiry nerves leftover from her escapade with Jey.
There were rules upon rules associated with high arena matches. Many reflected the unspoken rules of the open pits but the high arenas were somehow even more brutal. Care was taken not to shatter or crack another fighter's gem but that was the only restraint. Matches ended when one gem yielded or when their form dissipated. To yield was cowardly, nearly considered off-color for gems who had climbed so high through the ranks of fighters. PB shuddered to think what the ramifications would be if Jasper were to yield.
Otherwise, there was minutiae about regalia, about announcing winners, about acknowledging the crowd or the attending Diamonds, and about so much more. PB took down every rule to the letter for Jasper to refresh her memory with. There was a new light smoldering in Jasper's eyes since she emerged from the steam room, a subtle new sense of purpose wafted from her.
The next few weeks were hectic with meetings and preparations blocked around Jasper's normal responsibilities as a quartz soldier. She was barely given time to return to her quarters and no time for leisure or rest. Instead, PB found herself alone in Jasper's quarters with ample time to practice the contrabass but no one to perform for. Making music dulled the restless anxiety that plagued her when she had so much time to herself.
The songs she knew were few, pieced together from accompanying Jasper about her military business or passing through polite society. PB did her best to recreate them on the contrabass and when she had worked her fingers raw memorizing every possible finger position, she strung bits from different songs together into new marches with beats that shook her small body as they came out of the massive instrument. For hours upon hours in Jasper's absence PB embraced the sturdy wood of her instrument, working its strings with fingers and bow while she hoped that eventually she could please Jasper with her new skill.
The reopening of the Colosseum seemed to arrive much more quickly than the intervening solar cycles should have allowed and the fanfare of the gathering gems was matched only by the commotion below the stands as the competitors prepared for their matches. Jasper sat apart from the noise, attempting to center herself and steel her nerves while PB polished her new pauldrons and brushed her hair into a fearsome mane.
She wasn't afraid to fight. Far from it. She was made for it, her body yearned for battle. But to be put in the spotlight, to demonstrate her skills and fight for the Diamonds' approval – Jasper felt unworthy. Her appearance in the Colosseum fights had thus far been kept quiet in favor of heralding the appearance of older legends who had served Homeworld for millennia before Jasper was even embedded in the Earth's crust. – though a few murmuring gossips had their suspicions. Despite her many martial feats, Jasper was treated like a hopeful rookie and she felt like one.
At Jasper's shoulder, PB hummed an unfamiliar march while she pulled the brush through Jasper's hair. Jasper focused on PB's gentle ministrations to prepare herself for the fight. The pearl set the brush down so she could fix how Jasper's cape fell across her shoulders with delicate fingers.
"...What happened to your fingers?" Jasper asked and grabbed one of PB's hands to inspect the pearl's unusually rosy fingertips. She brushed her thumb over the reddened skin only for PB to recoil as if Jasper had scorched her.
PB's cheeks flushed just as red as her fingertips and she shrank under Jasper's sudden examination. "Oh, it must be from the polish," she said after staring blankly for a moment. "It's nothing, my Jasper."
Jasper narrowed her eyes as she weighed PB's answer. Then she let go and made an annoyed sound in her throat. "Then you're holding the cloth wrong. New armor shouldn't need that much force."
PB pulled back and held her hand to her chest. "Of course," she said, head bent, "I'll be more careful."
The Sagenite came around the corner at that point and gestured to Jasper. "Get up to the gate, Beta, your match is next." Jasper nodded and rose from her seat. As Sagenite led her away, Jasper rested a hand briefly on PB's shoulder before leaving her alone without another word.
The gate consisted of a simple spotlit platform. "Remember the rules," Sagenite said as Jasper stepped onto the gate and she answered with a grunt and a nod. A sphere of light and glass closed around Jasper and carried her up through the floor of the Colosseum. The crowd roared for her, cheers and praise shouted at her from every direction, so gratifying even though she had only just entered the rank of gladiators. The ring of seats was broken at the mid-point of the arena by a recently rebuilt raised dais. A single massive throne stood off-center on the dais.
On that throne sat Yellow Diamond.
All of her nerves hit her then. This was her opportunity to show Yellow Diamond she was worthy of the kindness she'd received and deep in her core Jasper feared that she wasn't worthy. A product of a failed Kindergarten and a failed war, how could she be?
But then, she had made it this far with accolades and a pearl given to her by Yellow Diamond herself. Her matriarch of logic, Jasper felt like a traitor even considering that Yellow Diamond's judgment might be flawed. She must be worthy. Now was the time to prove that.
Jasper looked up at the crowd and summoned her helmet with a dramatic flash of light. She raised her fists and roared back at the spectators, acknowledging them with a show of fury. Their energy was infectious. High above the arena a small winged gem with a strong, booming voice called the Colosseum's attention to the second gate opposite where Jasper stood still under a bubble of glass.
"And facing off against the Earth-Quartz-That-Could," the announcing gem said over the noise, "we have a returning favorite, a pillar of Yellow Diamond's army: the Noxious Knock-out, Sulfur!"
As her name was announced, a massive soldier rose from the gate who easily dwarfed Jasper. She was tall and broad, all squared-off angles with bright, short yellow hair that curled against her scalp. Ornamented epaulets displayed her many military honors. When she held her hand up to acknowledge the crowd Jasper saw the cloudy yellow gem set into her palm.
Sulfur was a gem that Jasper knew by reputation rather than by sight. The stories that surrounded Sulfur painted her as a ruthless titan on the battlefield; supposedly crystal gem soldiers had to resort to hideous, unstable fusions to have any hope of surviving an encounter with her. She was one of Yellow Diamond's most prized champions.
It was the perfect opportunity for Jasper to demonstrate her skill. Now that she could see her opponent, Jasper's unease was replaced with adrenal excitement. Before her was the first real challenge she faced since the end of the war, a break from the mundane slog her life had become, and if Jasper did things right it would be the start of a new path for her where her skills could truly shine. The thunder of the crowd faded to the back of her awareness as she focused in on her opponent and prepared for the battle to begin.
Jasper was ready.
