This fanfic contains a lot of swearing, smoking, violence and various other mature themes.

Jasper, Peridot, Lapis Laszuli, Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Peedee, Kiki, Gunga, Onion, Sadie and Lars are the property of Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network.

This is an AU where gems differ slightly from canon in that they have a measurable heart beat as well as other small changes that you will likely notice, I'm not mentioning all of them here because spoilers and I'm lazy. Mask Island is much bigger than canon version.

Day 6 of this story is the day of "Super Watermelon Island".

This fanfic is written from the perspective of E. K. Brooks.

Chapter 6: Rocks

Day 13

Hunger woke me up in the middle of the night. The sky outside was a lighter gray than before. I checked my phone; it was 3:46 in the morning. It was still raining, but less than before. I grabbed a meal bar from the back of the shelter. It was holding up pretty well, no leaks so far. I couldn't help but feel a bit proud. A sudden sharp pain in my lower abdomen almost made me gasp. Fucking hell. What day was it? I used my phone again to look at my period tracker app. It had been very useful so far, since I was completely incapable of using a pocket calendar – I kept on losing them. The app said 'Three days left'. Well, shit. Even though it happened every month, it still managed to surprise me. Parker had advised me to go on birth control pills during my 'vacation', but my family had a history of deep vein thrombosis, so that was out of the question. I groaned to myself and lay down again, munching on the chocolate flavored bar. I had brought a big pack of bio degradable tampons, which solved the problem of where to throw them away. I never used them normally, preferring pads, but it would be a lot more efficient and less mess this way. I turned on the lantern and flipped through my notepad and sighed when I found the page I was looking for. It was several doodles of the main character in my book, Jenny. One of them was of her playing the cello, tears sliding down her shadowed face. It was from a very emotional scene where she overhears something terrible, but has to pretend she didn't and to pull it off she had to continue playing. I don't know what kept drawing me back to that particular picture, but I looked at it every once in a while when I felt blue. The other doodles were battle poses and close ups of her eyes and hands. Lightning flashed on the horizon and I counted above thirty before a distant clap of thunder rumbled. Good, the storm was finally heading off. I flipped over on my back and turned off the lantern. Jasper was breathing deeply and her steady breaths in combination with the rhythmic patter of rain on the roof soothed my mood. I closed my eyes.

The world shook and I jolted awake. Another earthquake?! Then I realized Jasper was shaking me by the shoulder.

"The rain has stopped" she said, grinning down at me. After a moment I crawled out of the tent. The sky was still overcast, but looking much brighter. It must be after daybreak then I decided and stretched and yawned hugely. It felt good to stand up again and be able to move freely.

"I could use your… assistance" she stated, giving me a stand offish look, like she was expecting me to say no.

"Sure" I said "just give me a minute to wake up". The corner of her mouth twitched and she turned around and walked carefully toward the jungle. I surveyed the campsite. Everything was wet, but looked ok. I lifted the lid to the supply pit and was pleased to see that the sand at the bottom was dry to the touch. I grabbed the small backpack and put a bottle of water and a couple of meal bars in it, and then I put my tool belt on over my shorts. As I started toward the trees, I lit a cigarette.

By the time she had reached the stuffy air of the forest I had caught up to her. She was moving slowly, as if it required great effort.

For the next few days, we spent many hours looking for the warp pad, but finding no clues as to where it might be. Jasper's energy reserves depleted quite fast, so when we weren't searching, she slept. While she rested, I gathered fruit, checked the nets and went swimming in the shallows.

Day 16

Morning had barely broken when I was roused from sleep by my uterus trying to commit suicide. I tried massaging my stomach gently, shushing it as if it was screaming. After a few minutes the cramps had been reduced from an eight to a five. I wanted to curl into a ball and go back to sleep so I wouldn't have to deal with it, but I knew that wouldn't work. Reluctantly I crawled out of the tent to take some painkillers and insert a tampon. Guh, so much work. I thought about not bothering about the tampon when the cramps intensified again. It felt like balls of ice exploding in my ovaries and a hard, twisting sensation filled my lower stomach. "Mothershitfuck" I hissed as my knees buckled. I massaged again and the intensity returned to a dull, throbbing five. I decided I had to act quickly. Jasper was nowhere to be seen which was fine by me for the moment. I dry swallowed some pills and used hand sanitizer before awkwardly taking care of the bleeding element. The fire was in the ember stage and I set the flat rock I used to bake fish in the middle of the pit, thinking I could use the heated rock to soothe my rebellious internal organs. After a few minutes, the rock was too warm for my fingers so I wrapped it in a towel and curled myself around it like a cinnamon bun. The relief was almost instantaneous and I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. My mind was blissfully blank for a while before I remembered Jasper would want to go out looking for the warp pad again soon.

"Nooo" I whined, hugging the rock closer. I heard footsteps approaching in the sand. A shadow fell over me.

"What are you doing?" she asked, sounding mildly amused.

"Never you mind…" I grumbled, wanting to be left alone. The sand moved close by and something soft brushed my face.

"Are you injured?" Jasper inquired sternly, sounding much closer. I opened my eyes – she was squatting in front of me. Gods, how was I going to explain this?

"No, I'm not injured. My internal organs are just celebrating the fact that I'm not pregnant. Heat helps, hence the rock" I said, trying not to sound too sarcastic.

Jasper looked almost comically confused.

"I'm going to look for the warp pad" she said, giving me a dubious look.

She walked off and I sighed to myself. We had been searching for three days, but hadn't found it. She seemed so sure that there was one, but I was starting to doubt it. I wasn't going to be the one to crush her hopes though. I was worried about her. The crack hadn't gotten any worse over the last few days, but she seemed to have less and less energy. Maybe I should try to convince her to rest more. I knew that if we didn't manage to find the warp pad, we could always go to the main land with Fernandez when she came to deliver supplies. That was still more than two weeks away though, so the fastest way to get Jasper fixed up was still finding the warp pad. I shifted into a more comfortable position and tried to get some sleep.

A thud woke me from my slumber. Jasper was standing over me again.

"I brought you another rock" she said, pointing to a stone about the same size as the one I was hugging. I looked at her blearily, brain lagging behind.

She sat down in the sand next to the fire, throwing a huge branch onto the dying embers so that ash flew into the air. The big hunk of wood eventually started smoking and flames licked its bark.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up. The improvised heating pad had cooled down enough to not be effective anymore. I hadn't had a cup of coffee or a cigarette this morning and judging by the sun it must be close to lunch time. I filled the smallest pot with water from the jerry can and saw that it was nearly empty. I swore underneath my breath at the fact that I would have to go get some more later. I didn't want to do anything today. I sat down and waited for the water to boil, noticing as I did so that Jasper had placed the rock she had brought in the fire. After a little while she reached out and grabbed it and tried to hand it to me. I looked from the rock, to her face and back at the rock.

"Congratulations" she said. Confused, I took the rock out of her hand without thinking. It was too hot! I screamed and dropped it on the sand.

"Jasper what the fuck!" I gasped, shaking my hand vigorously.

She frowned at me, looking confused as well as insulted. "But you said… your body is celebrating" the penny dropped and I started to laugh, caught completely off guard.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked, sounding insulted. I kept on laughing and then suddenly I was crying, sobbing.

"Why are you crying?" now she sounded horrified. I tried to steady myself and took deep breaths. Finally calm, I said; "I'm sorry, when I said the thing about celebrating, I was being sarcastic. I'm going through a part of the human female reproductive cycle. It hurts a lot and heat helps relax the muscles that are causing the pain. And then you gave me a rock and said congratulations, it was just too funny!" I chuckled, wiping my eyes. "And sweet…" I smiled and looked up at her face which still looked confused. I wrapped the stone in the towel and held it close, feeling the heat doing its work.

"Thank you" I said, feeling my ears heat up. She relaxed visibly at my words.

With a cup of coffee finally in my hands I lit the first cigarette of the day, the nicotine making my head spin.

"What are those things?" Jasper asked, pointing at the cigarette in my mouth.

"They're called cigarettes. It's really bad for you"

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"Because I like it. It's my body and my choice" she looked at me with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Can I try one?" she asked. I nearly dropped my cup of coffee in surprise.

"Um… What?"

"Can I try one?" she repeated. I just stared at her. "What?" she asked, starting to sound annoyed.

"It's just… Not a lot of people want to… try them. They just think it's disgusting and dangerous. Well it is disgusting and dangerous… Are you sure?"

She huffed and then smirked "My body, my choice"

"Fine" I said, raising my eyebrows and shrugging. I held one out to her and she grasped it between her thumb and index finger. It looked comically small compared to her hand and I couldn't help but smile. She put it between her lips and waited for a second or two before saying in a muffled voice; "Nothing's happening"

I chuckled and held out the lighter to her, "Well, you have to light it first"

She grabbed the lighter and inspected it, then glanced at me.

"Here" I said, taking it out of her hand and clicking it, showing her the small flame before giving it back.

She managed to light the cigarette after a few false starts.

"Now you inhale"

She drew in a huge breath, half the cigarette turning into ash and then dropped it as she started to cough. I forced myself not to laugh.

"That is truly disgusting" she said hoarsely, and then chuckled. I joined in with a snicker of my own, saying "I know, right? You get used to it and then it becomes nice"

"I'm never doing that again" she smirked and I clapped her on the shoulder and said "Good for you, Jasper. Good for you"

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and then she said she was going to go lie down for a while. 'Good' I thought. I smiled to myself. She had asked to try something of mine. That was a big step in the right direction. I couldn't help but feel a bit proud. What had happened had put me in a much, much better mood and I decided to take advantage of it and get some work done. I grabbed the jerry can and went to refill it. When I returned my stomach was grumbling and I remembered I hadn't had anything to eat since last night. I scarfed down half a packet of peanuts and took another dose of painkillers, not wanting the cramps to get to an unmanageable level again. They were holding steady at a five and a half. Checking the nets, I found two crabs and five fish. I returned to the beach, cleaned my catch and started to cook. I ate two of the fish for brunch, wrapping the other three in some leaves and put the crabs in separate pots so they wouldn't kill each other. I decided I would try to repair my swimming shorts and grabbed the sewing kit from the Luggage. Jasper was fast asleep. I sang as I worked on the shorts, taking an occasional break for a cigarette and to reheat the stone. After a few hours I decided it wasn't going to get any better and tried them on. They were a bit more snug and one pocket had had to be sacrificed to patch a particularly tattered part. A decent result.

"Absolutely fabulous, Pats. Yes, fabulous darling. Time for some Bolly Stoli? Yes, darling, just don't tell Saff" I snickered to myself, feeling compelled to have a swig of vodka, regretting not having packed any champagne.

The sky was a brilliant periwinkle blue and completely free of clouds. The stars would be out tonight.

I went to wake Jasper, so we could do another sweep for the warp pad. We searched for a good two hours before giving up this time. As the time wore on, Jasper looked more and more subdued.

"Hey" I said as we started to head back to camp "We'll be bound to find it soon, the island isn't that big" she shrugged and looked annoyed, but I knew she was disappointed underneath. I picked up some firewood on the way and threw it onto the pile next to the fire pit.

Jasper sat down in the sand and started to fuss with her mane; I glanced over and saw something green tangled in the hair at the back of her neck. She growled as she tried to get at it, but couldn't quite reach.

"Let me" I said. I knew she would have refused if I had asked if she wanted help. She grumbled and lowered her arms. I stepped up behind her and felt my heart beat faster as I touched her hair. It was impossibly soft. I began untangling the green thing, discovering that it was a huge burdock.

"Oh fuck me, it's a burdock" I said, but my internal creeper whooped because it would take forever to get out, which meant I could touch her hair for ages.

"What's that?" she said, sounding both annoyed and worried.

"It's a plant, it's not poisonous or anything, it's just gonna take long to get it out. It's designed to stick to animals and birds and stuff so that it can be carried to new places and spread its seeds"

"Great" she muttered.

I worked silently, unwinding long pale strands of hair from the burdock's sticky spikes. Without noticing, I started to sing The Rains of Castamere. To my epic surprise, Jasper started to hum along. I stopped everything I was doing for a moment, stunned. I quickly resumed however. It was such a long time since I had sung together with anyone (even if it was just humming), a broad smile stretched my mouth to its limits and I could feel my cheeks and ears flush. When I reached the end of the song, I started again. When I came to the second verse Jasper actually sang the words. Her voice was deep and raspy, making my skin tingle. She continued on to start the first verse again. Our voices flowed in harmony and by the time we reached the last note for the third time, the burdock was out and I felt elated.

"You have a beautiful voice" I said, stepping around and holding up the burdock for her to see. She looked at me uncertainly, as if she was expecting me to continue by saying "nah, just kidding, you suck".

"I like that song" she said with feigned nonchalance and I grinned. "What?" she demanded testily.

"I like that song too. It's from a book series called 'A song of Ice and Fire'. The song is about two families, or houses, one ruling over the other one. The ruler was perceived as weak by his subjects so they rose up against him. But the ruler's son marched against the upstart Lord to restore honor to his house and show they were no weaklings. The son crushed the revolt and burned their castle and executed all members of the family"

Jasper raised an eyebrow at me.

"I love those books. The story is so good! There are dragons, magic, monsters and heroes. There are many factions, all vying for the iron throne of the seven kingdoms. There are so many characters involved, and the author doesn't abide by the namby pamby convention of 'the good guys must win', it's excellent! You keep on being surprised! There's war, death, disease, deception, madness, betrayal, love, honor, redemption and vengeance. Soooo much vengeance! It's fantastic!" I picked up a stick and brandished it as a sword, assuming the first position. "My favorite character is Arya of house Stark. She is not like other girls, she wants to fight, not make pretty useless things like her sister. She learns how to use the sword, but loses her family members one by one. She becomes an assassin and swears to avenge her family" Jasper had noticeably perked up.

"You humans are more interesting than I thought. What happens to the girl, does she defeat her enemies?" she asked eagerly.

"I don't know. The author hasn't released the sixth book yet. He's worked on it for years and is under a lot of pressure. It will come when it's ready" I said solemnly and saluted George R.R. Martin with my stick. I looked at Jasper and wondered who she most resembled in the story. Maybe a mix of Brienne of Tarth and the Hound? I didn't mention this, not that she'd know who I was talking about, but filed it away for later. A cramp twisted my insides suddenly and I dropped the sword stick. "Mothershitfuckasssssss" I hissed and clutched at my stomach. Fuck! I had forgotten to take more painkillers during the afternoon. My eyes teared up and I sank to the ground, pressing my lips together to not whimper aloud.

"Eri-ca?" Jasper was at my side in half a second. A wave of nausea swept over me, and I held out a hand to stop her coming any closer. I took deep breaths. Acid burned my throat, but the queasiness faded away slowly.

"More… celebrating?" Jasper asked and I let out a snort of laughter, despite myself.

"Yeah, I forgot to take my pills on time…" I said and stood up to go get said pills, but I must have got to my feet too quickly. My head swam and my knees threatened to buckle again. A huge warm hand grabbed my arm and I fell against something very solid that wasn't the ground. My head cleared and I realized to my horror-mixed-delight that I was leaning my head against Jasper's massive chest. I gasped in surprise and looked up at concerned yellow eyes. I felt my face go beet red and my ears felt as if they were on fire. A slight blush graced her cheeks as she said; "Breathe". I drew in a breath and swallowed hard, regaining my balance.

"Thanks" I squeaked and stepped back, not knowing what to do with my arms. Why was I behaving like a fucking fourteen year old? I was over thirty gods damn it! Get a hold of yourself, take a deep breath and wrangle that fucking uterus like a woman. I straightened my back and went to pick up the first aid kit. I swallowed some pills with a drink of water and then turned around to look for the stones I had used to battle the pain before. My heart swelled when I saw Jasper putting both of them in the fire. I looked her in the eye like a fucking grown up and said "Thank you". I sat down in the sand, rubbing my face and then my belly, sighing deeply.

"This is normal?" Jasper asked, sitting down too.

"It's different for every woman" I responded, wishing the pain would go away and never come back. After a few minutes silence, Jasper grabbed one of the stones, wrapped it in the towel and handed it to me. I thanked her again and hugged it close. The sun was barely setting, but I felt exhausted. And hungry. I waited for the painkillers to kick in and then went to get the crabs still in the pots. I changed the water and but it to boil, holding back tears as I ended the crustaceans' lives with my knife. Wiping my eyes on my sleeve, I threw them into the water. A wonderful smell rose from the pot as they cooked, and I wasn't the only one who sniffed the air appreciatively.

I glanced over at Jasper who met my gaze with a thin smile.

"Do you want to try one?" she raised her eyebrows at me, hesitated a moment, then nodded.

When the crabs were done, I fished them out and put the biggest one on a lid and handed it to her.

"I need to wait until it cools a bit, but you go ahead" I said, nodding encouragingly at her.

"I'll wait" she said, putting the lid on the sand.

After a few minutes I judged the crab cool enough to eat and lifted off the top and used my fingers to get at the meat and sauce. Jasper mimicked me and smacked her lips appreciatively. I showed her how to crack the legs to get at the meat inside, but she surprised me by eating the legs as they were. I gaped as she crunched them in her teeth, apparently having no trouble at all to digest a calcium rich exoskeleton.

"You can eat the whole thing?"

"Yes, you can't?"

"No! It would rip my insides to shreds!"

"Tch. You humans and your soft bodies"

"Hey!" I held up my left arm and flexed it "This isn't soft"

Jasper chuckled. "That's nothing. This" she flexed "is hard", I could see every muscle stand out as if it was part of an anatomical study. Her arm was thicker than my thigh. I swallowed hard, feeling my cheeks flush. The red stripes on her skin only served to accentuate the curve of her bicep.

She grinned and shook her head at my expression.

"W-well" I stammered. "Eh… you win. Are all gems so… buff?"

"The soldiers are"

"How can you concentrate?" I blurted out, then covered my mouth with my hand, blushing furiously.

She burst out laughing. This was the first time I had ever heard her laughing out of mirth.

"I prefer my ladies to be smaller than me" she explained whilst grinning and looking away. I squealed internally.

"Do you have someone special, back home?"

"No. Not for a long time. There was one though, back in the war. But she didn't make it"

"Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss" I said, my eyes tearing up. "What was her name?"

"Red Beryl. Do you have a special someone?"

"No, not anymore. Her name is Christina. Possibly the smartest person I have ever met"

We both stared into the distance. Me lost in memories of Christina, Jasper probably thinking about Red Beryl. We sighed at the same time and snickered. I made a cup of coffee and grabbed the second stone out of the fire.

After a while I got up and stretched, yawning hugely. I snuggled down on top of my sleeping bag, curling around the pleasantly warm rock. Soon I drifted off to sleep, content.

It was dark. The long corridor stretched ahead of me. I started running, dropping the bucket of crabs on the ground. The clang it made was too loud! They would find me! I reached the end of the hall, turned left and kept on running. Where is the princess? At the end of the next corridor! I was sure. I had to get her out. The soldiers must be looking for me already. I reached the heavy door and tried to open it with the green key. The lock fought me but clicked when I leaned my shoulder against the wood. I wrenched it open. The cell was empty. What?! Where was she?!

"OVER HERE!" soldiers shouted and charged at me.

"No!" I screamed and took off. I ran along endless corridors, the sound of running feet echoing behind me. I ran up some stairs and ended up on top of a tower. There was nowhere else to run!

"Stop!" a soldier shouted at me as I climbed the battlements.

"I'd rather die!" I said and then I jumped. As I fell, I turned around to look up at the soldiers and it was then I realized I was wearing a pink frilly dress. I was the princess?

I jolted awake, sitting up and panting as if I had actually just been running through a castle. I clutched at my heart, it was beating too fast!

"Sometimes, some crimes, go slipping through the cracks. But these two, gumshoes, are picking up the slack. There's no case to big, no case to small…" my breathing steadied, then I realized Jasper was lying next to me, looking at me apprehensively.

"Jesus!" I twitched away in surprise, the movement triggering a cramp and I doubled over, hissing. I pressed my hands against my stomach and rolled to the side. Tears ran down my cheeks as my uterus clenched into a ball of iron. I gasped for breath, my mind overloading with physical and mental signals. The edges of my vision began to flicker and black spots popped in front of my eyes. I forced myself to say the words of my calm down song; "Sometimes, some crimes, go slipping through the cracks. But these two, gumshoes, are picking up the slack. There's no case to big, no case to small, when you need help just call. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger. No, no it never fails once they're involved, somehow whatever's wrong gets solved. Fresh prints, not since, Watson and Mr. Holmes, have two minds, so fine, looked under every stone. When you need some help to save the day, they're never far away. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger. No, no it never fails once they're involved, somehow whatever's wrong gets solved. Grey skies – it's trouble, bad guys – see double, when they're around, the chips are never down. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger. No, no it never fails, they'll take the clues and find the wheres and whys and whos. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale's, rescue rangers. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale, when there's danger. Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale…" I breathed deeply, forcing my body to relax.

"What… was that?" Jasper asked, sounding scared.

I cleared my throat, trying to not feel embarrassed. "I um… I don't know… I had a bad dream"

"You were making noise and moving around before you sat up…"

"I dreamt I was in a castle, running from soldiers. I wanted to rescue the princess, but then it turned out I was the princess and I fell, no I jumped off a tower…" I rubbed my temples and groaned. I felt like I wanted a hug, a stiff drink and a bath, not necessarily in that order.

"I have bad dreams too, sometimes…" she said quietly and I turned around to look at her. The fire light made her gem sparkle.

"I dream I'm still at the bottom of the ocean, battling Lapis for control. Then Malachite takes over and I just… become something else, with different thoughts and emotions and everything hurts. I keep myself down at the bottom because I made a promise, but I'm also fighting to break free because I was tricked. And then I'm me again, chained to Lapis and I'm drowning…"

She looked so vulnerable as she spoke and I temporarily forgot about my own pain.

"Is that what happened to you? How you ended up here?" I asked carefully.

She was silent for a moment. Then she spoke: "When we arrived on earth, we took the rebels into custody. Rose Quartz was still alive, and I knew Yellow Diamond would want to deal with her personally. They broke out of holding and their fucking fusion challenged me. They crashed out ship! I wasn't going to give up, they were fighting dirty! I asked Lapis to fuse with me, so we could beat them. She agreed and we danced and then… I was huge, more powerful than I have ever felt before in my life. New powers, new vision… It was glorious! I was going to smash them like the little shits they were, but then Lapis betrayed me! She used her powers to chain us and then dragged us to the bottom of the ocean. She kept me there for months… The weight of the ocean holding me down. Finally, I managed to overpower her and I took control. But then those fucking traitors found us and we fought. It felt so good to be able to fight, but they were using dirty tricks again, all four of them in one monstrous fusion! And then there were these little green things running around, distracting us! And then everything went dark" her eyes stared right through me.

"The next thing I remember is falling into water and… you, moving towards me"

It took me a moment to process all this new information. "What… is a fusion?"

"It's a physical combination of two or more gems. It's used for fighting. A fusion between gems of the same type is easy. You are united, of one mind, purposeful. It's an abominable and forbidden act to fuse with a different gem type than your own, but I was desperate. Those wretched rebels left me no choice, I had to make a fusion with Lapis to be able to beat them."

My mind boggled. I couldn't picture what she was saying.

"Wait, combine? Like, you get two heads and four arms and four legs?"

"What? No! Nothing happens if you're the same gem type, you just get bigger. But different gem type fusion makes you into a monster. Extra limbs, extra eyes…"

For some reason, Cthulhu popped into my head. "Whoa… How can you do all these things? Is it a gem thing or like a technology thing or what?"

"It's a gem thing"

I was silent for a moment. "I'm really sorry that happened to you Jasper. I can't imagine how you must be feeling…"

"I have never failed at a mission before. It was supposed to easy! Just an escort mission! And here I am, without a ship, my gem cracked, stuck on an island with" she took a deep breath before finishing with a soft "you…" looking at my face quickly and then away.

I was surprised, I thought she would say 'stuck on an island with a filthy human' or 'a fucking idiot'. The softness in her voice made my heart melt a little.

"Hey, don't worry. We'll find the warp pad soon and then get you fixed right up, alright?" I reached out a hand in the fire lit tent and found her arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "And, worst case scenario, if we don't find it before Fernandez gets here, then we can just take the long way around"

Now it wasn't just her gem sparkling in the warm light. She placed a massive hand over mine and said "Thank you, Erica"

"N-no problem" my spine had tingled as she said my name and my brain was cheering at the fact that she had finally thanked me for something.

Jasper fell back asleep soon and I crawled outside to have some pills, reheat the stone and have a cigarette under the moonlit sky. I had no idea what time it was, but it was pitch dark, so dawn was a long way off.

I took a long drag on my cigarette, blowing out a plume of smoke that hung in the air in front of me. There was no wind to speak of. Jasper's situation, how she had gotten here… Wow. Holy shit. Talk about trauma. Imprisoned at the bottom of the sea for months, locked in what imagined to be some sort of mental wrestling match with another gem. It sounded like torture. The triumph and relief she must have felt when she finally managed to take that Lapis gem down, and then the disappointment and humiliation of immediately getting attacked and knocked out by the rebels. Emotional rollercoaster. If that was their last interaction, how on earth were we going to convince them to let Jasper use their technology to get her gem repaired? I had no idea what so ever. I went to lie down again, hoping to get a few more hours of sleep before dawn.

Author's note:

If you've read any of my other stories, you'll know that they are centered around periods (except for the one that isn't). Why? Because of the severe lack of stories on the subject. It is a big part of being a cis female and it affects us in a lot of ways we might not even take notice of anymore. Personally I think stories that feature women should mention periods, period. It would show all the different aspects of the cycle, the emotions, the pain and the different ways different people chose to deal with them. "Sheltering" young people from "exposure" to sex and related subjects is very old fashioned. Come on. It's 2016.

Rescue Rangers intro: watch?v=JSPG9NPj73E