CHAPTER XIII: LEARNING

"Absolutely not! She's not staying here unguarded! I'm not allowing it!" Pearl stomped her foot down.

"You are not allowing it? If you think you can stop me from guarding him, then you're as defective as you look." Jasper asked raising an eyebrow.

"Jasper, don't say things like that, it's not nice." Steven groaned.

"Why you big, stupid-" Pearl started but was interrupted by Garnet raising a hand.

"She's not going to hurt Steven Pearl, don't worry, but I'm staying outside, just to make sure."

"Good, someone has to keep an eye on this brute." Pearl hissed looking Jasper straight in the eyes before turning around and disappearing into her room.

It made Jasper feel strange, why didn't that Pearl look scared? How could she look straight into her eyes and offend her like that? She surely had to be defective. Still… how could she not be afraid?

"Welp, I'm going to my room too, need a little nap." Amethyst

"You don't need that." Jasper growled.

"Still feels good Jas."

"That's not my name."

"Sorry Jaspy." Amethyst snorted as the temple's door closed behind her.

Jasper muttered something under her breath before turning towards Steven.

"What are you doing?" Jasper asked with a confused tone of voice.

"Oh, I'm just getting ready to sleep." Steven said as he took his pajamas and headed towards the bathroom.

"You too?! You can't be serious, I'd understand if the runt wanted to do that, but you shouldn't waste time doing that when we could spend the night training."

"Jasper I couldn't do that even if I wanted, I'm half human so I need to sleep in order to gain back energies. I need to sleep, to eat and to drink every day." Steven explained as began brushing his teeth.

"What?! But that's… that's so… limiting!" Jasper nearly cried in disbelief.

"Mmmm, maybe in some ways, but in others… it makes me stronger." Steven said giving her a kind smile.

"In what ways?" Jasper scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Well, thanks to my human part I could evade from that cell on Peridot's ship!" Steven said, amused by Jasper's expression, she looked like she was slightly taken aback. "Oh, and I can fuse with my friend Connie, who's human, together we make Stevonnie and it's amazing!"

"A human doesn't deserve to fuse with a Diamond." Jasper grumbled.

"Jasper, I'm not a Diamond, I'm… I'm not Pink, you know that right?"

"You're her legacy! And of course you're a Diamond! You literally have a Diamond embedded in you!" Jasper motioned towards his slightly uncovered stomach.

"Jasper… this doesn't make me better than anyone else." Steven tried to explain.

"Of course it does…" Jasper said, sounding puzzled by Steven's words.

"Jasper, who we are isn't determined by this," Steven pointed towards his gem, "Or by this," Then he pointed at Jasper's, "It is what we do with our life that determines who we are, our actions, not our origin."

Jasper looked surprised by Steven's words, no one ever told her something like that. On Homeworld, status meant everything, but here she was now, on Earth, in front of a Diamond who was telling her that they weren't better than her, that they were… equal.

"I'm… I'm not like you…" Jasper murmured.

"Of course not, you're you, that's what makes you so amazing. Of course, you made some… ehm… questionable choices that I don't really share… but it wasn't your fault. Homeworld made you think that it was the right way to act…"

"Which one of my choices do you not share?" Jasper asked.

"Well… trying to kidnap me and my family… hurting Lapis…" Steven stopped for a moment as he saw Jasper grimace at the blue gem's name, "And all those mean things you said to Amethyst."

"What mean things?" Jasper asked, confused.

"All those things about her being defective and calling her runt and stuff." Steven clarified as he finished washing his face.

"Those weren't mean, it's simply the truth."

"Jasper…" Steven said with a waring tone.

Jasper couldn't explain it, she understood that Steven wasn't Pink Diamond, he was so much smaller… yet, those serious eyes and that warning voice, she wasn't exactly scared but… for the first time she really felt like she did something wrong.

"Amethyst is part of my family, maybe she's not like the other amethysts but I love her nonetheless. She's funny, brave, strong and she'd do anything to protect me. Now… would you get mad if someone said mean things about Pink Diamond? Or about me?" Steven asked.

"Of course!" Jasper answered.

"And I would get mad if you said anything bad about Amethyst, or Garnet, or Pearl or any other member of my family. Do you understand?"

How could all of them being important to him as Pink Diamond was important to her, Jasper couldn't tell yet, but she would try to understand. She nodded slowly.

"I understand that Homeworld must have taught you to fight like that, to say mean things to make your adversary more insecure, but… you really hurt Amethyst's feelings… will you tell her that you're sorry?"

That went against everything that Jasper knew… but… if Steven thought it was the right thing to do and… her Diamond valued gems like Amethyst so much… then she'd try.

"I… I will." Jasper answered, a little uncertain.

Steven exhaled and smiled briefly before going out the bathroom and reaching his bedroom. He tucked himself under the covers and looked at Jasper.

"Goodnight Jasper."

"Ehm… goodnight Steven." Jasper answered.

Minutes passed and nothing happened. Jasper had never been so bored in her entire life. Sure, she was guarding Steven but she knew that nothing would have tried to attack him during the night. She just remained at the feet of his bed, watching the little boy. His breathing became calmer and calmer, it was strangely soothing. At one point, Jasper decided to stretch her legs. She slowly stood up and went towards the house's door. When she closed the door behind her and turned towards the beach, she suddenly remembered the fusion's words. Garnet slightly turned her head towards Jasper before resuming her star gazing. It bothered Jasper that the fusion didn't look alarmed, not even a bit.

"Steven is… asleep." Jasper said awkwardly.

"I'm glad, if he fell asleep so fast, it means he trusts you." Garnet said without turning around.

"What are you doing?" Jasper asked, both confused and irritated by the fusion's behavior.

"I'm stargazing." Garnet answered with a slight smile.

"Despite the fact that you shouldn't even exist, you're made of a Ruby and a Sapphire and that is not what neither of your parts should be doing with their time." Jasper said, crossing her arms.

"Instead of being grumpy, you could join me." Garnet said, her smile growing bigger as she slightly turned around and noticed Jasper's surprised and baffled expression.

Jasper didn't move, she remained there, behind Garnet, conflicted about what to do next. It was about ten minutes later that she stepped closer to the fusion, joining her and looking up at the stars.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Garnet said.

"I… I don't know…"

"Yes, you do, you're just scared of saying something a quartz shouldn't be supposed to say."

"I'm not afraid of anything." Jasper answered, her tone suddenly aggressive.

"I am."

"Of course you are, you're defective."

"No, I simply know who I am, and I'm free. What about you?" Garnet asked, without malice.

She turned around and looked at Jasper for a few seconds. The orange gem looked taken aback by her question, but Garnet just smiled and went towards the house's door.

"Aren't you going to watch over Steven?" Jasper asked.

"No, he's in good hands."

Garnet disappeared into the house, leaving Jasper behind. Garnet… that fusion was defective, wrong, she shouldn't exist. Yet… that fusion defeated her, she was happy with herself, she was free, she didn't have any doubts, not like her… maybe… just maybe… she could ask… no, no she wouldn't ask her anything, she didn't need anything from that shameless display. Jasper grunted and made her way into the house. Steven was still asleep. She didn't know how much time it would take for him to wake up, so she sat down on a large, soft… thing… and tried not to think about anything. It only made her eyelids heavier and heavier until… everything went dark.

"What are you doing?"

It was a commanding voice, one that would make any gem shiver in fear. Jasper opened her eyes and somehow, found herself in a large, yellowish chamber. She looked around, she tried to move but much to her dismay, she couldn't. She tried and tried again, but she couldn't move a muscle. It was that voice and the sudden presence of a towering figure appearing in front of her that made her snap out of her attempts to move.

"What… are… you… doing?!" Finally Jasper understood.

She finally understood where she was. She couldn't understand how she was there, but that chamber was very familiar to her, just like the figure that now towered threateningly above her.

Yellow Diamond.

"I'm serving m-my Diamond. I'm p-protecting her legacy." Jasper answered, why was her voice trembling?

"I am your Diamond."

"No… Pink Diamond is-" Jasper tried to speak but was silenced.

"Pink Diamond was shattered, it is I that made so that a failure such as you wouldn't get shattered… and now you're mine… mine! Do you understand?!"

"No! Pink Diamond is still alive! She's my Diamond!" Jasper yelled back.

"You dare?! You dare to lie to me?! To desecrate Pink's memory with these absurd claims?!"

"I'm not lying! I'm not-"

But Yellow Diamond didn't listen, she raised her boot above Jasper, who couldn't move, who couldn't understand what was happening, who couldn't understand how to make any of this stop. The boot came down and Jasper closed her eyes. Darkness. There was darkness for a moment. Then Jasper opened her eyes and screamed. She jumped to her feet and assumed a fighting pose. She looked around frantically and noticed that Yellow Diamond was nowhere to be seen, her palace was nowhere to be seen. She was in Steven's house, and the little boy was standing in front of her, a worried expression on his face. He came near her and she relaxed, letting her arms fall down to her sides. Steven took in his hands one hers and gave her a comforting glance.

"It was just a nightmare."

"Nightmare?"

"Yes, sometimes when we fall asleep, we dream. The dreams are like, living again some of your memories or… seeing something you really want to see or something… you're really scared of. But they're not real." Steven explained.

"I'm not going to close my eyes anymore." Jasper declared. She sighed heavily before speaking again. "I'm sorry if I… woke you up."

"Don't worry, I was already awake. I went to buy some breakfast. These are called doughnuts! You should try one!" Steven said excitedly taking a strange, round object with a hole in the middle and giving it to her.

Jasper took it hesitantly.

"What should I do with it?"

"Oh, you eat it! Like this." Steven demonstrated taking a bite of the sweet treat before chewing and swallowing it.

"I… don't need to eat." Jasper said with an uncertain tone of voice.

"I know, but maybe you'd like it! Just try it once, please?" Steven made a strange face, he was smiling and his eyes became bigger and shinier.

Jasper sighed before putting the whole doughnut into her mouth, she started chewing and after a few moments she swallowed.

"Soooooo?"

"It was… sweet… and soft." Jasper declared.

"So you liked it?" Steven asked with enthusiasm.

"It wasn't… so bad." Jasper answered, gems weren't supposed to eat, she was supposed to fight, yet… she did kind of enjoy the small round thing.

"Yey! There are lots of different foods that you can try, not only sweet things, maybe at lunch you can try something else."

"Lunch?" Jasper asked, confused.

"Oh yeah, I have to eat three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Well, sometimes I eat something at noon, you know, a little snack." Steven laughed briefly.

"Three times a day?! That's… that's such a waste of time!" Jasper exclaimed.

"I enjoy it, plus, it gives me the energies I need to train." Steven flexed and smiled hugely.

"A Diamond shouldn't have to fight, that's what her court is for."

"Well… I don't have a court, I have a family, and I want to train and to become stronger so that I can protect them." Steven explained.

Jasper remained silent for a moment, seemingly thinking about something.

"Then I'll do my best to make you stronger." Jasper declared, Steven wasn't Pink Diamond, but he was her legacy, he wanted to become stronger, to learn how to fight and to defend the ones he cared about, it was his desire, and she wouldn't let him down. She wouldn't let her down, not this time.

"Cool! So you're gonna help Pearl training me and Connie?" Steven asked excitedly.

"What?" Jasper asked, baffled more than ever.

"Well, Pearl usually trains us, me and my friend Connie, oh gosh! She's gonna be here at minutes! I didn't warn her about you being here!" Steven suddenly panicked.

"A Pearl can't train… a-a Pearl can't train a Diamond to fight! A Pearl can't fight!" Jasper exclaimed.

"Jasper, that's not true, Pearl can fight and she's great at it! Didn't you see her during the gem war?"

"I heard stories, but I didn't believe them."

"Well, now you get the chance to see the terrifying renegade Pearl in action!"

"I highly doubt it." Jasper grumbled.

It was then that Connie opened the door, she smiled at Steven, but when she noticed who was behind him, her smile fell and she immediately pulled out Rose's sword.

"Wait! Connie! It's alright! Jasper is on our side now!" Steven said, running towards her, waving his arms in the air.

"What?!" Connie exclaimed, not lowering her weapon.

"It's a long story."

͠

"You're mom… was a Diamond." Connie couldn't believe her own words.

"Are… are we still friends?" Steven asked hesitantly.

"What?! Of course Steven! This doesn't change anything between us!" Connie said, immediately giving him a hug.

"I'm happy you took this so well." Steven said happily.

"So… you freed her because you thought she deserved to know the truth?"

"Yes… and now Jasper is on our side! I trust her… so… do you think you could try to trust her too?"

"She did try to hurt you…" Connie said, her voice sounding doubtful.

"I did because I didn't really know who he was… but… I realize now that I acted like a fool… I'm… I'm sorry." It was hard, harder than she thought to say that, a soldier isn't sorry, a soldier doesn't apologize but… she felt like it was the right thing to do.

"Okay… I trust you… but I'm not going to give you another chance."

Jasper simply nodded. It was then that the temple's door opened.

"Steven, Connie… Jasper…" Pearl said, reaching the trio in the living room.

"Pearl! We're ready for training!" Steven exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa.

"And what is she going to do while we're at the arena?" Pearl asked.

"She's going to come with us!" Steven said.

"Steven, I don't think this is a good idea." Pearl slowly shook her head.

"Afraid I'll get to see that you don't measure up to the legends about you?" Jasper said with a smirk.

"Oh you… fine, let her come, I'll show you that my techniques exceed by far your… rolling around with that ridiculous hat you call a weapon."

"It's a battling helmet." Jasper growled.

Pearl simply smirked, she turned around and reached the warp pad. The trio tagged along and together they vanished into the beam of light, reaching the sky arena seconds later.

"Very well, I think you're ready for the next level." Pearl said, summoning four of her holo-pearls.

"You're making them fight you? Even for a human that's not a fair fight." Jasper intervened.

"You speak tough… but what are you without your little destabilizer?" Pearl spoke standing right in front of her, she looked her straight in the eyes and for a moment, Jasper had no answer. "Yeah, like I thought."

"You think I need something else than my hands to defeat you?" Jasper asked daringly.

"Yes, so why don't you go sit there and let me train Steven and Connie?"

'The nerve of this-!' Jasper thought.

"I'd prefer if you stood aside and let a true warrior train them."

"You'll have to poof me if you want me to move."

"Ehm guys? Don't quarrel please." Steven asked, but neither of the two gems heard him.

"You sure you want this to end like this? But after all, even if I destroy your body, there isn't much to reform." Jasper was going to laugh but she immediately became silent as Pearl's foot collided with her face, making her take a step back.

"I can slow down if this is too much for you." Pearl said with a smirk.

"You asked for it."

Jasper summoned her helmed and quickly dashed towards Pearl, but the pale gem simply dodged to the right and proceeded to charge and fire a blast of energy that hit Jasper, interrupting her dash and making her fall to the ground. The orange gem stood up quickly and turned around, only to notice that Pearl was nowhere to be seen. She heard a movement behind her and understood that while she was on the ground, Pearl had reached her and jumped over her. Jasper quickly took a step back and the point of Pearl's spear cut through her uniform. Jasper covered the scratch with a hand, a baffled look appearing on her face before she tried to punch Pearl. But the pale gem jumped and landed on her arm, before delivering another kick to her face. This time Jasper didn't stumble, she reacted quickly and managed to hit Pearl with the back of her hand. But to her surprise, Pearl landed almost gracefully on her feet a few meters away. Jasper didn't lose a second and immediately tried her dash attack again. This time however, as soon as she reached Pearl, she stopped. As she predicted, she saw Pearl jump over her. Jasper took her by her ankle and threw her to the ground. Her spear dissipated. Jasper jumped over her, now she was too near for Pearl to use such a long weapon. Too bad she didn't know the pale gem had a few tricks up her sleeve. Jasper raised her helmet above Pearl's head, ready to strike, when she felt a stinging pain. She looked down and noticed that a short blade had pierced her right through the yellow diamond on her uniform. She looked at Pearl with an astonished expression before vanishing into a cloud of smoke.

"Pearl! Are you alright?" Steven asked, running to her side.

"I'm fine, it's been ages since I had such a strong opponent." Pearl said, "Don't worry Steven, she'll be back in no time." She added, as she saw Steven's worried expression.

And indeed, Jasper was back a few minutes later. She didn't say anything, she sat down on the arena's stairs and looked at Pearl training Steven and Connie. She didn't say anything even when the training was finished and the four of them made their way towards the warp pad and went back home. Pearl went back to her room, Connie's mom came to bring her home, and Jasper… Jasper went to the beach and sat down on the sand, putting some distance between her and the sea. Steven thought it was better to leave her alone, so he went to his room and decided to play some videogames as he waited for her to come back. Amethyst however, didn't have the same idea. She looked at the big quartz through the window and decided to do something. It's true, Jasper had treated her like garbage, but… she was still her sister.

"Hey." Amethyst said, approaching her.

"Go away." Jasper grumbled.

"You know, you could really use a pause from being so grumpy." Amethyst said with a half laugh.

Jasper simply growled, but Amethyst kept walking towards her until she was at her side and sat down on the sand with her.

"Didn't you hear me?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to know what's wrong… you seem… sad about something?" Amethyst tried to guess.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Mmmm, you went to the arena with Steven and Connie… oh my gosh, did Pearl kick your butt?!" Amethyst asked.

Jasper seemed to shrink a little on herself.

"Eh, don't worry, she kicked mine too, hope that helps a little."

"You're joking right?! A Pearl has beaten me!"

"Well, it wasn't just a simple Pearl isn't it? Come on, even I have to admit she's pretty strong, but don't tell her I said that." Amethyst winked.

"I just… she was fast and… I didn't think she could summon another weapon so… so fast and I didn't even see her doing it!" Jasper threw her arms in the air.

"Yep, P's fast, strong and brave, so what? You got your butt kicked by the renegade Pearl, so did a lot of quartzes during the war, what's wrong with losing?"

"Of course you'd think it that way."

"What?" Amethyst's tone was suddenly tense.

"I… I didn't mean… what I meant is that you lost before, but… I shouldn't lose…"

"There will be always someone stronger than us, that's good, we can learn from them." Amethyst shrugged.

"There's nothing I want to learn from a Pearl." Jasper said shaking her head.

"Then you must be stupid."

"What?!" Jasper exclaimed, baffled by the little gem's insult.

"You say you're the perfect soldier, but if you really were, you'd have the dignity to admit that Pearl has kicked your butt and discover why, so that you can become a better fighter."

Jasper didn't answer, she didn't want to say Amethyst was right but… she was… that was what a soldier should be, what a warrior should be.

"I'm sorry, about all the… mean things I said to you." Jasper said in a hushed tone of voice.

"Is this Steven talking?" Amethyst half laughed.

"A bit… but also… it's me. You're… strong… for someone you're size and… you're brave, no doubt there."

"Thanks Jas."

"That's not my name,"

"I know."

Amethyst laughed and when she left, Jasper grinned, just a little smirk, but she did.

Hello guys! I'm baaaaaaack! Did you miss me? I'm sorry I took so long to write this, but we're almost at the ending, one chapter to go, maybe two, I'm not sure, however I'm glad that so many of you liked and followed my story, thanks for all the kind comments. Did you see the new episode?! Legs from here to Homeworld was incredible! I'm not going to spoiler anything but I loved the Diamonds in that episode, and the turn that the story took, also… a MOVIE?! REALLY?! I want it now! Do you think it will proceed from where the show left off? I personally think it will be a separate story, but we'll see. Okay, enough blabbering, to the next chapter!