Reese sat on the barstool watching Jasper eat a German chocolate cake with peanut frosting. Her mind wandered back to when Jasper told her she liked being around her. She had no idea how to feel about it but it… did something to her. Something she couldn't explain.
She had never been in love with anyone or even slightly attracted to anyone in her life. Her nose was always in a book or Googling something. She never paid much mind to other people but whenever she was able to go out to the beach all her problems melted away. Everything she hated or even worried about were gone just hearing the ocean waves.
It had been almost two weeks since that night she stood on the cliff. She wasn't even the least bit upset that she was going to throw herself off into the rocky bottom. Even if she had lived through that, she hoped she would die by drowning. It would have been the only feeling she would had felt in years.
Until Jasper showed up.
At first, she was wanted to piss her off so she would leave her alone. The way she became flustered trying to talk to her. Then something sparked her interest about her. She wasn't sure if it was because she was an alien or the fact Jasper wasn't a social being and she had tried talking her out of it. Something was there.
Maybe because Jasper didn't think she was a bitch right out of the gate?
Ding!
Reese turned around and opened the microwave as Jasper went to the bathroom. She pulled the plastic off.
What is wrong with me? I quit everything to live in an apartment… With Jasper? Am I dense?
She stared at her TV dinner.
What happened to me on the cliff? I am not the same person from two weeks ago. I hated myself so much. Here I am baking cakes for an orange alien who could beat the crap out of every man on the planet… What about that purple bird?
She dropped her fork. It had changed shape but… it was the same bird. Was it another gem? Just like Jasper but it was purple? Was it an amethyst or some other purple gem? She got up and ran through the kitchen into the living room just to the beginning of the hallway. She rammed her nose into Jasper's big chest.
"Ah! Shit!" Reese cried out.
Blood started to run from her nose.
"Are you dying?!" Jasper yelled her face paling to yellow.
"No! It'll take more than that to kill me!" Reese hissed.
"What do you want me to do! I don't understand this protocol!" Jasper cried, worried over her companion.
"Go grab me a towel from the bathroom…"
Jasper marched quickly to the bathroom and returned with a white towel. Reese held it up to her face staring at Jasper. The quartz soldier was trying to remain calm but it looked like she was about to cry. Reese took one of her hands and stroked Jasper's cheek softly.
"I'm fine… I wanted to tell you something… but I should've watched where I was going…"
Jasper placed a hand over hers and Reese's heart started pounding in her chest like it might break through her ribcage. What is wrong with me?
"Are you sure you're ok?" Jasper asked with a concerned voice.
"I'm fine… I have a question…"
"Ok…"
"About other gems… Are there some that live here?"
"Yea. A group of rebels from about five thousand to six thousand years ago."
Reese's eyes widened in surprise.
"You… you… you're that old?" she whispered and Jasper nodded.
"Wow."
Jasper chuckled.
"Why do you ask?"
Reese removed the towel and looked at the blood on the towel.
"What were they?"
"Well… One is a pearl, one is a fusion, one is an amethyst and another… has the rose quartz gem but doesn't really look like one."
"Are… you guys enemies?" she asked.
"Well, they may consider me one since I tried to take the squishy rose quartz away. Why?"
Reese grabbed Jasper's hand, "Because I saw the amethyst the last two days… As a purple bird."
X
X
It had been another week. They lived together a little over a week. Even though Jasper had the urge to go back to the ocean constantly, she couldn't rip herself from Reese. She enjoyed the coffee and cake she made every day for her.
They went every day to the beach, while Jasper wore her new clothes. Jasper did however watch for Amethyst. Sure enough, she was watching. Reese had a good eye for noticing things and it wasn't just because Amethyst was purple.
They could feel her watching.
Jasper wasn't annoyed by it though. She honestly didn't blame them but she was embarrassed that she was tamed by a human being like they were. For some reason there was something about the green eyed human that made her want to be around her. She was different even though Jasper never interacted with anyone else much.
"What are you thinking about?"
Jasper looked at Reese.
"Just... My time here."
Reese smiled and sipped her coffee.
"What?"
"Do you like being here?"
Jasper blushed, "I do. I don't think I could back to Homeworld... They don't have cake."
Reese busted up laughing, "I have you Earth spoiled. What would they think of you now?"
Jasper gave her a dirty look, "I don't wanna think about that..."
Reese sat down her cup.
"What would they do Jasper?" she asked in a low tone.
"They would shatter me..."
Reese finished off her coffee.
"As long as you are here with me, I won't let anything happen to you."
"You're human."
"I don't care."
They just stared at each other for a few minutes in silence.
"You honestly think you can do something?"
"Yes."
Jasper sighed, "The human race is so stubborn."
"We are."
They smiled at each other.
"Well... I'm tired. Are you ready for bed?" Reese asked feeling embarrassed.
"Yes! Some of things you humans do is actually really nice."
Reese laid in bed while Jasper changed into her pajamas that they had picked out. Even though the pajamas were bright green with yellow rubber duckies, it fit Jasper well. Reese was on her normal white shirt. She didn't like too much color for herself unlike she did for Jasper.
"Can you help me? I think my fingers are too big for the buttons."
Reese looked up and saw her shirt was wide open. She looked away turning pink. Even though Jasper didn't have nipples, she still had the shape of breasts on her chest.
"What's wrong?" Jasper asked looking concerned, "Are you infected with something?"
Reese cracked a smile.
"Even though you don't have to same body parts as me, I feel embarrassed to see you like that."
Jasper frowned, "Why?"
"I guess for humans you don't show your body off unless you're with someone you love but you would never know that unless I told you, like I did right now."
Jasper frowned, "Well do you want to see?"
Reese's face turned dark red, "Do what?"
"I do not mind you looking and like you said we don't have the same body parts... Are you curious?"
Reese had her face under the white sheet but nodded anyways.
"Why is shameful for you to look?" Jasper asked pulling the sheet from her face.
"Well, you wouldn't think so with humans being born naked but that's how people are anymore. I guess I'm used to it..."
Jasper rolled her eyes and pulled off everything to well she was naked in front Reese who was more flustered than she was before.
"Ah..."
"Go ahead," Jasper said pulling her up to her feet.
Reese bit her lip and looked at her body. She had a Barbie doll like body. She looked more menacing unclothed: her body was covered in muscles. She looked absolutely perfect.
"You... Look perfect."
Jasper turned bright red. Since she had come out of the Beta Kindergarten, she expected to be flawed and unusable. That wasn't the case though and now she had some puny human judging her by appearance. Why would she think she was perfect?
"Why do you say that?"
"Because, you are. You're amazing looking and your personality matches it."
"By human definition?"
"By mine. Even the prettiest and most perfect humans are nice looking but they are ugly and mean. You look rough, your personality is too. You look how are if that makes sense."
Jasper smiled.
"What do you look like?" Jasper asked looking at her curiously.
Reese blushed and covered her face.
"What?"
"Can you give me some time to be OK with it?"
"I don't care, are you deformed?" the quartz soldier asked.
"N-no."
Jasper pulled her pajamas back on and sat on the bed with Reese.
"I always wanted to show the person I love... Know what I mean?"
"So, it's like fusing with someone special?"
Reese, "Yea."
Jasper scratched her head and leaned in closer to her.
"What makes me, me- is my gem."
Reese went cross eyed for a second trying to adjust to Jasper's closeness.
"It's cute."
Jasper jerked back giving her an unbelievable look.
"Excuse me?!"
Reese grinned, "Is that all it takes to embarrass the great Jasper?" she teased.
"Shut up!"
Reese laid back on the head her head falling onto the pillow.
"Are you tired?" the orange gem asked.
Reese nodded.
"Are you OK?"
Reese nodded with a small smile spreading across her lips.
"I'm fine."
Jasper laid down beside of her and crawled under the blanket. Reese was already asleep for the night. Jasper smiled and closed her eyes.
X
X
The next morning Jasper woke up to the smell of something different. There was still the smell of coffee and something else. Jasper climbed out of bed and opened the bedroom door. She walked down the hall and peeked into the kitchen to see Reese with her hair wrapped up in a towel making the orange gem frown.
"What's wrong?"
"What's that on your head?"
Reese grinned, "It's a towel. I just took a shower. Wanna try a muffin?"
"What is a muffin?" Jasper asked.
"It's like a cake but not as sweet. It's blueberry. I can make strawberry tomorrow."
Reese sat the plate in front of Jasper. The blueberry muffin had butter on top, melting. Jasper picked it feeling it was warm just out of the oven. She pulled the paper off and popped it into her mouth. It wasn't as sweet as cake but it definitely tasted as good. Jasper's eyes lit up with delight.
"Do you like it?" Reese asked.
"Yes!" Jasper said grabbing the plate of eleven muffins.
The green-eyed girl grinned and picked up her coffee cup.
"I made twenty-four of them so enjoy as much as you want."
Jasper set down two muffins in front of Reese.
"Eat a few. Aren't you hungry?"
She looked surprised, "I made them for you."
"I know but I wanna share since you make things for me all the time. I appreciate what you do."
Reese almost dropped her cup.
"Wow, thanks..."
"Are you OK? Did I say something wrong?"
"N-no... I gotta finish my hair. Be right back," she said with a smile.
Is she upset because of last night?
Reese dried her hair with a blow dryer. She finished and looked into the mirror. In a way, she barely recognized herself. What was wrong with the way Jasper said the things she did? She was only being nice...
Knock, knock
Reese jumped and turned around to see Jasper standing there.
"Did I do something wrong?" the quartz soldier asked.
"No... I just don't know what's wrong with myself..."
"What's wrong?"
"I... I can't talk about it right now. Give me some time OK?"
Jasper placed a large hand on her shoulder, "That's fine."
X
X
This time Reese took Jasper to the pier for fishing. Jasper was actually really patient. She sat there staring into the water motionless. Reese sat beside of her watching as the waves hit the pier softly. It was a cool day surprisingly but it was still nice.
After twenty minutes, Jasper pulled out her first fish. It wasn't too big to keep but she looked proud.
"What do you do with it?" she asked watching it flop around.
"You can let it go. Let is swim and keep fishing."
"How odd."
Reese giggled, "This is considered a sport."
"Sport?"
"A physical activity. Usually involves skill and you compete against someone else. Some people use fishing to relax."
"I can see why."
"You really love the ocean... Don't you?"
Jasper stiffened up.
"I didn't have a choice."
Reese laid her head on her shoulder, "What happened?"
"We were fused in the ocean for so long. She's dainty but strong. I saw the inside of her mind and memories... She was... terrifying but I don't think that even comes close to her. I'm not in love with her but when you fuse... You mix yourself with someone."
Jasper's eyes watered up a little.
"That seems hard... What is your name together? Do you stand for something?"
"We were Malachite. The power from her was... Addicting. I didn't care she tricked me... I cared more for the power. She kept me so long... I feel angry at myself for being dependent on her."
Reese reeled in her string and set it the side then she took Jasper's rod and did the same.
"Do you know of what Malachite is?" Reese asked.
Jasper shook her head silently.
"Here on Earth, it's poisonous to people."
Jasper frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"Well... Maybe some fusions are worse not because of power but because of what they make. Maybe because malachite is poisonous and that makes the fusion poisonous?"
"I never thought of it that way."
"You said you felt addicted... But you hated the way you felt dependent but you loved it anyways and didn't care what she did, as long as you had it. Maybe together, the two of you are toxic. I think you both knew but didn't care?"
"Could be..."
"There's nothing wrong with it."
Jasper looked at Reese funny, "How is that so?"
"We all do something that makes us feel good or takes the pain away even if it's temporary. It's what shows that even at times we are strong and resilient... That we are weak and fragile. That's what makes us perfect."
Jasper looked down at her hands.
"That is what makes us who we are. We are perfectly flawed."
"That's not how it is on Homeworld."
"That's where they're wrong."
Jasper glanced at her with an uneasy look.
"Everything is flawed. That's the beauty of it. Even your Diamonds are flawed."
Jasper opened her mouth to speak but something hit the pier cracking the wood. Jasper stood up and the thing hit the pier again. The pier began falling apart. Just as she went to grab Reese's hand, Reese fell into the water as the pier collapsed.
Odd enough, she didn't scream in panic. Something came jumping out and it looked like a dragon with shards glued to its body. It snatched Jasper with its jaws and went back under water. Reese popped back out of the water.
"Jasper!"
She was nowhere to be found.
"JASPER! JASPER!"
She crawled onto the beach with the waves crashing against her.
"JASPER!"
The ground began to shake violently.
"What the hell?" Reese whispered and looked behind her.
The dragon like creature came shooting out of the water with Jasper trying to stop its jaws closing on her. Reese's green eyes widened in fear as she sat there in fear and disbelief. It looked nothing more than a monster attacking mindlessly. Her eyes darted watching the dragon flail on the beach fighting Jasper.
Reese bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. What should I do? What should I do to help her? I don't want her to get hurt! Reese looked around and saw a sharp piece of wood from the destroyed pier. She scrambled and headed for the piece of wood. It had a few nails sticking out of it making it an even better weapon in her eyes.
Reese grabbed picked it up and stood up. Her eyes drifted to the side to see four figures running at her. Reese squinted to see one was red, another purple- who had to be the one who was following them, a white tall one and a small boy. Reese turned her back to them and headed straight for the gem monster. She had doubt that she would succeed in fighting the monster until it snapped its jaw shut.
"JASPER!"
Reese thrust the piece of wood into the gem creature's body. It screeched in pain and whipped around to stare at her with angry red eyes. Reese glared fiercely back and shoved the wood in deeper. It whipped the end of its tail and cut up her left arm pretty good. She grinded her teeth in pain but she didn't scream.
"Girl get away from there!" someone called but she ignored the voice.
She got up and found another piece of wood, deciding to try again. The red person grabbed her arm and she shot her a dirty look. The red gem looked stoic but it didn't throw Reese's determination off. Reese jerked her arm away from her and headed for the gem monster again.
"Garnet stop her! She's get hurt!" screamed a shrill voice.
The gem monster came at her again. Reese felt her heart stop in her chest but her body moved on its own anyways. She thrust the piece of wood through the forehead of the gem dragon and it exploded into a sparkly cloud. Jasper hit the ground hard blinking stupidly.
Reese dropped to her knees and started crying like a child who scrapped their knee.
"Reese! Reese, are you ok?!" Jasper asked grabbing her shoulders.
She looked down to see blood dried up on her left arm.
"You're hurt!"
"I don't care about that!" the green-eyed human cried, "I was so scared I had lost you!"
Jasper looked shocked, almost defeated.
"Jasper?"
The couple turned to see the Crystal Gems standing there with shocked looks on their faces. Reese jumped in front of her with means to protect Jasper.
"Leave her alone! She didn't do anything wrong!" Reese yelled, "If you wanna fight then fight me!"
"We don't wanna fight. I had a vision and we came to make sure to keep Beach City safe."
Reese's eyes landed on Amethyst.
"You've been following us," she said and Amethyst looked away.
"We had to make sure Jasper-
"She hasn't done anything wrong!"
The boy looked at Jasper then at Reese.
"I'm glad you changed a lot since when we last saw you."
"Rose," the quartz soldier growled.
"No, I'm Steven. Rose was my mom."
Reese turned to Jasper, "Let's go home," she said holding out her hand with a smile.
"I highly doubt you can take her back there anyways since you're organic," said a bored voice.