"This is so cool." Connie exclaimed, as she followed Steven down one of the corridors of the hand ship. "I can't believe you guys have your own space ship now." Stars in her eyes as she took it all in. Steven nodded, running a hand along some of the panels flickering in the walls.
"I'm sorry it took so long to call you." He said looking back at her woefully. She waved it away his concerns and shook her head.
"I get it believe me, if I had a whole space ship to try and figure out I probably wouldn't be able to pull myself away for weeks." They shared a laugh as he brought her into the cockpit. "So how much have you learned about it?" She asked as she hopped up into one of the pilot seats, swiveling it to face him. Steven beamed at that and extended a hand towards the controls. With just a flexing of his will and the invisible aura he was able to project the consoles sprang to life. Connie jumped from her chair as if worried she'd triggered something.
"I can pretty much fly it perfectly now. . .within the atmosphere at least, I haven't tried taking it to space. I've also. . ." He trailed off reaching into a nearby compartment to retrieve the arm limb enhancers that had fallen to the floor when Peridot poofed. "I also managed to access some of the logs stored in these things, seems like Peridot didn't put any security on them or the ship, she probably didn't think she needed it with Jasper around. She keeps talking about something called "the cluster" but since she apparently already knew what the cluster was when she made the logs she didn't feel the need to include that information" Connie's eyes turned downward at the mention of Peridot.
"So Rose really just hid her away without telling anyone?" Steven nodded solemnly, deflating slightly. "You told me she had secrets, but poofing a gem and hiding her away to keep them seems really scary, not that everything you told me about that night wasn't scary." Steven sighed, taking the seat Connie had jumped from.
"Yeah, and I'm sorry again I didn't call, everything happened so fast." She smiled and rested a hand on his shoulder.
"It's fine, like I said we were out that night anyway, I'm just glad you made it, but what are you going to do now? I mean, you gotta figure out what Rose wanted to keep Peridot from saying right?" He nodded again, slower this time.
"She came clean about her lion, since you know she kinda had to. She said it was a pet of hers a long time ago and she used her powers to extend his life and give him all the crazy powers he has. Garnet just took it at face value but Amethyst and I think something else is up." Connie raised an eyebrow and he elaborated. "We got to talking and it's kind of crazy just how much Rose can do right? We'd never thought about it before but after facing off against other gems. . ." He held up his hand ticking off fingers with each point he made. "Gravity manipulation, life creation, life extension, healing powers, a shield that can block practically anything. . . From what my mom's hologram told me, and from what amethyst remembers from stories Quartz gems are supposed to be soldiers, big strong fighters. Sure Rose can fight but her weapon isn't even a weapon it's a shield she had to get the sword somewhere else. It's just a lot, for a regular soldier to have right?" He leaned back in the seat, exhausted from the little sleep he'd been getting while working on the ship.
Connie nodded along following his logic. "What you're saying makes sense, from what you've told me not a lot of gems defected for the war, but if homeworld had a bunch of gems like Rose they never would have lost. How did they lose anyway?" Steven rubbed the gem in his forehead remembering the stories the holo-pearl had told him
"Mom's hologram was a little vague on that, she said the leader of the earth colony Pink Diamond fell in battle and that de-moralized the troops and they all left, that's when the other diamonds sent the wave that corrupted all the other gems." Connie got that thoughtful far off look that she got when she was about to make a brilliant point that seemed so obvious after she said it.
"That doesn't make any sense though. Gems aren't like humans, you you beat a gem to the point where she can't keep fighting anymore she doesn't die even if you mortally wound her she would just poof into her gem. So either the rebellion would have taken her prisoner, but the diamonds probably wouldn't have attacked like that, but if homeworld retained her she would have just come back." For once Steven got to it before her, and his eyes went wide. He felt sick, the wound still throbbing in his stomach didn't do him any favors as he thought he might vomit at the realization.
"Unless they didn't poof her." He could feel tears in the corners of his eyes as he met connie's. "That's gotta be it, you're right she couldn't have just "Fallen in battle." Connie understood and pressed her hands to her mouth. "They must have shattered her, Rose must have shattered her." The tears flowed out freely and he felt Connie's arms going around him. Despite everything he had held out hope for Rose, that whatever secrets she was keeping were innocuous ones, that there was nothing truly sinister about it. This though? It destroyed the image he'd held for as long as he could remember of he fun loving, sweet and child like Rose Quartz.
"There might be another explanation." Connie said trying to calm him as she stroked gently on his back. "You can't be sure until you have some kind of proof." He gave a shuddering breath as he got himself under control and hugged her tightly before pulling away.
"You're right, I need to find out what happened, and I know just how to do it, but it's something I have to do alone Connie, so maybe you should head home." She took hold of both her hands and looked into his still moist eyes.
"Are you sure, I could help." He shook his head and smiled.
"I'll be fine, but I don't think you can help this time, trust me okay?" She nodded and hugged him again. They stayed that way for a few minutes for he brought her back out to the warp outside the sky arena. They returned to the temple where the gems were mostly congregated in the living room. Rose was brushing lion's mane, amethyst was making some kind of green sludge in the blender while Garnet relaxed on the couch. Steven looked to Connie, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Maybe you can help."
A moment later Connie and the Holo-steven he'd created made their way down into the living room to engage the Gems in a discussion as to how Connie's sword training was going. While they did that Steven himself slipped into the temple, opening the door not to his mother's room, but to the heart where he knew bubbled gems were delivered. A quick scan of the room and he leapt up finding what he was looking for. By the time he emerged Connie and the Holo Steven had gotten everyone outside to witness a display of their sword skills. If everything went right the two would draw and "Steven" would walk Connie to the road. Meanwhile he warped back to the sky arena while everyone else was distracted.
Returning to the ship he remote piloted it to swing up into the upper atmosphere, obscured totally from the ground below by dense cloud banks. Tossing the bubble into one of the cells he popped it, and sealed the energy field as the small orange gem began to glow. Jasper reformed with little change to her appearance. Wary eyes immediately searching all around. She quickly came to understand her circumstances and lashed out, trying to slam a fist into the field, only for her arm to vanish for a moment as she jumped back.
"You!" Eyes locking with Steven's. "How did you get me in here? Where is Peridot, Where is Rose quartz!" She demanded, slamming her fist into one of the solid walls. Steven breathed deeply, not allowing any of the very real fear he felt towards her to show on his face. Instead he spoke in a cool, matter of fact tone.
"We beat her, just like we beat you, and now I'm in control of this ship." She seemed to calm herself as well, regarding him with a great deal more scrutiny. Only then did she notice the destablizer he clutched in either hand. "Now I need you to answer some questions for me." Jaspers face split into a wide smile, the laughter she produced dripping with contempt.
"And why would I do that." Steven nodded
"Because if you don't I'll put you back in a bubble, and I'll use this ship to fling you into deep space where you'll never find your way back to earth or homeworld." The laughter cut off and her eyes narrowed, the smile stayed through, twisting into one of bitter, begrudging respect.
"Not bad, threatening to shatter me would have been more effective, but that's good too. What do you want to know." Some of the tension went out with her leaning one arm against the wall of her cell, seeming to relax more in the familiar setting of an interrogation even if she was on the receiving end.
"What is the cluster?" He asked, knowing he was avoiding the question that was burning inside him, too afraid of the answer. Jasper shrugged.
"I don't know much about it honestly, just that it was some big weapon left over from the war Peridot was sent to check on. You should ask her about it." Steven felt his heart speed up, he hadn't really considered what the cluster might have been but now real worry crept in.
"Peridot is. .. indisposed." Jasper gave a more geniune laugh than before.
"So she either got away, or one of you rebels got carried away and shattered her." Steven gave no confirmation either way. Before he could ask another question though she broke in. "Now I got a question. What even are you? You've got a pearl's gem, and one's powers too from the way you threw those holograms at me, but you look so. . .fleshy." The word practically forced from her throat.
He rolled his eyes but answered. "Do you know how organics make other organics?" She shook her head and his face went beet red. For the next few surreal minutes Steven explained where babies come from to an ever increasingly incredulous looking Jasper.
"Ugh you grow. . .inside each other, and then just. . .excrete a tiny version. Totally helpless and dependent on others for years, with no purpose, and a gem did. . .that with a human? Oh even for a Pearl that's low." She shuddered a little, Steven's face blazing hot.
"Whatever, now you answer another one." He swallowed hard and just pushed through. "What do you know about Pink Diamond?!" All the comical unease and squeamishness left Jasper, replaced by a quiet, but smoldering fury. "What do I know about Pink Diamond? What do I know? I know that I was her soldier, that she fought against your pathetic little rebellion, and we would have stamped it out. I know she would still be alive if it wasn't for the cowardly sneak attack by your leader." All the blood seemed to drain out of him, his limbs felt numb and it was a struggle to hold on to the destabilizers. "I know that Rose Quartz shattered my diamond." She screamed as tears formed in the corners of Jasper's eyes and she looked as if she would throw herself against the destabilizing field, but came up short seeing tears pouring down Steven's cheeks as well. "Wha. . .why are you crying?" He met her eyes, as he scrubbed at his face.
"Because I believe you, someone I trusted, someone I loved did something so terrible, and lied to me for years about. She can't just get away with something like that, it's not right, even in a war." Jasper stood there, utterly confused as they stared back at each other. "I have to put you back, or the others might notice you're gone." He hefted the two weapons and stepped towards the cell. "But I promise you, she won't just get away with it anymore." Something broke in Jasper, and for the first time in thousands of years she cried in earnest, falling to her knees to be at a level with Steven.
"She was so beautiful, and full of laughter and life, and she loved her colony, she didn't deserve that, and I failed. I couldn't protect her." She forced the tears back and grit her teeth. "She has to suffer." Steven shook his head. "That's not going to fix anything, but I'll make her tell the truth, and I'll find out all the other secrets she's keeping." Jasper hung her head.
"I've failed all over again. Just put me back in the bubble." He stepped forward, passing through the energy field. Right before he pressed the weapon to her she reached up, taking one of his slender arms in her huge hand and looked up at him. "You have to talk to Peridot about the cluster, whatever it is it sounded big, and powerful, like it could do some real damage. . .and this is still her planet." Steven nodded and with his free hand poofed the warrior gem. He bubbled her gem, the color was off from Rose's but it was close enough that as long as no one got a close look they should confuse it for one of hers.
He rushed back to the temple where he replaced the gem without being noticed, before finding himself in bed, falling rapidly to sleep.
