Takes place during the events of "Greg the Babysitter"; three days after "Alone at Sea"

"No, I don't get it!"

That was the first sound to greet Amethyst the moment she stepped off of the Warp Pad on route to the barn. Sounded like Peri was up to wit's end as usual. The lavender Gem smirked fondly as she made her way to the avant-garde building. There, she noticed Peridot and Amber standing in the entranceway, the former's arms a-flailing like the green Gem was trying to illustrate her entire frustration to the world at large.

All the while, Amber received this tirade with an innocent façade, her simple blinks completing the look. Amethyst snorted at the doggie bone sticking out of the molehog's mouth like a cigar. Lapis watched overhead from the truck overhanging from the entrance, kicking her feet idly.

"Why do we need to build this stuff for the humans," Peridot demanded to know, "Isn't the point of the Crystal Gems to be protecting them in the first place?"

Picking up her notebook and pencil from the ground, Amber wrote something down then stuck it at Peridot. The technician balked then threw her hands up. "I'm not saying they shouldn't know how to defend themselves! I'm just saying, what's the point of us protecting this world if our efforts are unnecessary—or better yet will become unnecessary?"

Scribble-scribble. Present.

Peridot pinched her nose with a sigh. "Yes, I know his unique position as a gem-human hybrid warrants a level of cooperation between the two species." Resigned, she eyed Amber skeptically. "Still, don't you think expecting me to construct weapons capable of countering Homeworld tech is a bit much?"

Scribble-scribble again. Present again.

Cue the perfect Peridot facepalm, neon lime blush included.

Amethyst chose then to make her presence known, sparing Peri further vexation.

Peridot lit up upon noticing her. "Ah Amethyst! Thank the stars you're here!"

Holding back a snicker, the violet Quartz crossed her arms over her generous chest. "Pearl sent me over to see how ya'll are doin'. Sparkles givin' ya a hard time?"

"T-That's not important," Peri brushed off the question with a flustered flourish, "and for Pearl's information, the project has potential but the execution is proving a bit," she sidled her eyes as though considering her words carefully, "difficult.

At Amethyst's curious stare and Amber's encouraging one, Peridot cleared her throat before continuing. "I made a list of the Earth materials capable of incorporation with Homeworld technology per Amber's request the other day." She tossed an exasperated glare at the molehog. "And now she expects me to puzzle out how to make it all fit together."

And helping you out like Lapis is.

Holding back another snort at Amber's playful retort and Peridot's eye-roll, Amethyst shrugged her shoulders. "So whatcha guys come up with?"

"Well," the technician began, hands behind her back, "the integration won't took too long since we're simply modifying already existing technologies. The real challenge here is getting the Homeworld tech to be workable for non-Gems, let alone understandable."

Amethyst's smile started to wane, part of her hoping yes. "Can ya?"

Peridot broke eye contact and scratched her cheek, abashed. "That...would depend on the individual's technical competency, not to mention their skills in combat. Connie, for example, could no doubt make efficient use of such equipment, but we can't expect the same from every other human."

"Yeah that's true," Amethyst admitted with a frown, eyes to the side. Not many folks around here shared Connie's gumption.

"And even taking fortitude into account," Peridot pointed a finger skyward, "humans tend to come up short in strength compared to Gems, so victory for them would require a combination of wits and exploiting weaknesses. And don't get me started about the impossible countermeasures they would need against a Quartz from" –she noticed Amber's worried gaze and started to stammer—"b-but that's not to say this planet and its populace have no chance of surviving! I'm positive we'll stumble across a solution at some point. Take how I and Steven flawlessly neutralized the Cluster for instance!""

"Yeah, Dot's right!" Amethyst agreed as she teasingly elbowed Amber, "We've always found a way outta tight spots!"

Assuring as that thought was, Amber recalled when the Gems caught her up about the Cluster back on the day they confronted her true identity. Regardless, she offered the younger stone a small polite smile, thankful for the assurance and not wanting to bring the mood down.

"You mean like when Alexandrite barely managed to beat Malachite?"

Everyone gazed up at Lapis in shock. Hopping off her perch and landing easily thanks to her water wings, the azure rock crossed her arms and returned Amethyst's glare with a frosty unimpressed mien.

"Uh, you were part of that fusion, too. We still wiped the floor with her."

"Oh, like when you guys came to take back the ocean from me? If Steven hadn't summoned his shield and thrown me off enough to talk sense into me, the Crystal Gems would have lost for sure."

"Hey, that mess was a long time ago, a'ight? We've gotten better since then!"

Lapis stamped a foot. "It's still true, though, isn't it? How most of your guys' victories were because you lucked out?" Or at least the ones she was around to witness, not that Lapis would disclose that detail. "I was the one who kept Jasper from hurting Steven any further."

"Tch-yeah," Amethyst scoffed with crossed arms herself, "right after Garnet finished wiping the floor with her."

Lapis balked for a moment, taken back by this fact, but recovered quickly. "Well of course she'd be able to take on Jasper! She's a fusion! A single Gem wouldn't be enough to defeat Jasper otherwise!"

By this point, Amethyst had stomped straight up to Lapis, sneering right into the hydromancer's face. Lapis gladly returned the leer in full. Sensing the rising hostility, Amber and Peridot immediately got in between their two feuding friends, hoping against hope this argument wouldn't turn physical.

"Oh," Amethyst's inquiry held more salt then the ocean, "And why's that?"

"Because. She is the ultimate Quartz." Lapis put a hand to her own chest. "I know this because I was one of the Lazulis responsible for carving her Kindergarten out a cycle before I got captured!"

Quiet. Amethyst went drop dead quiet, eyes wide. Did...did she just hear Lapis right?

Peridot hastily swerved around to face Amethyst, a huge yet nervous grin plastered on. "Well, obviously Jasper's far from ultimate! I mean, the Kindergarten she came from was Beta after all."

Amber stiffened at the name and stared at Peridot questionably. No, Peridot couldn't be talking about that Jasper, could she?

A similar expression took over Amethyst's face. "Wait... ain't Beta the other Kindergarten you mentioned back on the Moon?"

"Yes," Peridot exclaimed, seeing an opportunity to defuse the argument and simultaneously show off her Kindergartener knowledge, "yes, it was! A total rush-job compared to yours, of course. And don't get me started on the fact they used Redstone for it," she took a moment to chuckle in amusement, "Of all things!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Amethyst interjected, holding her hands up, "you're telling me Jasper's from Earth?!"

Peridot blinked, unsure how to take the whip-slinger's disbelief. "Um, yes?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHIN'?!"

"It's not like I expected that fact to be of conceivable importance!"

"Uh, the fact that the same Gem that stuffed me and the others in space jail then tried fusion to off us came from the same planet as me? Pretty sure that counts as conceivable importance, girl!"

"Oh by the stars of—I don't see you getting on Lapis' case for not saying anything about this!"

Amethyst, Peridot—she promptly shut her mouth afterwards, feeling as though she just outed her own barn mate—and Amber all moved their gazes to the Gem in question who returned their looks with a cold glare.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize staying on Earth required me to share every tidbit of my life from before the mirror. Besides, Peridot's right. What difference does it make if Jasper came from the same planet as you? She still treated you, Steven, and the other Crystal Gems as enemies."

At this point, Amethyst's face softened; her eyes vulnerable. "But is she...really supposed to be the perfect Quartz?"

Lapis widened her eyes in surprise, not expecting Amethyst to ask that question. "Y-Yeah. I even heard one of the Peridots say something about how her exit-hole might end up having smooth glass all the way to the back or something."

Peridot gawked. "You can't be serious."

"And from what I heard after I got back to Homeworld, the fact that Beta popped out nearly all defective Gems only made her stand out even more." A sorrowful light crossed her eyes, but Lapis quickly shook her head. "Look, just...forget about wanting to beat Jasper. She's a threat to other Gems, so that should be reason enough for you to contain her."

Then Lapis walked off, her part in this conversation over.

Amethyst looked back at Amber, who'd been left thoughtful by Lapis' words. "You were in the Gem War. Was Jasper really that good of a Quartz?"

Amber, so lost in thought, jolted at being addressed but regarded Amethyst with a curious stare.

Amethyst rubbed her nape. "I mean...it's not like I care about what Homeworld would think of me." The thought made her glad beyond measure that she was a Crystal Gem, if nothing else. "Besides, I got better things to do than pull something outta Serpent Orb and go around tryin' ta be the toughest or junk like that. I got a life."

Hearing those words eased the doubt in Amber's eyes, but she remained unsure. Amethyst sounded certain now, but would that line of thought remain if Amber added on to what Lapis confirmed?

Amethyst must have noticed the lingering doubt because she held her hands up in a placating gesture again. "Look. It's cool if ya don't wanna spill. I've dealt with G-Squad and Pearls long enough to know the war couldn't have been easy on ya. It's just...Lapis said Beta birthed out defective Gems," she put a hand to her chest, "Gems like me. Now that I know about them, I wanna know more and you're the only Gem I know who could help with that."

Amber twiddled her thumbs, deciding.

"Please? I gotta know how life was for 'em."

The yellow Gem finally looked back at the violet Quartz and her pleading face then sighed. Eyes shifting to the tablet tied to Peridot's left wrist, she gestured two fingers to the verdant stone in a 'come here' fashion.

Peridot eyed Amber with curiosity, already knowing what the corrupted Gem intended of her yet not sure what Amber intended to show of Jasper. Complying, the technician came closer and stuck out her tablet-arm with her other behind her back in a militant fashion, her face serious and patient.

After nodding in thanks, Amber tapped the screen a few times until she reached the video app. One claw sparkling, she tapped it against the back of the tablet. Immediately, static filled the screen until it gave way to a slightly fuzzy picture of what appeared to be a sandy space within the walls of a sizable desert canyon, curvaceous walls of red and orange and white adorned with what Amethyst recognized as exit-holes, albeit misshapen ones.

And the Quartzes. So many Quartzes.

Some that could only be Jaspers themselves. Others Amethyst had never seen before. None of them exactly matched what Amethyst expected either. Sure many of them sported considerable muscle—nowhere close to Jasper's bulk though—but others came in various sizes. Some skinny, some short. She swore at one point she even spotted a red one about her size.

And they were all fighting for their lives.

"So that's Beta," Amethyst spoke in a hushed tone.

Peridot nodded. "Affirmative."

Amber tapped the tablet again, and the text app came up. I was part of the initial raids on Beta. Rose knew we had Homeworld on the ropes at this point, so she wanted to make sure we took out the soldiers there the moment they emerged.

Amethyst and Peridot turned their eyes to Amber in shock. The former knew Rose and the others fought many grueling battles over Earth and the latter had had similar inklings due to both snippets from Jasper and talks with the Crystal Gems, but seeing all this still caught them both off guard.

Like when she and Peridot winced at the sight of a tiny red Gem getting ripped out of her hole and shattered before she could even touch the ground. Or a Peridot's gemstone being dashed against a sword (Amethyst squeezed Peri's trembling shoulder during that one). Or a Crystal Gem spearing one of the Quartzes to the wall with an unsettlingly excited grin.

Suddenly Amethyst realized: all this was stuff Amber saw, stuff she experienced firsthand. This realization became clear once the screen seemed to shoot away from the deaths, a gasp accompanying the action. Once or twice, a hand clad in black shot electrified projectiles from the screen's perspective, warding off Quartzes and other Homeworld Gems coming her way.

Until everything started to shake.

A marvel that only a few seemed to register the great explosion of gravel and dirt from a clear patch of earthen wall, a testament to the frenzied violence happening all around; only once the dust waned enough could Amethyst and Peridot recognize the wild white mane and sharp angular gemstone.

The two younger Gems expected a toothy grin and golden eyes alit with anticipation for combat, for a tangerine juggernaut to come flying out to wreak havoc like a meteor. Instead they only saw Jasper peeking out at the fighting outside her space like a curious child, face obscured by the glaring sunlight—until someone wrenched the orange soldier out of her hole and into the ground.

Amber cut the video right there. They'd seen enough.

Amethyst blinked in wonder, stunned by everything she'd witnessed. "All those Quartzes we watched—did any of them besides Jasper make it?"

Amber shrugged. That, I don't know. If they did, Homeworld probably did away with the surviving ones after the war. The Diamonds never did bat an eye at removing those incapable of serving them.

Amethyst crossed her arms with a sneer. "Figures. Sure makes me glad I don't work for 'em."

Good, because I wouldn't wish what I've been through under their regime on anyone.

Peridot eyed Amber and wondered what the molehog must've been through to make her say that.

Amethyst, not so much.

"'Cept Jasper, am I right?" Amber furrowed her brows at the purple Gem's question. "Aw c'mon, Sparkles! You and Peridot have gotta be thinking it, too! If Jasper had ta put up with shit on Homeworld, then it would serve her right for putting others through the same."

I admit I don't know enough of Jasper personally to make an honest opinion. From how you all describe her, she does sound like she may be hard to get along with.

"Uh, 'maybe'. How about 'definitely'? I bet she walked and talked big on Homeworld cuz they consider her a big deal."

Peridot twisted her face into an annoyed scowl. "Ugh, you have no idea. She kept regaling her military feats to me on the way to Earth, but she couldn't fool me," the Kindergartener crossed her arms in pride, "I knew her background. Not to mention her desperation to impress Yellow Diamond."

A tap on the shoulder drew Peridot's attention to an extremely baffled Amber and her notebook.

Are you saying she works under Yellow Diamond now?

"Well yes, hasn't she always?"

Amber reeled in shock. Homeworld couldn't have gone that far to obscure the war...right? Yet the more she took in Peridot's confusion, the heavier the truth sunk in. Amber looked back to the phone, remembering Jasper's emergence and wincing.

Amethyst gave her no time to ponder further. "Why are you so interested in Jasper all of a sudden?"

Good question, now that Amber thought it over. She shook her head regardless. Look, bottom line is there're things about her you two need to know.

"What else is there ta know about her," Amethyst argued, "Oh yeah, that's right. Jack squat!" Amber started to write again, but Amethyst got in her face. "What? I suppose you wanna say we should feel sorry for that jerk?"

Amber backed away. Easy now. All I'm saying is that we should be careful on what we base our judgments on. If you'll just let me explain the context, you can get a better idea of her real self.

"We've seen her real self! She's a big, selfish jerk that only cares about being the strongest! Someone like her doesn't know how to care about others!"

Please listen to me. We can't be completely sure that's her honest opinion.

"Amber," the exasperation on Amethyst's face could not have been more apparent, "she called Earth garbage! She doesn't care about the place she came from, and ya know what? I bet she's glad all her sisters from Beta got killed, too!"

No words followed for the next few moments. Just heavy, heavy silence: shock on one end; simmering outrage on the other. Amethyst softened her face at first, as though half a mind to apologize to Amber for the outburst, only to shake her head and skulk off to the Warp Pad.

However, she left a few parting words: "You're too nice. Ya know that?"

Peridot and Amber remained where they stood, dumbstruck and concerned as they watched Amethyst walk then teleport away. The former bit her bottom lip and looked off to the side for a moment before facing Amber with a forced chuckle, hands akimbo.

"So heh-heh; that could have gone worse." She took note of Amber's downward gaze and wilted. "Of course that also could have gone better." She rubbed her nape, emerald eyes growing wary. "You okay?"

I should've stopped Lapis from talking about Jasper when I had the chance. Amber, cursing her own drive for confirmation, fell back on her backside in frustration.

Peridot sat down beside the yellow rock and cleared her throat, eyes trained on the dimming evening horizon.

"You're...an objectively strange Gem. A confusing one, too, even compared to the other Crystal Gems. To be honest, I still think your drive for 'atonement'," she finger-quoted, "through acquiring a cure for corruption merits logical reevaluation. To say nothing of how you view our chances against Homeworld. I'd even go so far to agree with Amethyst that you do share Steven's tendency to let your compassion rule out reason."

She put her hands together in a meditative manner. "All the same, I still consider you a perceptive individual. I've come to appreciate your diplomatic capabilities in spite of your various quirks, and to be fair, I am of the opinion that you made a fair decision in letting Amethyst learn the truth about Jasper."

Amber turned to her in confusion.

Peridot shrugged. "It's obvious Garnet and Pearl and perhaps Rose Quartz haven't been forthcoming to her about her actual origins as a Quartz. Perhaps if Homeworld had never gotten involved with Earth after the war, not notifying her would have never made a significant difference. As everything stands, though, the more she knows about how her kind operates under Homeworld, the better prepared she'll be."

She cupped her chin in thought, humming. "Although...that knowledge appears to be feeding into her feelings of inadequacy. In which case, it's no wonder the others never told her." Amber moved to write something, anything, in response, but Peridot raised a hand to stop her. "Don't apologize. Bottom line is: now that she knows about the disparity in skill between her and Jasper, she'll no doubt do something drastic to bridge that gap."

I hope she lives to learn from it. She'd rather not have Amethyst's shards on her hands.

Peridot nodded, solemn-faced. "You and me both." Her eyes swiveled skyward. "Although this whole conversation has brought up another important detail," she turned to Amber with serious eyes, "I've also been in the dark about the Rebellion...," then tore her gaze away, "about my own Homeworld."

You want me to share with you Homeworld's history before the war?

"As much as your memories can allow. I prefer not to prolong ignorance regarding where I came from."

Who would? And you're right. You should know more about Homeworld's past.

Peridot smiled in response.

"I'm glad we could come to an agreement," she removed her tablet and handed it over to Amber, who regarded it then her with shock, "No doubt you won't be available consistently to provide information on a face-to-face basis, so I grant you permission to transfer as much as the storage capacity of this primitive though useful device will allow. I trust you'll return it to me in perfect condition."

Amber blinked, amazed, but regained her wits and nodded in thanks as she accepted the device. Once Peridot left after saying she would check on Lapis, the molehog reactivated her powers and restarted the video screen.

This time, the display revealed the purple walls of Amethyst's Kindergarten, huge chunks missing everywhere. The sight had been after one of the raids on Prime, one that completely devastated the Homeworld Quartzes. Shattered so many of them.

While all of the other Crystal Gems celebrated their success, a lone Jasper had been far to the side picking up the pieces of the Quartzes destroyed in the explosion. A Beta retrieved after a mission for the Homeworld soldiers went awry, she had switched sides after brief yet decisive persuasion from Rose. And now there'd she been, gingerly gathering the sisters she'd betrayed, alone in her silent grief.

To this day, Amber wonders if she herself was the only Gem that ever noticed or cared. Perhaps that's why she slipped away unnoticed, willfully resigning to the sad task of gathering remnants of the unfortunate, no matter where their allegiance had lied.

The Jasper had noticed; neither of them smiled.

But the Jasper nodded.

Amber nodded back.