Jasper growled at the feeling of something furry pushing at her arm. She rolled over and tried to get back to her dream of running through a forest, shivering at the cool stone touching her body. The pressing continued however and Jasper could feel somebody breathing on her face. She growled louder and lifted an arm to push whatever it was away from her. Her fingers touched something soft and a purring noise emitted from the creature. With a groan, Jasper realized who was trying to wake her up and rolled onto her back. She peaked one eye open to see Lion was lying next to her, his face only an inch away from hers. The quartz gem scowled at the animal and pushed him away before sitting up. She yawned and stretched, her arms and legs giving several satisfactory cracks. Jasper turned her head at the sound of humming and saw Pearl was standing near the dryer.
"That's extremely creepy," Jasper said, reaching a hand up to scratch an itch in between her horns. She looked down and then around her, her eyes flashing from one place to the next. The quartz gem even shoved Lion from his resting spot so she could look underneath him. "Where is it?" Jasper whispered frantically, jumping up to see if she had somehow lain on it during the night.
"You mean this?"
Jasper turned her head to look at the leaf she thought she lost. Pearl was holding it with a raised eyebrow, wondering why the quartz gem was so concerned she lost a simple leaf. Jasper snatched it from Pearl's hands and examined it to see if there were any imperfections. She hissed at Lion when the animal came closer to look, figuring that the animal would try to destroy it like it was a paper bag. Jasper sighed in relief when she saw the leaf wasn't crumpled or otherwise damaged. She would have no idea of what to do if there was a tear or if it was crushed.
She looked back at Pearl and felt her cheeks begin to warm in the beginnings of a blush. "Thank you." Jasper glanced back down at the leaf held so tightly but carefully in her right hand. "The leaf means a lot to me."
Pearl nodded like she understood. She gestured to a cup and container filled with a lime green smoothie that she left on the washer. "I made you your breakfast and brought it out for you in case you wanted to consume it outside." She fidgeted for a moment which caused Jasper to tilt her head. What could possibly make the pearl nervous? Jasper knew it wasn't her presence because it made the pearl more agitated than anxious. "Steven wants to ask you about something. He's waiting for you on the porch." With that, Pearl turned and jumped off of the stone hand, landing daintily on the porch and informing Steven that Jasper had awoken.
Jasper blinked a few times, her mind still processing what just happened. She technically ran away from the Crystal Gems and almost hurt Steven but Pearl simply told her that Steven had a question for her. She looked down at Lion but he curled up into a loose ball to take a nap, showing how much he thought of Pearl's strange response. The quartz gem carefully placed the leaf in the band of her pants, making a mental note to put it in the cheeseburger backpack later. Jasper walked over to the washer and filled the cup with the smoothie. She sniffed at the gunk, trying to detect any foul play that Pearl may have tried to pull. It smelled as unappetizing as before but there was a hint of something familiar. Jasper took a sip but didn't gag at the taste. It insulted her taste buds like every other smoothie that Pearl had served her but this one had something else. Jasper took another sip, trying to figure out the hidden ingredient that didn't cause her to feel like she was going to vomit. It was when she filled the cup again that Jasper finally realized what she was tasting. Bananas! The pearl had added bananas to her smoothie.
She downed the cup and refilled it soon after. Jasper swallowed a mouthful and grabbed the container. She walked to the palm of the hand and looked behind her. Lion was fast asleep so he wasn't going anywhere. Jasper shook her head and stepped off the hand, landing with a thump on the porch, not nearly as graceful as Pearl. She saw that Steven was leaning against the rail and walked over to him. Jasper tilted the container towards Steven but the boy made a face and pushed it back to Jasper. The quartz gem shrugged and refilled her cup.
"Pearl put bananas into my smoothie," Jasper began. She glanced down before her eyes settled on the scenery. The sun was already high up in the sky so it must have been midday. Jasper narrowed her eyes as she calculated that she must have been asleep for more than twelve hours.
"I told Pearl that you liked banana smoothies," Steven said. He rested his chin on the palm of his hand to look up at Jasper. The quartz gem noted that the boy look as if he didn't get any sleep at all, there were dark bags under his eyes. "I had a nightmare," Steven said, noticing how Jasper frowned down at him. After all the threats and barbs, Steven knew that the gem cared for him, or at the very least didn't want to be blamed for any of his injuries or lapses in judgement towards his health, which was a huge step forward for someone like Jasper.
Jasper sighed and placed the cup and container on the rail, her appetite no longer there. "Was it about me?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
Steven nodded and buried his chin into his arms. "I didn't save you this time." He looked out over the ocean and he could imagine his nightmare taking place right in front of the temple. He could even hear the yowls of pain in the wind that ruffled his hair. "You trusted me but I couldn't heal you."
"You did," Jasper said. She lifted a hand and hesitated for a moment before resting it on Steven's head. She witnessed Garnet doing this several times prior and it always seemed to cheer him up. "I'm still here because you healed me."
"There's something I wanted to ask you," Steven said suddenly, not moving his head lest he bump Jasper's hand off of him. He knew that for Jasper to do something like this was not only extremely rare but also a step in the right direction. "There's a festival happening at Funland. It's to celebrate something humans call a New Year's Eve. We like to have parties before the New Year begins!"
Jasper could already here the question and she talked before Steven could ask it. "I have better things to do than to celebrate another day passing." In truth, Jasper didn't want to go outside for a very long time. She wanted to lay on her couch and read Fangs of Love for the third time, no matter how terrible it was.
"Please," Steven begged, drawing out the word until it became a whine. He looked up at her and clasped his hands together, giving the quartz gem his very best puppy-dog face. Jasper only looked at him like he grew another gem on his forehead. "It's going to be fun! Everyone will be there and there's going to be lots of food, although you won't be able to eat it," Steven added a moment later with a frown. The grin sprang back on his face however. "There's gonna be rides!" The grin slid off his face as he sized Jasper up. "But you're probably too big." He scratched his head, trying to find something that would peak Jasper's interest. "Oh I know," Steven yelled, stars brightening his eyes. "Mr. Smiley is lighting off fireworks at midnight! You'll love those, they're colorful and loud and big and loud."
"You said loud twice," Jasper commented. She had a sinking feeling that the boy wasn't going to give up until she said yes. She groaned and rubbed at the back of her neck. "If I agree to come to this party will you leave me alone for the rest of the day?"
Steven nodded so much that it looked as if he was about to bob his head right off.
"Fine," Jasper grunted. She already started to regret her decision when Steven pumped his fists in the air.
"I gotta tell Amethyst!" The boy ran into the beach house and slammed the door shut. Jasper sighed and rubbed at her temple. Why did she agree to this?
A few hours later the Crystal Gems and Jasper were all standing outside of the temple and near Greg's van. Greg introduced himself to Jasper but when he tried to shake her hand all Jasper did was hiss at him. Steven laughed at the reaction but Greg ran behind Pearl and asked if Jasper was prone to biting. The human stayed as far away from Jasper as he could without appearing rude and whenever he thought Jasper wasn't looking, he would gawk at her. Jasper found the entire situation rather aggravating. Jasper turned her head to look at the temple, wondering if it was too late to run back.
"Okay, it's settled," Steven said, slapping his hands together. He looked at Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl. "You three will go with Dad in his van while I ride on Lion."
"I'll be sitting on the van," Garnet corrected the boy. She jumped up and landed on the van's roof with a small bang. She laid down on the top and waited for the others to start moving. Steven got on Lion's back and gave the animal a quick pat on the head.
Amethyst threw open the van's rear doors before crawling in. The purple gem immediately began to rummage through Greg's things, making a cocoon for herself and eating something she found that may have once been a sandwich. Pearl on the other hand made a face at the sight of all the junk and got into the passenger seat. Greg looked at Jasper with a worried frown. "Uh there might not be room for you in the van. We could always hitch a trailer or maybe a wagon or um" Greg trailed off, scratching the back of his head at what Jasper could fit into.
Jasper looked at the van in thinly veiled disgust. She wasn't in the van and already she began to feel lightheaded at all the different scents radiating out of it, most of them extremely unpleasant. "I'll run."
"Are you sure?" Greg asked. "It's a long run and I'm sure if I throw away some of the junk we can fit you in."
"Don't throw away this stuff, man!" Amethyst yelled from her cocoon. "Some of it is really cool, like this!" The purple gem held out an object that Jasper had no clue what it was only that it was broken. It was some kind of instrument that looked like a guitar but instead of strings there were piano keys. The neck of the instrument was snapped and was only hanging on by a few wires.
Greg laughed and grabbed the instrument from Amethyst. "Oh I almost forgot about this thing." He held it up high so that Garnet could see from her place. "Remember when I asked you to play this?" Greg lowered his arm as his grin faltered. "Afterwards you slammed it against the stage's floor."
"It's what hardcore guitarists do," Garnet explained. She fixed her visors as she rolled onto her side. "After playing a song they break the guitar against the stage."
"Yeah but this thing cost me an arm and a leg." He gave the broken instrument back to Amethyst who promptly began to push all the buttons, seeing if any of them worked. Greg looked at all of his stuff inside his van and thought that even if it was perfectly clean, Jasper probably still wouldn't fit comfortably. Maybe if she laid down on the hood and Garnet moved inside the van it could work.
The quartz gem tilted her head as she watched Greg think of ways that he could fit her into the van. Steven inherited all his useless feelings on how to make everyone happy from Greg and Rose Quartz both, Jasper concluded. "I am fine with running," she said with an air of finality.
"What if you get tired?" Steven asked.
"Then I'll take a break if I need to." Jasper shrugged off her backpack and handed it to Steven. The boy groaned under the sudden weight but he still put it on. Lion grumbled at the added weight but he began to purr when Steven patted his head again. Jasper could already feel her heart beat faster at the thought of running without holding back. She smirked down at Lion. "Try to keep up." Lion huffed and dug his claws in the ground as if he couldn't wait to start.
Greg glanced between Steven and Jasper a few times before shrugging and getting into the driver's seat. He had to turn the keys twice before the engine caught and turned over. Greg drove away and Jasper and Lion began to run after the vehicle. Garnet kept a close eye on the quartz gem behind her visors to make sure that she didn't hurt herself.
Jasper panted and leaned down so she was on all fours. She snapped her jaws when Lion was starting to run ahead of her. He turned his head and Jasper could have sworn that the animal looked smug. Jasper growled and pushed herself a little harder, easily outrunning Lion. She heard laughter and looked back to see Steven staring at her with stars in his eyes.
"So cool!" Steven yelled out at her. He leaned down and pressed his ankles into Lion's sides for a moment. "Come on, Lion! Faster!" Lion roared and bounded after Jasper as fast as he could. He kept up with the quartz gem.
Lion started to breathe heavily after a minute but Jasper wasn't even breaking a sweat. She shook her head with a laugh and couldn't resist the urge to push herself as far as she could. The quartz gem bounded past the van, feeling her body surge with the adrenaline with every thump of her heart. Jasper almost tripped when a honk pierced the quiet of the night. She slowed her pace with a growl. Jasper could make out Pearl's disapproving face as the van drove past her and she heard Amethyst laughing from inside the van. Even Garnet was chuckling.
"We're almost there!" Steven yelled to Jasper. Lion was definitely getting tired, he was staggering behind but he still managed to keep up his pace. Jasper snickered under her breath and Lion hissed at her but she knew that the animal didn't mean it.
The group finally stopped three minutes later. Jasper was reluctant to stop running but now a sheen of sweat covered her body. She stood up while Lion flopped down on his side, unseating Steven in the process. The boy let out an "Oof" as he fell but he quickly got up. He was having trouble keeping still as everyone else got out of the van.
Greg looked at his son with a grin and held up a finger like he was about to give a lecture. "Look Steven, I know you're excited but you need to be safe, all right? The fireworks are going to begin in," he looked down at his watch which Jasper noticed held the picture of a pear crying, "four hours and we're all going to meet up at the beach to watch them." He closed the back doors as Amethyst ran off with Pearl chasing after her, yelling something about hotdogs. Greg got back into his driver's seat and rolled down his window so he could stick his head out and look at Steven. "I'm going to get this bad boy to the beach while you have fun."
Steven nodded in understanding. "Okay, dad!" He walked over to Jasper and tugged at her pants, trying to lead her to the entrance. "Come on, Jasper. We only have four hours and I want to show you the boardwalk!"
"I've already been on the boardwalk," Jasper said, not moving an inch. "You took me there to go to the Big Donut."
"No, not that boardwalk," Steven said, giving Jasper another tug. He pointed at a sign that said FUNLAND, little bulbs making the word shine brightly in the dying light. "I want to show you all the different games they have. Maybe we can even sneak you on a ride!"
Steven hurried over to the entrance before Jasper could say anything and raised his hand to make Jasper follow him. Jasper looked at the others and figured that it would be less painful to be with the boy than any of them. She followed Steven to the entrance and scoffed when the boy turned to run into a building. Sensing she had no choice, Jasper walked to the building to get a better look. It was purple in color and Whacky Mirrors was written on the front in silver paint. Jasper sighed and entered the building. There were mirrors lined up all along the left side of the hallway and Steven was flexing his arms in the first one. Jasper raised an eyebrow and looked into the mirror, frowning when her image was distorted immediately. She glanced down and saw that the way the mirror was warped, it looked like Steven was more muscular than he actually was. Jasper stood in front of the second mirror and her eyes widened when her image shrunk. She was now the size of Pearl! The quartz gem leaned forward to poke at the mirror, trying to deactivate it or set it back to the normal setting. She looked over at Steven who was now in front of another mirror, the image making his head far too big for his body. He was snorting from how much he was laughing and looked over to Jasper's image. The laughing grew until he was practically hollering. Jasper frowned and walked in front of another mirror. This time she was a lot bigger, her head not even visible. The quartz gem grimaced at her reflection and walked towards another mirror, and then another. Each one made something grotesque and Steven would laugh at each one. Finally, Jasper stood in front of the last mirror, her image now all but distorted. The way the mirror was warped made Jasper appear as if everything was smushed together. She couldn't stop staring at her face. It looked as if her old gem was back instead of a real nose. Jasper raised a shaky hand to touch her nose, feeling the flesh instead of rock underneath her fingers.
"Maybe we should go," Steven said, watching Jasper stare at herself. When Jasper didn't respond, he walked closer and tugged on her elbow, trying to get the hand away from Jasper's face. "Jasper, I want to show you some other cool stuff."
The tugging snapped Jasper out of her trance and she looked down at the boy. She could see the concern he had for her and glanced back at the mirror. With her head turned, it no longer looked like her old gem was back but her horn was horribly misshapen. She nodded and walked out of the building with Steven trailing behind. "How long have we been here?"
Steven got his new phone, which was really an old phone he put in safe keeping when he got the phone he destroyed from the incident last night, out to check the time. "About an hour actually." He put it back in his pocket and ran out in front of Jasper, pointing to the game section of the park. "How about we use the other three hours here?" Before Jasper could answer, Steven had already run up to the nearest gaming booth and slapped a ten-dollar bill down. The quartz gem walked over to Steven and titled her head at the booth. There were seven of what appeared to be some sort of gun mounted on the counter. On the wall of the booth were seven bullseye targets, one for each gun. On top of the bullseye was a cylindrical tube that were encased with flashing lights that would change colors to create different patterns. Jasper looked down at Steven who smiled up at her, patting the gun next to him. "I already paid for you so you have to play." He grabbed his own weapon and pressed down on the two buttons with his thumbs. "You want to aim the nozzle at the red circle on the bullseye when the water comes out. The first person to fill the tank wins!"
Jasper had to get on her knees to be able to properly aim the gun. She had no idea why Steven would allow her to have a weapon but when she gave it an experimental pull, she found that it was firmly bolted into the counter. It would be nothing for her to rip it out of the counter but for some reason, she didn't feel like it. The quartz gem shook her head and aimed the nozzle.
"Anymore players want to try their aim at the water guns!?" called out the booth attendant. When nobody else showed up to play, he flipped some switch on a panel hidden to the customers. Jasper's and Steven's cylinders stopped making patters and flashed three times before settling to a red. "Ready? Set. Go!"
Jasper pressed down the two buttons with her thumbs but widened her eyes when her stream of water hit an inch to the right of the target. The weapon wasn't properly calibrated! She quickly corrected her aim but she saw that Steven was already ahead of her. The quartz gem growled and pressed down harder on the buttons but the stream was as weak as before.
Before she knew it, Steven's cylinder filled with blue light and flashed three times as horns blared from the speakers. Steven gave a triumphant shout and grabbed his prize: a bag of chips. He eagerly opened the bag and ate some of the chips. "Don't worry, Jasper. There's still a whole bunch of games to play."
The two played all sorts of games but each one Jasper lost to Steven or someone else that happened to want to play the same game. Jasper's mood soured after each loss until finally there were only two gaming booths left. One was the test your strength game and the other a dart game. Sadie and Lars were using the test your strength game and it appeared that Sadie was the stronger of the two. Jasper wanted to try her own hand at the game but Steven quickly dragged her away towards the darts. "Uh, maybe we should try that one later," he said.
Jasper grumbled but allowed herself to be dragged to the darts booth. The entire back wall was covered in balloons of different sizes and colors. There was a sign displayed in front of the booth that showed the different points for different sizes and how many points were required for what type of prize. The biggest balloons only gave the player 5 points, the medium gave 10, and the small 20. The largest prize cost 350 points, the medium cost 200, and the small 75. There was a sentence written in small print and Jasper had to lean down to read it. It stated that if the player found and popped the legendary golden balloon, he or she would automatically win the largest prizes. Jasper looked down and saw that Steven was looking for the golden balloon. He suddenly grinned and patted Jasper's leg. "There! In between the two blue big balloons!" Jasper frowned at the sight of the golden balloon. It was as big as her pinkie's claw!
"I want to pop that balloon," Jasper said. After her string of losses she needed this win.
"Well good luck with that," laughed the booth attendant. He smiled at the two but Jasper thought that the smile looked more painful than cheerful. "I thought I banned you from the games, Steven," the man laughed down at Steven.
"No, just the rides, Mr. Smiley."
Jasper looked down at Steven in shock. She didn't think the boy had the guts to do anything that warranted a banishment of any kind. She looked back at the balloon and started forming a strategic plan to get the area clear enough for her to have the best chances of popping it with the five darts that Mr. Smiley set in front of her. He was giving her some safety rules but Jasper just ignored him. She wanted to pop the gold balloon, not throw darts at some humans. Jasper would have to take out the two blue balloons first and perhaps the medium red one right above the gold. She nodded to herself as she grabbed the first dart. She took aim and threw it, the balloon to the left of her prize popping.
Mr. Smiley shook his head and sighed. "You gotta try harder than that if you want to pop that bad boy." Another dart flew and the blue balloon to the right popped. "That sucker has been on my board for as long as I first set up this booth." Jasper threw another dart and the red one above popped. "But hey, you now have twenty points. If you pay another five bucks you could win an eraser with that aim."
The quartz gem turned her head to glare at Mr. Smiley. The smile slipped off of his face at her glare and he tried to make himself smaller by pressing up against the side wall. Jasper slowly raised her arm with her dart and threw it without looking. Mr. Smiley gulped as he heard a balloon pop and Steven cheering but he didn't dare look away from Jasper. The quartz gem's lips lifted into a dangerous smirk as she held out the last dart. "I don't think I'll need this one."
Mr. Smiley took the dart with a trembling hand, feeling sweat bead on his forehead. He put the remaining dart back with the others and pointed up at where his biggest prizes were. "Take whichever one you want."
Jasper nodded her head in approval and looked up to survey her prizes. Her face quickly sported a frown when she realized that Mr. Smiley only had one large prize available: a green alien with a top hat and bow tie. She grabbed the one nearest to her and frowned down at it. It was rather ugly in Jasper's opinion but she still won it. Jasper looked down at Steven who was jumping up and down in his excitement.
"Nobody has ever popped the golden balloon!" He grabbed her pants and tried to walk away, only managing to take a step before he began to walk in place. Steven looked behind him and pointed to the beach. "Come on, we should go now if we want to see the fireworks!"
Steven let go of Jasper to run down the boardwalk. Jasper rolled her eyes but followed the boy, the alien tucked safely under her arm. She lost sight of Steven when he more jumped than walked down the stairs that connected the boardwalk to the beach. Jasper climbed down the stairs and looked about. She spotted a few of Beach City's residents scattered here and there, the people setting up various equipment to make themselves comfortable for the show. Off to the far right, Jasper found Steven talking to Connie and Greg and Garnet setting up a fire next to the children. Lion was curled up on top of Greg's van, already asleep. Pearl and Amethyst were nowhere to be found but Jasper figured that they were probably getting snacks or more accurately replacing the food that Amethyst ate. The quartz gem walked over and sat down in front of the now blazing fire. She raised her hands to feel the fire's radiant heat. Even though it was not a particularly chilly night, Jasper still liked the feeling of the warmth seeping into her body. She lifted her eyes away from the dancing flames when she heard a familiar laugh. Jasper almost thought her eyes were playing tricks on her until she noticed that Steven looked very worried. A few feet away from the group was Lapis Lazuli laughing at something Peridot had said.
"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that I invited them," Greg said, noticing how both Steven and Jasper were staring at the still unsuspecting duo. "I know how much you like hanging out with them Stewball and I thought it would be nice if they were here with the rest of the Crystal Gems." When nobody gave a reply, Greg's cheeks began to redden. "Was I not supposed to invite them or- "
"No," Garnet interrupted, laying a reassuring hand on Greg's shoulder with a grin. "It's good for Lapis and Peridot to be exposed to human culture, even if they don't understand it." She let go of Greg's shoulder to look down at Jasper. "It's good for you too."
Jasper was too distracted to realize that Garnet's words were directed at her. She got up slowly, almost forgetting her alien prize until the smell of singeing cloth caught her attention. The quartz gem scooped up the alien and frowned at the new brown patch on its right arm. Jasper heard a gasp and her head snapped to the right. Peridot and Lapis were staring at her, Peridot's hand holding onto Lapis's arm. Jasper was reminded of their first meeting at the hospital and shook her head to rid herself of the memories.
Before either of the gems could run off, Jasper closed the distance between them with seemingly confident strides. In truth, all that Jasper could think of was her last words to Lapis and how they saw her converting back to her corrupted form. She looked down at the two of them and could read the uncertainty in both their eyes. "I'm okay."
Peridot shook her head and lifted a hand almost like she wanted to make sure Jasper was really there. Lapis simply lowered her head and held onto her arms like she was trying to hold herself together lest she crumple like a shattered cup. "Steven healed you again?" Peridot asked, her eyes glancing at Steven who was watching them along with Greg and Connie. Garnet had sat down facing the fire and away from them.
Jasper grunted an affirmative and shifted the alien in her arm, the patch was causing her skin to itch when it rubbed up against it. Peridot's eyes flashed to the toy and despite herself a small smile tugged at her lips. Jasper frowned when Lapis still didn't look at her. She looked at the alien toy and then Peridot. "I want to share a few words with Lapis." Lapis flinched and Peridot's eyes hardened. "It won't be like the last time." Lapis glanced up from her bangs. "I want to apologize," Jasper said solemnly, meeting Lapis's hidden gaze.
The green gem chewed on her bottom lip as she weighed her options. She gave a quick jerk of a nod and had to lean up on her toes to grab the toy from Jasper's arm. Peridot walked over to the group, nearly tripping several times due to the toy being almost her size. She didn't turn her back to the two like Garnet, she stood watching them while holding the toy close to her.
"Don't apologize," Lapis said before Jasper could even utter a syllable. She lifted her head so Jasper could see how haunted her eyes were. Lapis looked back down and gave a pathetic chuckle, the palm of her right hand rubbing at her eye as if she just woke up from a nap and was trying to rub the sleep from her eye. "You were telling the truth at Mask Island and even back on Greg's boat."
"I was wrong," Jasper said. She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling her hand bump one of her horns. "I shouldn't have said the things that I did."
"Yes, you should have," Lapis argued. She looked at the others, her eyes lingering on Peridot the longest. The green gem tried to give an encouraging smile but it was hideously forced. She looked back at Jasper. "I could shatter them all in a second and you know that. You are the only one that has ever seen the extent of the damage I could cause but you still follow me around like a runt that doesn't realize that its mom abandoned it." Lapis shook her head and Jasper could see the confusion in her eyes. "Why do you still want me? I don't understand. I hurt you, kept you as a prisoner for months and yet here you are."
"Here I am," Jasper repeated. She took a long time to think over Lapis's words and her own answer. Finally, the quartz gem shrugged. "I don't know why I still want you. You can be a monster but you also showed me how wrong I was about fusion." She lifted a hand when Lapis took a step back in fear. "This isn't about Malachite. This is about me. Finding and seeing you has been my only goal for so long and now that I'm here, now that I can touch you," Jasper rested a hand on Lapis's crossed arms. Lapis looked conflicted for a moment and the quartz gem could hear Garnet rising to her feet behind her. However, the water gem did nothing and Jasper took it as a positive sign. "I don't know what to do now. I can't go back to Homeworld. Jaspers were created to fight and to never give up but I have nothing to fight or fight for. Now I'm lost and the only thing that has ever made me want to be better was you, even if it was for the wrong reasons. I'm just never going to stop wanting you until I find something else, I suppose," she finished.
Lapis looked at Jasper for a very long time, her eyes taking in her new form. Her shoulders shook with the sudden laughter bubbling up from her chest. "That's really sad and I've been trapped in a mirror for thousands of years."
Jasper nodded with her own chuckle. "I know it is." She opened her mouth to say something else but chanting stopped her. All around her, the people got up and started counting down from twenty. Jasper turned her head and saw that Steven and Connie were pumping their fists in time of the counting. Only the Homeworld gems did not join in the count down. When they reached zero, everyone erupted into cheers. Even Garnet clapped and smiled. Jasper turned her head to ask Lapis if she knew what was going on but movement over the ocean caught her eye. Five streaks of light flew up the sky before each exploded with a loud bang into different colors. Lion gave a yelp as he was rudely awoken and fell off the van. More streaks flew up and some even formed images like smiley faces and Jasper could have sworn she saw one erupting into an image of a rose.
"What are they?" Lapis asked, watching several lights erupting one after another in quick succession like they were timed.
"Rockets?" Jasper tried to answer. "They don't seem to be harming anyone." Her eyes narrowed as a shower of lights erupted from one streak, her eyes not liking the sudden bright flashes of lights. She could see the clouds of smoke build more after each explosion. "Perhaps it is a signal of some sort."
"No!" Steven laughed. While the two were trying to figure out what the explosions were, Steven and Connie walked up behind them. He grabbed something out of his pocket that looked like a whistle and blew into the mouth piece. A paper tongue rolled out and the sound that emitted from the toy caused both Jasper and Lion to hiss. Steven smiled sheepishly as he pocketed the toy right after.
Connie just laughed, now used to Jasper's need to hiss at everything that annoyed her, including herself. "They're called fireworks." She followed one streak of light with her finger as she explained. "Humans create them to celebrate special occasions. They first light a fuse which will go into a chamber to ignite the pack of gunpowder inside. The gunpowder ignition causes the firework to move and with the proper design, fly really high into the sky. Some people put in a few different metals with the gunpowder that once lit, emit the light that you are now seeing. If the person making the fireworks have the correct calculations, the fuse will continue from the gunpowder package into the one at the head of the firework. This package would only hold the metals and when lit explodes into what you see now." The firework Connie was following erupted into a shower of red sparks.
Steven opened his mouth to ask a question about the patterns but the looks on Jasper's and Lapis's faces told him that they were confused enough as it is. It was also probably better if the gems didn't understand the concept behind fireworks and tried it out themselves. Steven trusted Lapis not to do anything too rash but if Peridot got wind of how to make fireworks. The boy ended his train of thought with a shudder.
"Well, I've always been more of a fan of sparklers myself," he said. His face suddenly lit up and he grabbed Lapis's hand and Jasper's pants. "That reminds me! Come on, I have a treat for you guys." Steven rushed over to his father's van, throwing open the doors and diving inside. The two gems watched as various items were thrown out of the van without care. Most of them belonged inside a trashcan instead of a human's living quarters in Jasper's opinion. They heard a crash but Steven climbed out without a scratch and ran back to them. He held up two metal stick things and Jasper and Lapis grabbed one each.
Jasper took a sniff and wrinkled her nose at the scent. It wasn't edible, she was sure but it was too small to hold any other value.
Steven laughed at Jasper's reaction and held up the lighter that he held in his other hand. "I have to light it first." He reached for Lapis's sparkler first and struggled to turn on the lighter a few times before a tiny flame sputtered out. Steven lit Lapis's sparkler and it flared a brilliant red. Lapis quickly stretched her arm as far as she could but when the sparkler didn't burn her, she slowly pulled it closer to examine it. Jasper glanced down at her own unlit sparkler and held it out for Steven to light. Her sparkler didn't give off red sparks but green. Jasper didn't immediately stretch her arm like Lapis but rather she flicked her wrist and saw how for a moment it looked as if she had drew a green line in the open air. A grin lit up Jasper's face as she continued to move the sparkler around, watching as she created new lines and if she was fast enough, even draw circles. A bubble of delightful laughter escaped the quartz gem but she couldn't find herself to care. A similar laugh was heard to her side and Jasper looked down to see that Lapis was as entranced with the sparklers as she was. Lapis tried to write something in the air but she was always a second too slow to complete it but it didn't matter, the water gem was still giggling and tried again.
All too soon the sparklers died and Jasper and Lapis were left holding with dead rods. Jasper looked down to where Steven was but found that the space was empty. She turned her head and saw that while she was occupied with the sparkler, Steven had walked to the campfire. He and Connie were playing with a pink and purple sparkler respectively while Garnet watched them, her hands pressed together and smiling at the children. Greg was there as well but he was plucking at his guitar's strings instead of playing with the fireworks. Jasper's eyes snapped to Peridot. Jasper's prize was left on its side like Peridot forgot that it was even there. She noticed that the technician was holding two sparklers, one red and one blue. The gem wasn't waving them in the air but rather just watching them sparkle with a small smile.
Jasper and Lapis walked back to the group and Jasper sat down in front of the fire again. She tossed her dead rod into the flames, hoping that the fire would cause it to sparkle again. When it did nothing but give a weak crack, Jasper frowned and grabbed a stick to poke at the rod. It still did nothing.
"It only works once." Steven sat down next to Jasper and threw in his own rod. He looked up at her, his eyes now serious. "Did you have fun today?"
Jasper gave a noncommittal grunt but she realized with a start that she did have fun. She was glad that she came on this trip but she was never going to admit that to Steven. He would try to drag her all over Beach City.
"We're back and we replaced the food that somebody ate!"
Steven gave a shout of joy and rushed over to Amethyst and Pearl who were carrying some bulky plastic bags. Amethyst shrugged at the accusation Pearl gave her but she couldn't lie and say she didn't eat all the snacks. The purple gem plopped down next to Jasper where Steven had been sitting a few moments before. She upended the plastic bags she had been carrying and several items spilled out. Jasper loomed over Amethyst so she had a clear view of the items. They were packages of chocolate, gram crackers, and marshmallows. There was also a package filled with thin metal rods, each half a foot long.
"For s'mores," Amethyst explained when Jasper looked confused. She ripped open the packages and grabbed a marshmallow and a metal rod. She skewered the marshmallow and thrust it into the fire. Amethyst waited until the entire marshmallow was on fire before pulling it out. She allowed the flames to go out on their own, leaving the marshmallow to look more like a chunk of charcoal than food. Amethyst finished making her s'more before offering it to Jasper.
"I can't eat that," Jasper said, pushing away the offered s'more. Amethyst just shrugged and plopped it into her mouth.
Pearl had come over by now and soon everyone was sitting around the fire. Garnet must have used her future vision to predict this outcome because the fire was big enough for everyone to sit around it without being cramped.
"Did you win another alien, Peridot?" Pearl asked, pointing at the alien toy next to Jasper. The quartz gem saw Peridot's eyes flash to the toy like she wanted to steal it. Jasper growled at the gem and pulled the toy closer to her. Peridot frowned and crossed her arms.
"You left it alone so I took it back," Jasper said, her eyes challenging Peridot. The green gem met her gaze for a few moments before huffing and glaring at the fire.
Pearl saw the interaction and opened her mouth to chastise Jasper for whatever the quartz gem did but her eyes settled on Amethyst. She scowled at the purple quartz. "Don't eat everything again!"
Jasper turned her head and noticed that Amethyst had already gone through two entire chocolate bars and a pack of gram crackers. The purple gem shrugged and tossed the s'more ingredients to Steven on the other side of the fire. Steven and Connie quickly went about making their own s'mores, laughing and challenging each other to a s'more cookoff. Jasper had to concede that the longer she had to smell the marshmallows roasting in the fire, the more she wanted to try one.
Pearl must have noticed the way Jasper's eyes followed Steven's marshmallow as the boy pulled it away from the flames. "You can't eat strict solids yet but I suppose you can have a few s'mores if you don't eat them with the crackers."
Steven gasped in delight and ran to the other side, sitting in between Jasper and Pearl. "I can show you how to roast marshmallows!"
"You put them in the flames," Jasper said. "What more can there possibly be?"
"You have to know how long you want them toasted." He held up his skewer and displayed his lightly browned marshmallow. "Personally, I like them soft and a little chewy so I only leave them for a minute at the edge of the flames." His eyes moved to Amethyst who somehow got her hands on another package marshmallows. "Others might like them crunchy like Amethyst so she leaves them literally in the flames until it becomes all black."
"It's better," Amethyst said through a mouthful of charred marshmallows.
Jasper grabbed a skewer and worked on a marshmallow. She didn't know how long she should leave the marshmallow in the fire so she did what Steven did, taking it out when it became slightly brown. Jasper bit into it and frowned, it was too chewy and cold for her taste. The quartz gem put on another marshmallow and thrust it into the flames. It caught on fire and Jasper blew it out when the entire thing was charred. She waited a few moments for it to cool down before biting into it. Jasper quickly ate the rest and worked on another marshmallow and then another. These were better than banana smoothies!
"That a girl, sis!" Amethyst cheered. The two quartz gems took turns roasting their marshmallows to a charred husk.
"Must be a quartz thing," Peridot said to herself as she watched the two go through a whole bag of marshmallows. Lapis nodded in agreement. Peridot eyed the alien laying next to Jasper. If only it were made of metal, then she could steal it. When Steven offered Peridot his bag of marshmallows and a clean skewer, she shook her head. She found eating kind of disgusting, especially whatever the two were eating. Peridot looked up at Lapis and suddenly smiled. "You're blue."
Lapis chuckled despite herself and hugged her knees to her chest, resting a cheek on them to look at Peridot. "I've always been blue."
"No," Steven called out over the crackling of the fire and light chatter around him and Lapis lifted her head to look at the boy. Lapis noticed that in between marshmallows, Jasper would glance over to her. "You've been dull lately but now you're bright again!"
For some reason, Lapis had the suspicion that Steven meant more than the color of her body. She had known that Steven was far more perceptive than he lets on with his constant smiles and jokes but he usually hid it. Lapis looked back at the fire where Jasper's marshmallow had melted right off her rod which was now glowing red from being in the flames for too long. The sight made Lapis smile even if she didn't know why. "I guess you're right."
